AIR
SEDS :
STUDENTS FOR THE EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE
EST . 2012
MAKE NO MISTAKE — THIS IS ROCKET SCIENCE . The team that brought you the first collegiate 3-D printed rocket engine is back at it , aiming high and staying on the cutting edge of aerospace trends . This means new engine designs ( aerospike , anyone ?), using different types of fuel propellants and , of course , always pushing that vertical limit .
MEMBERS
More than 60 students , spanning majors from electrical engineering to business . Specialty teams have focused on new endeavors , such as creating a monopropellant system ( just one fuel , as opposed to bi-propellant , which combines the fuel with an oxidizer ) and testing an aerospike engine , which channels the exhaust in a more efficient shape than typical bell-shaped engines .
EQUIPMENT
For a rocket launch , the team works with three main components : the fuselage , or rocket body ; the engine ; and Colossus , their static-fire test stand .
Top to bottom , the 21-foot Vulcan-II rocket fuselage starts with a nose cone holding all the electronics , such as a pressure sensor and GPS , followed by a sleek aluminum casing that houses the fuel and plumbing to get it down to the engine . The engine , Ignus-II ( left ), was 3-D printed from nickel-chromium alloy . It measures only 8 inches in diameter , but can thrust the rocket skyward with up to 800 pounds of force .
The engines are tested on Colossus , a homemade mobile hot-fire test stand that allows the students to put their engines through the full process of a launch without having to sacrifice a rocket should anything go awry . The team also offers use of Colossus to other universities , in order to promote collegiate space research among other students .
PROVING GROUND
In 2018 , the Friends of Amateur Rocketry and the Mars Society ( FAR-MARS ) promised a $ 50,000 prize for the first collegiate team to send a bi-propellant liquid-fueled rocket closest to 45,000 feet , with a minimum of 30,000 feet . This altitude has been reached using solid fuel , but never with liquid , which is more combustible and dangerous .
So far no university organization has managed to reach that height , but this year , the Triton SEDS team will once again venture out to their launch site in the Mojave Desert to try .
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TRITON | WINTER 2020