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There’s more to getting a rocket off the ground than lighting the fuse and getting out of the way. Just ask a team of Texas A&M engineering students who launched their own rocket earlier this past spring. The students flew the rocket in mid-April from the McGregor launch site.
The program started in 2002 and is a unique initiative for engineering design at Texas A&M. In its second year, 10 teams of students from the colleges of engineering and business began designing an 6-foot-tall rocket known as BYRD Corporation (Back Yard Rocket Design).
“We are extremely happy to be able to participate and contribute financial support to these efforts. The interdisciplinary curriculum between the two colleges is a great opportunity for the students, and it more accurately represents what each of these students will face as they enter the workforce–and as the result, they will be more prepared,” said Craig Campbell, Boeing’s director of Project Management and Analysis for Future Combat Systems Program. Boeing’s contributions to the interdisciplinary curriculum partnership currently total $695,000.
Ten teams—aerodynamics; documentation; guidance; navigation and control; launch site and launch support; manufacturing and assembly; payload; propulsion; recovery; structures; and test and evaluation—spent last fall working out their designs and the details of manufacturing the parts of the rocket. In December, they presented their designs to a panel of Boeing engineers and Texas A&M faculty members with expertise in rocket design and construction. The students spent the spring semester turning their designs into a rocket. Design and manufacturing challenges ranged from manufacturing the composite tube fuselage to designing and fabricating the complex shape of the solid fuel inside the engine.
The students’ designs had to meet the requirements of a request for proposal, or RFP, provided by Boeing. To meet Boeing’s RFP, the rocket had to weigh 30 pounds at liftoff, reach an altitude of 4500 feet in a controlled flight, and recover everything without damage. Altogether, the students dealt with 50 vendors for items ranging from a digital altimeter to plywood for internal bulkheads and ripstop nylon for parachutes. Meeting the April deadline was a challenge.
The process is every bit as complicated as you might expect, says project coordinator Reza Langari, professor of mechanical engineering, who worked with David Lund, director of the Aerospace Vehicle Systems Institute (AVSI); Tom Pollock, associate professor of aerospace engineering; Richard Furuta, professor of computer science; and Jeff McDougall, lecturer in electrical engineering; as the faculty members overseeing the student teams. Participating departments in the Look College include aerospace, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering as well as computer science. Students deal with technical as well as project management and business case analysis issues. This academic year computer science students from Prairie View A&M University have joined the program.
From preliminary design to successful launch, an interdisciplinary design curriculum funded by the Boeing Co. is yielding significant achievements for Texas A&M Engineering and the Mays Business School.
For more information on the Boeing design project, contact Dr. Reza Langari, 979/845-6918, rlangari@ tamu.edu.
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