NORCO COLLEGE ROCKETRY
See you on the Launchpad
the beginning
Fall 2019
During fall of 2019, the project manager, Paul Guyett, and the student leads, Alexander Dussault [Propulsion Lead], Christopher Alexman [Payload Lead], Rosa Martinez [Recovery Lead], and Harsha Antony [Structures Lead], were busy with helping Icarus become a reality.
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Icarus was a carbon fiber and fiberglass rocket that stood just shy of 12 feet tall, and the team's first attempt at a high-powered rocket, designed with the intention of competing in the 2020 Spaceport America Cup.
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Much research went into designing everything from the airframe material of the rocket to the motor that would be used to fly it to the experiments that its payload would be carrying.
winter 2020
the end
Spring 2020
Spring brought upon the team tons and tons of testing. Structures put the finishing touches on Icarus, while payload finalized the experiment setups, propulsion had the motors ready to go, and recovery tested their parachutes and ejection systems.
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It was then, while the team was poised to have Icarus's first flight, that the pandemic began and the college shut down with no idea when it would open again.
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The Spaceport America Cup was shortly canceled, and thus, Icarus never got to fly.
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However, that didn't mean the team was finished. Even when the student leads transferred and campus remained in lockdown, the remnants of the old team stayed active, allowing for what came after Icarus: the Year of Callisto.
the middle
By winter, work was underway on Icarus. While Structures spent hours building the rocket, the other subsections focused on their tasks. Propulsion selected the best motor to send Icarus flying, payload designed experiments that would be housed in their custom 3D printed CubeSAT, and recovery devised a CO2 ejection system that would bring Icarus home.
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With Icarus being their first rocket, Payload spent countless hours setting up all kinds of sensors for data collection: temperature, pressure, force, altitude, etc.
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And before they knew it, by the end of winter, they had a complete rocket that was ready to be flown and tested.
