Rocket Students Achieve Lift-Off

Jun 04, 2008 - 15:38:11 CDT.

REDBIRD 11, generating 2,000 pounds of thrust as it leaves the FHS aerospace program’s 45-foot launch tower Saturday. The 2,000 pound thrust is the strongest motor developed so far by the program, teacher Brett Williams said. Photos courtesy IGNITE program

It was a day of mixed results and some good lessons in problem solving for 15 current and former Fredericksburg High School students who returned to White Sands Missile Range to attempt to launch two rockets Saturday.

Redbird 10 and Redbird 11 were the vehicles designed and built this year in the FHS aeroscience program taught by Brett Williams.

Redbird 11 had a “beautiful launch” but encountered some problems during its flight.

Redbird 10 came close but two glitches encountered on Saturday prevented a successful launch, Williams said.

The students and staff arrived at the Army test site in New Mexico Thursday.

“All preliminary testing of the rocket components was flawless and the team was actually ahead of schedule right up to the hour of launch,” he said.

The two rockets were not duplicates of each other.

“Each class designed a completely different rocket as well as new launch systems,” Williams said. “Both vehicles had been completely recycled and retested from last year’s attempt and were 100 percent ready to go.”

The team also developed a new remote fill system and a remote fire system, he said. Both tested successfully at school and at the range.

But just before it was time to begin filling Redbird 10 on the tower, an igniter misfire due to a computer glitch caused that firing attempt to be aborted.

“The crew made the decision to put Redbird 11 on the pad while one team worked on installing new igniters in Redbird 10,” Williams said.

Redbird 11 “had a beautiful launch,” he added, but just ten seconds into the flight, the rocket had an anomaly -- a problem that came up -- with the pressure vessel.

Just as the vehicle was reaching transonic speed, a large cloud of oxidizer could be seen on the video that recorded the launch.

In addition, Williams noted, the telemetry data showed that the oxidizer flight tank pressure dropped from 617 psi to zero.

“Beyond this point the vehicle began to corkscrew, showing an additional impulse vector being added to the vehicle’s flight,” he said.

The students will be performing a root cause analysis to determine the cause of the problem and Williams noted that he and the team will analyze video and data to determine what actually took place.

Meanwhile, Williams reported, against the expectations of the White Sands staff, the FHS students managed to replace the ignition system in Redbird 10 in time to keep their launch window.

But again, a problem cropped up.

After they loaded about 50 percent of the oxidizer, the nitrous valve experienced a leak.

This was especially frustrating, Williams said, because all the components had passed through pre-launch testing and the backup components they brought also failed.

He complimented the Army’s support during the tests.

“When our fiber optics failed to transmit signal on the day of the tests, we could not have been successful had the Army not pulled in some microwave dishes that the students could use to communicate and control events at the pad,” he said.

But failure to launch does not mean that the mission was unsuccessful.

“The fact that the Redbird 11 launched at all showed that, in the end, the students were able to problem-solve past all the problems and still fire off on time,” Williams said. “The students did a fantastic job. They could have given up at several points but they kept working.”

This trip marked the local program’s sixth trip to White Sands and FHS remains the only high school ever to use the Army facility there to launch a rocket.

The rockets also carried research payloads designed by students at Stanford and Purdue universities.

“Such an ambitious project encourages students to prepare for a larger future,” Williams said. “This is all about the world of research and development. The focus of this program is on developing tomorrow’s innovators and problem-solvers. Since we had problems to solve, it was perfect for the students to experience.”

He complimented the students on the job they did.

“From the design of the vehicles to the fill and fire systems, this year’s students did a wonderful job on the rockets they designed and built,” he said.

FHS Aeroscience is working with Ignite (the local program designed to involve other schools in this type of study), Governor Rick Perry, the aerospace industry, the United States Army and the federal government to develop the opportunity for other high schools to replicate what is being done at FHS.

“Our hope is that a couple of years from now, the first of these schools will also be at White Sands with their rockets,” he said.

Students who made the trip included Rebekah Sosland, who dealt with integrating the Stanford payload and communications; Will McCormack, vehicle support; Logan Lastovica, fill and fire control systems; Kevin Falting, Mason De Wolf, fill system tech; Christi Harper, public relations; Michael Davis, Marissa Lang, Josh Klein and Paul White, launch tower tech.

Former students Kate Horstman, Robert Deaver and Cassi Pate helped with Redbird 10 recovery and electrical support.

Accompanying the students were Andrew Matthes, Ned Butler, Gene Garrett and Williams.