2017 Year in Review
2017 was the first full year for the OSU AIAA Rocketry Team. From competitions to recruiting new members for our team, it was packed with all kinds of exciting experiences and more growth than I could have ever imagined for this great group.
We entered the spring semester in January 2017 preparing for the Inaugural Argonia Cup to take place in April and the Spaceport America Cup to take place in June. On February 11th, we flew our first rocket over a mile in altitude with Steadfast Steadley, in memory of Andrew Steadley, an SGA Senator who believed in our team from the beginning and helped fund us through the first six months. Reaching 8749 feet, it was our first rocket that proved we could successfully fly high enough to be participants in these competitions.
In April the first-ever Argonia Cup took place. Nicholas Foster, an aerospace engineering senior, led the team that developed a 3D-printed, autonomous drone with spring loaded arms that would carry a golf ball payload back to the launch site for the competition. Sponsorship from the OSU USRI (Unmanned Systems Research Institute) aided in funding for the project. On launch day after a deployment failure on the initial flight, our team reconfigured the same rocket replacing the nosecone and removing what was left of the drone to fly again just minutes before the competition ended. Not only did we manage to pull off a second flight that afternoon, but it was the flight that secured our 1st place win. It was a tremendously exciting weekend with test flights, certifications, camping, and motivated engineering students who didn’t give up after an initial setback.
The spring semester ended with a generous sponsorship from the NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium that allowed our team to travel and participate in the Spaceport America Cup.
After the spring semester ended in May, preparations were nearly complete for the 2017 Spaceport America Cup that took place June 20-24 in Truth or Consequences, NM at the Spaceport America. Eight of our team members made the eleven-hour drive and endured long days in the desert heat to prepare and present our project to judges and then fly Tory II for the largest rocket launch in OSU’s history. While the off-nominal flight was frustrating, we found the cause of the problem (3D-printed payload components likely softened in the heat and yielded causing internal weights to shift) and immediately began making plans for next year’s competition.
Our team members completed summer internships in the aerospace industry with the United Launch Alliance (ULA), Sandia National Laboratories, Spirit AeroSystems, Rockwell Collins, Nordam, Textron, and General Dynamics.
Over the summer, Garett Foster and I developed a rocket thrust stand for statically testing motors. Garett is the Propulsion team lead, and his members are working to build and test experimental rocket motors, so that our rockets will soon be flying on propellants we have mixed and prepared ourselves.
We began the Fall 2017 semester with a lot of interest from incoming freshman. Beginning in September, new members would model, build, fly, and recover a rocket of their own to achieve certification with the Tripoli Rocketry Association. This process allows each member to experience every step of the rocket’s development. From there, they could select a subteam of their choosing (Propulsion, Recovery, Aero-Structures, Payload, and Controls), and within those subteams, preparations for our competitions would take place.
We were fortunate to have the cooperation of OSU CEAT IT, as with their help, we were able to launch our very own website for the rocketry team. We are continuing to add more content, and we’re excited to have this platform to increase our presence online.
In working with the OSU Foundation and PhilanthroPete, our team led a month-long crowdfunding campaign to gather donations from friends and family to help our team financially in our second year. It was a smashing success, reaching $8225 of our $8000 goal, 75% of which was raised in the last week alone. Thank you to our generous donors for their support of our program. We will be thinking of you as we travel across the country to compete.
We have 48 members, 19 of whom have achieved Level 1 Certification, 9 with Level 2, and 1 with a successful Level 3 Certification all of which occurred this year alone. We look forward to more certification flights in the spring while we work on our competitions rockets also.
We have submitted our registration materials for the 2018 Argonia Cup to take place April 8th and 9th, 2018 as well as the 2018 Spaceport America Cup to take place June 19-23, 2018. We are hard at work to be successful, and we look forward to representing Oklahoma State University at the international level once again.
Finally, it has been the most incredible experience to be this team’s Founder and Director over the last sixteen months. It is my pleasure to hand the reins to Austin Stottlemyre, who will serve as the team’s new Director throughout 2018. I can’t wait to see the new heights this team will reach under his leadership. Thank you to this team’s sponsors, donors, advisors, supporters, and most importantly, our members who make this team as great as it is.
- Lucas Utley