Vehicle Design

The design of the prototype should be as simple as possible making use of as much of the shelves components as possible. Here is what's proposed so far:

  • For the propulsion system, an air powered launcher, rather than model rocket engine, is probable the best option since it's safer, saves weight, is less costly to operate, and should easily be able to attain the desired altitude of 50 to 75 ft.  Use of a model rocket engine would be cool though since much higher altitudes can be obtained, not to mention all the smoke and flames.


  • The operation of the four deploy-able rotors is going to be the most difficult part of the design. These will likely be accomplished using some kind of spring-loaded apparatus, activated by a micro-servo. Hopefully, a 3D printed models can help point to the best solution. Unfortunately, I lack the necessary engineering skills for this task so I will have to get someone with such expertise.




  • Design for crashes. In the event the rotors fail to deploy, or the battery power runs out before landing, the rocket must be design to survive the crash landing mostly in one piece.  Since the craft will be top heavy then having a foam/rubber nose cone should be sufficient, hopefully. In models which are designed to go higher, then a backup parachute could be used.     


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