Mt. SAC is in its 4th year of developing an experimental solid fuel rocket program. Students design, simulate, fabricate, test and launch large scale experimental rockets. The program was developed by Aerospace engineering students and now is self sustaining as a 2 unit research course. The program takes a no black boxes approach with students responsible for the design and fabrication of every element of the project including:

•  Avionics
  •  Sensor selection
  • PCB design
  • State estimation software
  • Telemetry
  • Deployment
• Motor design and fabrication
  • Propellant chemistry
  • Grain design
  • spiral wound casting tubes
  • Aramid liner
  • Grain fabrication
  • Quality and Inspection
  • Nozzle design and fabrication
• Recovery
  • Parachute design and fabrication
  • Apogee detection
  • Altitude tracking
• Airframe fabrication
  • Aluminum bulkheads and fins
  • Fiberglass payload bay and nosecone
• Flight simulation
  • 6 sigma landing analysis
  • Flight characterization
• Payload development and fabrication
  • Electronics
  • Software

Students compete in the FAR 10/30 launching experimental rockets to 10K and 30K. The FAR 10/30 takes place in Mojave outside of Edwards Airforce base each June and is actively recruiting community college teams. FAR (https://friendsofamateurrocketry.org) provides facilities support for community college teams to do both static and launch testing for experimental rocket vehicles.

For more information contact: mmason@mtsac.edu