Search

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool that can aid in the engineering design process to reduce cost and time. However, it is best used in conjunction with experimental data, through which its numerical results can be verified. This paper presents the experimental and numerical modal analyses of an experimental rocket aerostructure to verify the accuracy of the numerical models. This aerostructure has been through flight loads and a recovery. The first numerical results for the rocket showed a 96% difference with the experimental ones. Subsequently, three mass refinements were made to create calibrated FEM models whose results differed from the experimental ones by 19% to 8%. Additionally, as expected, the FEM results tended to overestimate the stiffness of structures. The numerical simulations for all components were performed through ANSYS software, and the experiments were conducted using the hammer tap test with laser vibrometers as sensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CanSat Competition is an international design/build/fly engineering competition held yearly in Stephenville, Texas and provides students with an opportunity to design an aerospace system. It is designed to reflect a small-scale aerospace program and includes the project design life cycle from preliminary design review to post mission review. Teams of up to 10 undergraduate students build CanSats, which must complete a mission that changes every year. In this year’s mission, the CanSat will be launched to 700 meters using a high-powered model rocket, and must perform a controlled descent while transmitting data from its onboard sensors to a ground station computer. The CanSat consists of a container that must protect the science payload from damage during the launch and deployment. Initially, both descend under a parachute. At 400 meters, the payload is released and continues its descent using an autogyro propeller. The CanSat must be equipped with sensors for environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, GPS position, altitude) and system performance (orientation, battery voltage, auto-gyro spin rate). It must be capable of transmitting this data in real-time to a ground station computer. The scope of our project is designing and building the CanSat and ground station. The launch system (a high-power model rocket) is provided by the competition organizers to standardize launches. Our team represents UC Irvine in this international competition. Members of CanSat UCI will follow the engineering design process from concept generation through integration and test, actual operation of the system, and the concluding post-mission summary and debrief. This year’s objective is to build a probe (the CanSat) that transmits environmental data to a ground station and performs a controlled descent using a parachute and auto-gyro propeller. The mission and its requirements reflect aspects of real world missions, including telemetry requirements, communications, and autonomous operations. Our project deliverables are the Preliminary Design Review and Critical Design Review presentations, the CanSat and ground station hardware, and the post-mission review. We follow a yearly design cycle, adhering to deadlines and requirements imposed by the competition. This ensures all teammates gain experience with the full engineering design process.Faculty Advisor:  Professor RangelEmail:  cansatuci@gmail.comWebsite:  https://sites.google.com/a/uci.edu/cansat/

Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is a powerful tool that can aid in the engineering design process to reduce cost and time. However, it is best used in conjunction with experimental data, through which its numerical results can be verified. This paper presents the experimental and numerical modal analyses of an experimental rocket aerostructure to verify the accuracy of the numerical models. This aerostructure has been through flight loads and a recovery. The first numerical results for the rocket showed a 96% difference with the experimental ones. Subsequently, three mass refinements were made to create calibrated FEM models whose results differed from the experimental ones by 19% to 8%. Additionally, as expected, the FEM results tended to overestimate the stiffness of structures. The numerical simulations for all components were performed through ANSYS software, and the experiments were conducted using the hammer tap test with laser vibrometers as sensors.

The interregnum between the death of Galileo and the publication of Newton’s Principia produced great advances in military science and technology. Particularly noteworthy are Kazimierz Siemienowicz’s contributions to artillery and to the field of rocketry. The dominating nature of these weapon systems remain as relevant today as it did in 1650 with the publication of his opus, The Great Art of Artillery. Rocket technology defines power relations, whether fired indiscriminately across a national border or positioned menacingly in a silo as an intercontinental ballistic missile. Siemienowicz’s designs, namely his multi-stage rockets with delta-wing stabilizers and ejection nozzles, became instruments of state power. The standardization of the caliber scale, the writing of the science of artillery, the optimization of gunpowder quality, and the pioneering work in rocketry, which became his legacy, qualify him as principal in the culmination of the military revolution.

Copyright of Studia Historiae Scientiarum is the property of Jagiellonian University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper introduces the design, construction, and static testing of a solid rocket motor. The design was based on the solid rocket motor design methodology (SRM). The rocket motor included the igniter system, the combustion chamber, the solid propellant, and the nozzle. The internal diameter of the combustion chamber and the total length of the rocket motor were 27,67 mm and 230 mm, respectively. The rocket motor nozzle was of the convergent-divergent Laval type. The propellant was based on the mixture of potassium nitrate (KNO3) (oxidant) and high purity sugar (or sucrose: C12H22O11) (fuel), whose synthesis was achieved through a thermal fusion process (150-170 °C for 20-25 min). The performance of the rocket motor was evaluated using a static combustion test; resulting in a maximum thrust force (load) of 227 N, a total impulse of 98,69 Ns and a specific impulse of 65,8 s, thus allowing its classification as a class G rocket motor. The results obtained are considered of great importance in the development and characterization of solid rocket motors, necessary to promote the experimental rocketry in Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a novel kind of potential flux pinned docking system that consists of guidance navigation and control system, the traditional extrusion type propulsion system, and a flux pinned docking interface. Because of characteristics of passive stability of flux pinning, the docking control strategy of flux pinned docking system only needs a series of sequential control rather than necessary active feedback control, as well as avoidance of hazardous collision accident. The flux pinned force between YBaCuO (YBCO) high temperature superconductor bulk and permanent magnet is able to be given vent based on the identical current loop model and improved image dipole model, which can be validated experimentally. Thus, the connection stiffness between two flux pinned spacecraft modules can be calculated based on Hooke's law. This connection stiffness matrix at the equilibrium position has the positive definite performance, which can validate the passively stable connection of two flux pinned spacecraft modules theoretically. Furthermore, the relative orbital dynamical equation of two flux pinned spacecraft modules can be established based on Clohessy-Wiltshire's equations and improved image dipole model. The dynamical docking process between two flux pinned spacecraft modules can be obtained by way of numerical simulation, which suggests the feasibility of flux pinned docking system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article talks about Wernher von Braun, a German-American rocket engineer and space visionary. In his early career, von Braun was a designer of missiles, in fact, he was the leader of the team who designed V-2 ballistic missile for the Nazi Germany. However, when the United States Army made his rocket-engineer organization transfer to National Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1960, his career focus dramatically shifted from making weapons to peaceful space exploration. He had dreamt of space travel and planned of constructing a manned space station to function as a base for further space exploration and as a battle station and orbiting reconnaissance platform to achieve "space superiority" over the Soviet Union.

The article discusses the significance of the computerized checkout equipment, which is beneficial to the development of Saturn 5-class rockets and the Apollo-class spacecraft in the U.S. According to the author, this equipment represents a significant advance in automation, and its impact on ordinary production and the reliability of consumer products appears to be incalculable. Moreover, the Saturn/Apollo program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the developmental work in the 1940s and 1950s that culminated in a marriage of operational and diagnostic checkout systems. Meanwhile, one of the inside stories of Apollo are presented further.

The article provides information on the propulsion systems of space vehicles which are used in space exploration. According to the author, the extent of space exploration in the future will depend upon the sizes and efficiencies of the propulsion systems which will be developed. Most types of rockets are based on the principles of action and reaction, where the motion depends upon expelling some material from the vehicle. There are several types of propulsion which include solid propellants, liquid propellant rockets, and other chemical systems. The author adds that nuclear energy can also be a very compact type of almost limitless energy and it is natural to seek some way of utilizing it for space exploration.

The article discusses the chemical analysis of the lunar surface carried out by U.S. Surveyor spacecrafts. These Surveyor missions accomplished the engineering objectives of establishing the suitability of the lunar surface for landing. Pictures obtained on the Surveyor missions offered the most detailed information available at that time of the physical nature of the lunar surface. The most essential scientific contribution of these missions was the determination, at three locations on the Moon, of the chemical composition of this lunar regolith. The Surveyor chemical analyses were obtained by an analytical technique based on the interaction of alpha particles with matter.

The University of Canterbury has developed a rocket research group, UC Rocketry, which recently broke the world altitude record for an I-class motor (impulse of 320–640 Ns) and has run a rocketry course for the first time in New Zealand. This paper discusses the development and results of the world record rocket “Milly” and details all the fundamental elements of the rocketry final year engineering course, including the manufacturing processes, wind tunnel testing, avionics, control and the final rocket launch of “Smokey”. The rockets Milly and Smokey are an example of the design, implementation and testing methodologies that have significantly contributed to research and graduates for New Zealand’s space program.

A detailed experimental study of the fuel flow characteristic and the convective heat transfer of a nano fluid consisting of refined kerosene have been studied in the present work. Low volume fraction of 0.01 and 0.05 of Al2O3-refined kerosene has been studied. A horizontal tube of 4 mm in diameter was used for the fluid flow and the heat flow under various Reynolds number ranging from 500 to 5500 were investigated. SEM analysis showed particle size of alumina nanoparticle ranged from 32 nm-50 nm. It was found that, higher the volume fraction of the refined kerosene- Al2O3 nano fluid, larger is the heat transfer coefficient. Moreover it was found that with increase in volume fraction of nano particles in the fluid, the nano fluid’s viscosity also increased which results in an increase in friction factor. The friction factor and pumping power were also investigated under various Reynolds number and volume fraction. An increase of 16.33 % in convective heat transfer was observed at Reynolds number of 5500 for a volume fraction of 0.05 %. All results provide strong proof that the addition of nanoparticles intensified the above properties to a considerable rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 18th century, the British, in their capacity as traders and colonialists, came across three technologies empirically developed in India over the years: zinc distillation, steel-making and rocketry. They were tested in Europe and incorporated into the industrial and scientific mainstreams without acknowledgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analytical expression for the trajectory equation of a solar sail spacecraft is available in special cases only, including the well known logarithmic spiral. The latter, however, cannot be used when the parking orbit is circular. This paper presents an approximate solution to this problem, obtained by considering the propulsive acceleration as a perturbation effect acting on a Keplerian trajectory in a heliocentric (two-dimensional) mission scenario. In this context, the spacecraft dynamics are approximated by an asymptotic series expansion in terms of non-singular generalized orbital elements. Under the assumption that the propulsive acceleration is small compared to the local Sun's gravitational attraction, a first order approximation is shown to be very accurate in predicting the trajectory of the spacecraft and the evolution of the non-singular orbital parameters of the osculating orbit. A periodic rectification procedure improves the method accuracy without significantly affecting the computational time, as is confirmed by numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Symposia on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics have been held annually at the International Astronautical Congresses since 1967. During these past 50 years nearly 800 papers have been presented and subsequently published in the proceedings. With a 20-year rule imposed for historical presentations, the first 10 symposia concentrated on pre-World War II and early 1950s activities. A surprisingly large number of papers on early, less well-known Soviet-Russian contributions to rocketry and astronautics were presented in the first symposia, despite the ongoing Space Race between the U.S and USSR. Another important element in these symposia involved memoir papers offered by pre- and post-war rocket and astronautics pioneers from many countries, and the participation of many of these pioneers in person. In sum, the history of national space and rocket projects from some 40 countries were presented over the years in IAA History Symposia. These 50 symposia have provided a platform for scholars and professional and non-professional historians to meet and discuss the history of rocketry and astronautics, and to personally interview many space pioneers, most of whom today are deceased. Their personal recollections have since been shared with a large audience. Over time, IAA history papers divided into recognizable periods: ancient times through the 19th century, and the 20th and 21st centuries, which separate among actions and events that took place before 1945, in 1945 to 1957, and after 1957 (which marked the beginning of the space age). Proceedings of the IAA History Symposia have been published in English, ultimately in the History Series of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) and its publishing arm, Univelt Inc., under an agreement secured with the IAA. This paper presents an overview of the IAA History Symposia. It examines the early years of the history committee and its first symposium, the evolution of subsequent symposia, and it recognizes those individuals who shaped these symposia and the publication of its proceedings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]