Rocketry

To design and simulate my rockets, I primerily use a tool called OpenRocket. Generally, I create an inital design based on my mental idea of what the rocket should look like, making up most of the dimensions as I go. Then, I adjust the length, weight distribution, and fin shape/size to get the stability to a good point. After this, I start to fine-tune the rocket, optimizing for apogee or something else, while keeping stability high and the ground hit velocity low, to ensure a smooth flight.

Once the rocket is fully planned out in OpenRocket, I can move on to creating a 3D model of any custom components. Autodesk Fusion is my go-to CAD software, and it is where I do all of my rocketry designs. For most of my rockets, the nosecone, any couplers/shoulders, and the fins and fin can are all 3D printed. This allows for a lot of customization in my rockets, allowing for easy iterations and small adjustments. I use my Bambu Lab P1S to print these parts, generally with PLA (specifically Bambu's PLA Tough+ at the moment). I assemble printed and non-printed parts (like body tubes) using two-part epoxy most of the time. I have used both a launch rod and a launch rail (mainly for ARC), and use my custom-built launch controller at launches.

I've only done a little work with launch computers so far, mainly for logging accelerometer and altimiter data. My current electronics package uses an Adafruit Feather ESP32 S2, along with a Datalogger Featherwing for use with a SD card. I use the BMP390 altimiter, but am planning to upgrade to the 581 when I get an order in next. They run custom C++, which was heavily adapted from some of Auren's code. I have also created a GUI to interface with these electronics using Python, and am planning on adapting it to support telemetry when I have time to do so.