Karman Alpha
During my time in Sunride I worked on the two-stage Karman Alpha Rocket. I designed components and performed some FEA analysis. Some of the main parts I worked on include the OpenRocket and RASAero models of the rocket, launch rail guides and improvements to the recovery system. I later became the design team lead.
Karman Alpha launched on the 1st of July 2023 at Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) and aimed to reach 30km / 100,000 ft.
After a successful first-stage motor burn, the rocket stages separated. The second stage coasted for approximately 7 seconds before its motor was ignited using a head-end ignition system. Unfortunately, the motor exploded, this also destroyed the avionics meaning the parachutes weren't able to deploy. The Second stage reached 20,000 ft AGL (22,000 above sea level) before crashing into the desert floor.
The first stage recovery system successfully deployed its drogue chute but this snagged on the open airframe causing it to break. Decisions made early on in the design phase meant that the body tube length wasn't long enough for the intended recovery system, therefore a shorter and thinner length of shock cord was used for it to fit the reduced volume.
KML plot of second-stage
1.mp4TR 2.5
This rocket was used to test Karman Alpha's recovery system. It used a dual deployment system with a chute release. It was mostly successful apart from some of the lines getting tangled. This allowed us to make changes to Karman Alpha's recovery system to make it more reliable.