{"id":215,"date":"2012-09-13T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newwww.hmc.edu\/about-hmc\/?p=215"},"modified":"2014-08-21T13:11:10","modified_gmt":"2014-08-21T20:11:10","slug":"students-target-n5800-rocket-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/2012\/09\/13\/students-target-n5800-rocket-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Target N5800 Rocket Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Physics major Chris Cotner \u201913 and engineering major Carlo Vaccari \u201813 hope to break the N-class motor altitude record this weekend when they launch their custom-designed, supersonic rocket.<\/p>\n

\"Carlo<\/a>

Carlo Vaccari ’13<\/p><\/div>\n

Built over the summer at Harvey Mudd College, the rocket was created in response to the \u201cFly the N5800 to a Record Contest\u201d announced last spring by rocket motor manufacturer Cesaroni Technology Incorporated (CTI).<\/p>\n

Large by hobbyist standards, the N5800 motor will burn for about three and a half seconds, have an average thrust of 1200 pounds and hurl the rocket up to a peak speed of 3.7 times the speed of sound.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/a>

Chris Cotner<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cA major challenge is keeping the rocket from melting and breaking up under such tremendous velocity and dynamic pressure,\u201d said physics Professor Greg Lyzenga \u201975, who served as the students\u2019 mentor. \u201cA number of college groups across the country have taken up the challenge ever since CTI announced it, but no individual or group has yet succeeded in building a high-performance, minimum-diameter rocket that survived the force of their N5800 motor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Custom<\/a>

Custom fincan<\/p><\/div>\n

Vaccari and Cotner\u2019s craft need only top 43,000 feet to break the existing N-class altitude record, but the students\u2019 rocket may soar twice that high, Lyzenga said.<\/p>\n

Named \u201cBare Necessities,\u201d because it consists only of parts essential for recovery, data collection and aerodynamic stability and streamlining, the rocket was specifically designed to meet the demands placed upon it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery person who has tried for the N record using this particular motor has shredded their rocket. Our advantage is that we\u2019re approaching it from a rational perspective based in our engineering, physics and machining backgrounds,\u201d said Cotner, who served as the rocket\u2019s primary fabrication engineer. \u201cWe designed every part for this application and manufactured them ourselves when our ideal designs didn\u2019t match existing products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key components of their rocket include a nosecone layup\u2014designed by Vaccari using an ablative thermal protection system developed by Cotner\u2014and a machined fincan, which exists as a solid piece compared to the bolted or welded fins employed by failed rockets.<\/p>\n

The team will launch their rocket Sept. 15 in Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert, northeast of Gerlach. An official from Tripoli Rocketry Association will serve as a witness to the rocket\u2019s launch and return, confirming whether it remained in flyable condition. A GPS receiver in the rocket will transmit altitude data, which will be saved on a flash drive and used by the Tripoli witness as proof of the altitude reached.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Physics major Chris Cotner \u201913 and engineering major Carlo Vaccari \u201813 hope to break the N-class motor altitude record this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,24,26],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-competition","category-engineering","category-physics","category-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}