What challenges did you encounter in this project and how did you navigate those challenges?
We struggled with our nose cones and getting our parachute to deploy so we used an alternate method with our back slider and made a crappy parachute so we at least had something. We knew that a regular parachute would not be strong enough to actually slow down our rocket with how large it was. The backslider is taller than the body of our rocket so it would be forced to tilt over and rock down to the ground. If we had removed our rocket’s backslider it would have been less aerodynamic and would have nose dived.
What were your successes in this project and how would you relay those successes to next year’s sophomores?
I think our biggest success was winning. We were able to create a rocket that not only had height but also landed gently. When the sophomores next year do this project I would advise them to look outside the typical rocket strategies that most of your classmates will use. We used a backslider rather than a bag as our parachute, even though our rocket was generally heavier than the competition our rocket was able to land with little damage to it. I think that next year's sophomores should focus on the attention to detail if they splice as it is a great advantage if it is done right. Our splice was able to withstand 80-90 psi and it being stable is what caused us to succeed and win. Making your pieces of your rocket detach makes it much easier to fix after test launches and you have much easier access to refining your rocket.
What was a turning point for you in this project and why?
After our test launch went over 300 ft we realized that not only had our splice worked perfectly but that our entire design didn’t need to be changed, rather just modified to be more precise. We saw the gentle landing we had and the power we had with our rocket. This gave us time to refine and fine tune our fins, nose cone, and integrity. This also gave us faith and inspiration in continuing to refine each part of our rocket. This changed how we executed our parachute deploy system and refined our nose cone to be less crooked and more precise leading to our rocket being more aerodynamic.
What lessons did you learn while doing this project, and how could you apply those lessons in your future projects and life?
I learned how to get over the differences in a partnership and that we need to be able to understand each other’s flaws to work together successfully. When working with people in the future I will prioritize communication and diving work. I think that I also learned that precision is a two person job in projects like these and to divide work evenly. My partner struggled in partner work so I communicated what I was going to work on and encouraged them to do the same. I worked on our fins, nose cone, and parachute while they worked on the backslider and chamber connection. This work deviation opened our communication and we could give each other feedback and I plan to use this in future groups to be open about our issues and communicate through our work to build each other's skills up. It wasn’t always easy but I think once we started collaborating our ideas and refinement we created a strong partnership.
If you were to do this project again, what would you do differently and why?
I think that I would want to be able to hold myself accountable in our partnership more, I think that it was a struggle to come in during the middle of the build and figure out what is going on. I would make sure to communicate with my partner that I am gone and work on things even if I am not there. I think that if I was to do this project again in the future I would want to test more design ideas and aspects. I think if we could have tried multiple things together rather than sticking to one idea we could have combined more elements to make the rocket work even better. I would like to have many other aspects and tests to better follow the design process.