Our mission is to make
Purdue the first university
to propulsively land a rocket.
As the newest team of the Purdue Space Program, we are determined to make model rocketry history with this ambitious mission.
PSP-AC is a research and development team that aims to advance active control technology. With the advent of propulsive landing in the private space sector, actively controlling a rocket’s position and orientation has been proven to be vital for the rapid reusability of orbital and suborbital rockets. The Active Controls team consists of multiple subteams that take on a certain aspect of this multifaceted project. These subteams include Structures and Propulsion, Guidance and Navigation, Controls and Modeling, and Avionics. We encourage students from all backgrounds to join the effort and find the subteam that they are most interested in.
PROJECTS
Project ASTRA: 2021 – 2022
The overarching goal of the Active Controls team is to land a rocket with a solid rocket motor. However, this mission requires that we apply advanced control mechanisms and theory. In order to reduce the complexity of the problem and abridge the learning gap, the Active Controls team will be first engineering a vehicle that can stabilize itself and land with a high-powered electric ducted fan (EDF). ASTRA is a great stepping stone in our ambitious dream of controlling a solid rocket motor.
SUBTEAMS
Avionics
The Avionics Team is dedicated to the design, programming, and fabrication of our projects’ flight computers, battery systems, and control mechanisms.
Structures & Propulsion
The Sructures and Propulsion Team designs and builds the physical structure and propulsion system for Active Controls. This includes the research and development of our thrust vector control system, thrust stand, and EDF propulsion method.
Controls & Modeling
The Controls and Modeling Team is developing the kinematic model of our thrust vector control system. This includes constructing the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations, modeling the flight of our projects, and analyzing the complex mathematical models involved in control theory.
Guidance & Navigation
The Guidance and Navigation Team develops the data analysis and telemetry system of Active Controls. This includes the development and integration of a Kalman filter: an algorithm that provides a prediction-correction model used for linear dynamic systems.
