April 13, 2011
The Longhorn Rocket Association (LRA) continues to expand with more members taking on newer and bigger projects. With nearly 60 active members from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, we have come a long way from building small model rocket kits. The group holds weekly “rocket builds” where members design and construct small rockets for launches held at the Pickle Research Campus (PRC). This allows members to learn the basics of rocket design and construction methods, which will come in handy when working on bigger projects.
Attended by more than 80 people, including students, faculty, staff and their families, the Fall 2010 PRC rocket launch was the largest to date. For the first time, small rocket kits were made available for purchase on site so that attendees were able to build and launch their own rockets with assistance from LRA members. At least 30 different rockets were launched that day, some even multiple times.
Each year, LRA members also design and fabricate a high-powered amateur rocket similar to the two rockets that the group successfully launched at Rockets ’09 in Fredericksburg, TX. In 2010, a team designed a rocket to carry a foldable glider with a camera to an altitude of one mile, where it would be released to glide to the ground, recording aerial video. Unfortunately, this rocket has not yet been launched due to poor weather conditions, but it will be launched this year along with a new rocket. Currently, members are designing a two-stage rocket that is expected to reach transonic speeds. They are looking forward to an upcoming critical design review with peers and professionals before moving forward to the construction stage.
As 2011 gets underway, LRA is very excited about designing and
building a sounding rocket that will collect information to aid in designing larger rockets in the future. The proposed design is a modular rocket with a payload bay to house interchangeable research packages that will be used to take specific measurements. This rocket is an important step toward our goal of reaching an altitude of 100,000 feet. In the future, LRA would like to design and build a static test stand so that the organization can build and test our own motors.
The Longhorn Rocket Association is extremely excited about our past accomplishments and where we are headed in the future! Our mission is to enhance education by providing a hands-on opportunity for students to apply classroom knowledge to design, build, and launch our own rockets.
