Waterloo Rocketry

Overview

Since October 2021 I have been a member of the Waterloo Rocketry team, a student design team that launches sounding rockets at the Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico.  Waterloo Rocketry competes in the 30k SRAD Hybrid/Liquid category, the most technically challenging category available.  In 2023, Waterloo Rocketry finished 2nd in this category, and was also the winner and runner up of many other awards.  For more information on Waterloo Rocketry, you can click here.

My Role

I have participated in a wide variety of projects on Waterloo Rocketry.  When I initially started, I was working on Omnibus, our central communication pipeline we use to receive data such as temperature, pressure, and altitude.  Once I was done developing this software, I moved on to many other projects such as:

and a huge variety of others.  I am also one of the team members leading rocket integration, which involves coordinating various subsystems, solving mechanical and electrical interface challenges, and writing assembly and testing procedures.  Developing a rocket requires incredible precision, tight tolerances, and high coordination, and it has been a pleasure to be able to facilitate that coordination between subsystems, as well as contribute to the subsystems myself.  Below is a small gallery of projects I have worked on

Leviathan of the Sky upon takeoff, 2023 

Credit: Waterloo Rocketry

A GPS mount I redesigned when we realized the original setup was unusable

Picture my own

Omnibus, our central data visualization system

Credit: Kavin Satheeskumar 

Full assembly of the engine during May 2022 Static Fire 6

Picture my own

LotS fully assembled, hours before launch

Credit: Thomas Fairhead

One part of a valve I fabricated with a teammate

Credit: Matthew Gordon

A battery mount made of sheet aluminum 

Picture my own

Antenna Towers

One project I was solely responsible for was the antenna towers to be used at competition.  This involved raising and anchoring them, 3d-printing small rings to route an ethernet cable, and developing a raising procedure to guarantee that nothing would be forgotten.  On the day of raising, I was scheduled to be elsewhere, so then also was responsible for training operators on how the antenna towers were to be raised, risks to themselves or the hardware, and how to check if they were raised properly.  They worked flawlessly at competition and allowed us to launch the rocket first day, first try.


Image: One of two antenna towers, fully raised
Credit: Delaney Dyment