The Structures team analyzes initial designs, selects materials, determines manufacturing procedures, and plans internal element layouts. They iterate on designs by creating CAD models and top-level assemblies, then ultimately build the rocket itself. Their work focuses on materials, structural components, testing, CAD, FEA, CFD, and manufacturing. Overall, they design, fabricate, and test student-built rocket hardware, including major components such as the airframe, fins, and nose cone.

The Mechanisms team creates the rocket’s stage-separation and recovery systems, ensuring the vehicle separates effectively, lands safely, and recovers all flight hardware and onboard data. They minimize the recovery system’s size to maximize payload capacity and design housings for the flight avionics. Their work involves CAD, hands-on testing, controlled energetics, and mechanical design.

The Avionics team designs circuits and PCBs, programs ARM processors in C, analyze flight data from onboard sensors, develop software for in-flight state estimation, and research filtering and estimation methods. Their work includes both ground and flight testing, and they developed a completely custom PAL 9000 flight computer to estimate position, velocity, and attitude, record and transmit data, and control staging and recovery operations. In summary, the team specializes in electronics and hardware design, soldering, software development (MATLAB, Simulink, C, C++), and data analysis and filtering techniques.

The Simulations team works on rocket sizing and optimization and performs trajectory, aerodynamic, structural, and thermal analyses using six-degree-of-freedom models, performance evaluations, and Monte Carlo simulations. Their work includes MATLAB and Simulink modeling of rocket dynamics, including supersonic and hypersonic aerodynamics, as well as dispersion analysis and statistical methods. Using CFD, FEA, and 6-DOF modeling, they predict flight conditions and support design decisions across the project.

The Propulsion team designs, builds, and tests rocket motors, taking responsibility for both SRAD and COTS propulsion systems. They manufacture propulsion hardware, mix and cast propellants, and conduct static fires of custom SRAD motors while also launching both SRAD and COTS motors. Their work includes testing new ignition system designs, and they utilize Purdue’s Zucrow Propulsion Laboratories to mix fuels and test student-researched and student-designed rocket motors.

The Business team promotes HA, applies for grants, manages finances, organizes fundraising events, and designs merchandise.