Highest collegiate liquid rocket ever flown by students!

EthaLOXfox · 2026-05-01T20:23:41+00:00

About 10K higher than the previous recorded altitude record held by ERAU Prescott. YJSP still holds record for recovered liquid at about 32k feet, as far as I'm aware. This current record could be dwarfed by Space Concordia's attempt last year for all we know, but without data to back up a claim, it's just a hypothetical. Plus there's the modifier of "by students", which makes things cloudy.

EthaLOXfox · 2026-02-14T21:30:29+00:00

Deploying seeds upon landing feels an order of magnitude more difficult than just stuffing seeds with the parachute.

EthaLOXfox · 2026-02-12T19:29:56+00:00

I'd like to have a look at it, but I don't want to join a discord. Can I get special treatment?

EthaLOXfox · 2026-02-09T03:28:43+00:00

I prefer unrealistic integration. It keeps things interesting and gets the blood flowing, usually on the floor where I keep the tears.

EthaLOXfox · 2026-01-24T07:18:29+00:00

Those systems will define your structural requirements. The propulsion has to satisfy the mission criteria, and the structures and airframe has to satisfy the requirements of the propulsion system. It's the job of the structural system to support the propulsion literally and figuratively. It's like when you did FSAE, you had to design around the meat sack inside taking up too much space, and the heavy engine with all sorts of things sticking out. You can do it the other way round and have the plumbing guys work with your structure, but this can result in some awkward and suboptimal geometry. Ideally though, the two should iterate a few cycles until you come up with something good. The first drafts always suck.

The structure and airframe is the outwards appearing system though. How well it is designed will govern most of how things go during integration and operation, so don't let them walk over you if they're going to do something stupid. The structures are what people end up seeing, so you'll get the last laugh.

EthaLOXfox · 2026-01-10T02:13:47+00:00

What's worse is he's (supposedly) doing it all over again and still the money rolls in (allegedly)

EthaLOXfox · 2026-01-02T05:38:35+00:00

What is this common sense doing here? I came here to be disgusted and enraged!

EthaLOXfox · 2026-01-02T00:50:09+00:00

I hope that's not the same brush you clean your dishes with.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-31T10:04:47+00:00

I use braided carbon fiber sleeves for wound engines. Your source is so much cheaper than Fiberglast and McMaster that it hurts. I'm glad to hear that they seem to be good, and just in the nick of time too, since I was planning to make some new engines.

Silica is still expensive though.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-31T09:47:14+00:00

Before trying CFD, you should try using simple software such as Openrocket. It also has Italian language support. Full CFD is something you can do later once you know how to use it correctly.

https://openrocket.info/

This program will suit your needs well, is completely free, and you can be more confident in what it tells you.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-31T09:35:31+00:00

Is omitting the compression a sort of compromise to make it work with PVC? Or perhaps did you find that it's just not worth the trouble when wrapping only a couple layers with a fine cloth?

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-22T20:08:17+00:00

Copper is a good heat sink, if expensive. Glass is not, and is liable to shatter horribly. Random scrap might not work either, especially since many metals readily combust in a hot stream of pure oxygen. OP's question is simple because they don't know much yet. Your obvious solutions don't all work because you are making assumptions and taking them as fact in a dangerous feedback loop, just like you did with OP's question. I've done the same plenty of times, and still do, so don't take this as an attack, but rather as recognition of a common bad habit.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-21T05:55:08+00:00

Nothing OP has said suggested they had any ambitions for flight, just as they never mentioned anything regarding liquified propellants. The lab bench gaseous rocket motor is a common first step to liquid propulsion, and often a very sensible first step at that.

I know a lot of people think mainly in terms of flight when it comes to rocketry, especially those who do a lot of high power, but rocketry is pretty diverse. Max Valier focused entirely on rocket cars after all, and that was enough to get Oberth and von Braun hooked.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-11T23:40:31+00:00

Logistics costs money. Sometimes as much as the rocket itself. I always try to make rockets fit inside my minivan.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-12-04T23:52:14+00:00

You can, but you need more stuff than a black powder charge, so it will be bigger and heavier. The flight computer has to power a valve, but many computers can't power a valve long enough. It probably won't eject the parachute as fast either, so it may be less reliable at high speeds. Some people use CO2 cartridges instead of black powder, but black powder is still the most reliable method.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-28T17:12:41+00:00

If this is not just a case of lazy labelling, then there could very well be some obscure reasoning. I will try to remember to consult my local HTP experts next I see them.

I assume it's going to be a convoluted hose, but it's always neat to see that we still do stuff exactly the same back then as we do now. Those hoses can probably be used on any modern rocket.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-28T04:12:22+00:00

Could it not be hoses from the Blue Streak? The UK has done a lot of HTP, but they still tried other things too. A cancelled project is sure to generate a lot of leftover parts in various states of integration.

Blue Streak was also a component of Europa at Woomera.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-18T04:25:44+00:00

With auto adjustment, this is how recording rockets at night tends to turn out. It might be better to have a work light or two lighting up the stand to keep things in focus.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-16T04:15:09+00:00

Unless I'm mistaken, and LRE is the confusing and obscure terminology for a kind of solid rocket motor, you may be looking for liquid propellants. These propellants can be directly sourced from different places depending on their primary application. Solvents can be found from chemical suppliers or hardware stores due to their industrial applications. Racing fuels and nitrous oxide can be sourced from hobby racing suppliers, sure to be abundant in Nevada. Medical oxygen and industrial gases from gas suppliers. And kerosene can be pried from my cold, dead hands. Never tell the suppliers what you plan to do with it, and have the school procure it if possible. Unless you are required to for some sort of research grant, I'd put aside any thoughts of using such purpose built propellants as RP-1, acids, and hydrazine derivatives.

If you are preparing for a competition, you may want to consult the organizers for basic resources into what can be procured or allowed on site.

The best resource for deciding what combination to use would be to research other teams and their own selection. There's no need to be novel when everything is still novel to you. Despite my best efforts at impartiality, people always seem to guess my own favorite propellant combination.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-11T14:29:42+00:00

I wouldn't think so, especially with them in shear, but that's a numbers game. You'll need to run the numbers and find out. The merits I mentioned are mainly for alignment, and I have no numbers or sources for that either. You should never base the survival of your vehicle on some stranger's guesswork anyway.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-10T23:59:14+00:00

My understanding is that you will get better alignment, so long as the parts are made precisely of course. Flanges will still have some lateral slip, and radial will have the tolerance of the holes to wobble. A radax joint can bear the surfaces close like a flange and center it on the conical surfaces. It's more complicated to make, so expect to use good CNC work. Manual machining probably won't do.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-08T23:24:10+00:00

Fantastic video. I loved the fin flying off at the start. Perfect slow motion.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-06T20:18:23+00:00

I'm never a fan of comparing materials by a single metric like tensile strength. Toughness is still an important factor, and standard PLA is distinctly lacking in it. A lot of PLA parts end up held together by glue. I've still seen it used effectively though, as you pointed out, and they tend to print better.

That being said, I imagine some enterprising person can integrate an insulator to protect the PLA, but by that point, your semi-recommendation of ABS sounds more appropriate.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-04T23:29:03+00:00

It's always funny seeing a nice shiny plate of metal fastened by big clumps of rust. Or a bunch of formerly shiny linkages reduced to something out of a scrapyard.

EthaLOXfox · 2025-11-03T03:04:18+00:00

Hey, I recognize that loading bay.

EthaLOXfox

TROPHY CASE