Rocket ready for takeoff
Rocket hanging from the drone
Rocket shortly after being dropped
Motor slowing descent
Vertically Landed Rocket
The DoD STEM Vertically Landed Rocket Challenge is one segment of a series of challenges developed by the Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems at Illinois (LASSI). In this challenge teams are challenged to build a vertically landing model rocket. This project also serves as my current research focus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for my Aerospace Engineering master's thesis.
The rocket has a Teensy 4.0 based flight computer, a 2 axis gimbal, and landing legs. The assembled rockets are hung below an advanced drone on a fishing line. Much work has been done in the development of these kits including 6 DOF simulations, wind tunnel tests, and flight tests to verify the performance of the rocket before wide-scale deployment.
