For the past decade, Rocketry at Virginia Tech has competed in IREC's 10,000 foot Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) category. This year, we are undertaking a full redesign to compete in the 30,000 foot COTS category beginning in AY27-28. Reaching 30k introduces engineering challenges our team has not previously had to solve — supersonic flight, higher Active Drag System loads, and long-range recovery — that cannot be adequately addressed through incremental changes to our existing design. To address this, we are dedicating AY26-27 to research, analysis, and test-validated design so that our first 30,000 foot launch vehicle is built on a proven foundation.
The recovery system for our 30K launch vehicle is undergoing an overhaul to enable high altitude flight. We plan on maintaining a duel-deployment approach, although through new methods. During this process we will be researching head end ejection, single-separation duel-deployment, and CO2 ejection methods.
To ensure integrity during flight, our in-house manufactured composite components will undergo testing and analysis. Research and testing will also go into our fin material, design, and attachment to eliminate the risks of fin flutter during supersonic flight.
Avionics are at the heart of each subsystem throughout the rocket. During this design phase, robust testing and improvements will be made to all systems to ensure reliability during flight and recovery. Our team has its own in-house designed, programmed, and assembled flight computer that drives the functions of the ADS. Our rockets also have their own custom onboard and ground-based telemetry systems. These systems include in-house developed antennas for real-time tracking from the ground, as well as experimental systems for transmission into carbon-fiber shielded rocket components.
The Active Drag System (ADS) was implemented by Rocketry at Virginia Tech to ensure the rocket's apogee is as close to the target as possible. The system calculates the expected apogee of the rocket in real-time and actuates flaps to provide altitude adjustment. Variations of this system have been used for 4 years and iterations will be made to ensure accuracy on its 30K trajectory.
The payload within our rocket is a student developed experiment or technology demonstration. The contents of the payload are generally confined to a 3U CubeSat form factor to allow for consistent integration into the rocket. This experiment will be developed alongside our other projects.