Modular rockeTs Building Baffles - National Association of Rocketry

The Big PictureAdelaide, who was on the recovery,outreach, and sponsorship teams, said, “Ihad no idea how cool the Marshall SpaceFlight Center would be. There is an incrediblywide range of ongoing work,from metallurgy to waste recovery, robots,botany, and propellant dynamics.”NASA provided considerable fundingto get CMCA’s ambitious project off theground (ATK, a large aerospace companyprovided this year’s primary national supportto NASA), but the team had to do a lotof fundraising such as popsicle sales, a specialbasketball game, a night at Mr. Biggs,and pet photos with Santa.The CMCA SLI team has received enthusiasticadditional support locally fromJacob Pfund preps the final rocketwith a J motor as Adelaide Reddishlooks on. This test flight at the highpower SCORE site near Pueblo,Colorado, was to prove stabilityand scientific experiment viability.SLI rockets must be flown at leastonce before their final flight inAlabama to prove flight readiness.There were two GPS units in the rocket,and one provided good data. However,the information from the backup GPS waslost. It had been left on for the entire triphome, and replacing the battery deletedthe data.The results showed that, in the end,the PerfectFlite altimeter was closest to theactual altitude, the Pico altimeter second,and the GPS in last place.Above: The beautiful bulkheadsand electronics bay componentswere fabricated from carbon fiberby Jacob Pfund. The electronics bayis encased in resin-impregnatedKevlar. The fins are a G-10 fiberglassand Nomex honeycomb sandwichwith hardwood edges. These aretruly impressive fabrication skillsfor a high school student.Photo by Jeff Lane/Brandango.us.Left: Mentor Ernie Puckettand recovery specialist AdelaideReddish prepare the mainparachute for its first flight atthe SCORE site near Pueblo.Photo by Jeff Lane/Brandango.us14 MAY/JUNE 2010 Sport Rocketry