Expanding STEM Education through Rocketry and Aerospace
Beginning in 2021, I started the Aerospace Club to expand the STEM based clubs offered at Regis Jesuit High School
Our Projects
Since its inception, this team has consistently operated as a project-driven organization. Engaging in diverse projects, including suborbital scientific payloads and short-range competitive rocketry, the team has always pursued ambitious goals and consistently achieved success in meeting them.
ULA Student Launch Payload - 2021
Immediately upon our team's formation, we embarked on the development and delivery of a scientific payload for ULA's intern-built rocket. Titled RAIDERS, or the Rapid Aerodynamic Independently Descending Electronic Recording Systems, our payload consisted of two capsule-shaped sensor suites deploying post-apogee from the carrier rocket. These capsules, featuring onboard gyroscopes, accelerometers, and barometers, meticulously recorded descent conditions for drag coefficient calculations.
Housed in a custom scaffolding, the two capsules were positioned within a deployment tube for ejection post-apogee from the carrier rocket. On launch day, payload activation and integration proceeded smoothly, but pre-launch carrier anomalies caused several hours of delay. Once resolved, the carrier launched with a nominal ascent trajectory. However, an error within the rocket led to a suboptimal deployment at a lower-than-anticipated altitude. Despite both capsules ejecting correctly, the insufficient altitude hindered proper parachute deployment, resulting in the destruction of one capsule upon impact with the ground.
