SRAD Rocket Motor Hot Fire

Purdue Orbital's Propulsion team had many sub teams that worked together to hot fire this SRAD motor. The test stand team worked on developing and FMS to hold our motor. The data acquisition team created and developed a data acquisition code, and a way to collect data from the ignition of the motor. The ballistics team did simulations on the propellant to understand and characterize its burn in order to be sure that our chamber would be rated for the expected pressure it would reach. The mixing and casting team had the opportunity to develop a way to vacuum cast the solid rocket propellant and understand the process that goes into making solid rocket grains. There was also a thermal team that performed simulations in ANSYS to ensure the motor casing could withstand the temperatures the motor was expected to reach, as well as an ignition team that worked on the safest and most effective way to ignite the solid grains. All together, this motor was fully student research and developed. When all the teams came together to present the work and assemble the motor, the hot fire was approved. The motor was fired in the courtyard of Zucrow laboratories with great success.