Project Atmos was developed during the academic year 2015-2016 participating in 11th Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. This was the second consecutive year of Team Garud and the third year for students of UPES to participate in IREC. The basic aspects of the Atmos rocket are shown and discussed below:
Payload Requirements: The payload consists of a self-propelled and self-controlled flight mounted with an IR camera along with several on-board electronic components such as, GPS, temperature sensor, pressure sensor, Pitot tube. Glider is not inextricably connected to other launch vehicle components, and is deployable with descent velocity of 6 m/s(20 ft/s). Glider deployment complies with the no staging requirement of the mission guidelines.
Propulsion Requirements: The propulsion system shall consists of a COTS Solid Rocket Motor System, complying to non-toxic propellants requirement. Rocket shall be armed on while it is on the launch rail, by using a switch fitted on the avionics bay.
Recovery and Avionics Requirements: Recovery system consists of a drogue chute (initial deployment event) and a parachute (main deployment system). Initial deployment spills out a drogue chute which slows down the rocket up to 23 m/s to 45 m/s. Main deployment system, further slows down the rocket to 9 m/s. The power source is same but there is a secondary power system in case of a failure. All wiring comply with the requirements. No pyro technique is being used in recovery system energetics. Official altitude monitoring shall be done by an on-board altimeter. Range tracking shall be done by BARC. Ground test of electronics and flight test of payload and recovery system been successfully done.
Launch and Ascent Trajectory Requirements: Rocket shall ascend to a targeted apogee of 10,000 ft. The Rocket shall have an elevation angle between 83 to 85 deg. Launch azimuth shall be defined at IREC. Ascent stability of the rocket shall be 1.5 calibers.
Rocket Design and Specifications
The length of the rocket is 9.8 ft and its diameter is 0.41 ft (5 in).
The material used for fabrication of the rocket is fiber glass.
The body tube is composed of four tubes of length 3.28, 2, 1.3 and 2 foot respectively.
Four fins of trapezoidal shape are used for stability during rocket ascent and these are made of 2 mm aluminum sheets.
The Nose Cone is parabolic of height 0.435 meters and it is made of polyactic acid using rapid prototyping.