Subteam Information
The Avionics and Recovery team ensures reliable in-flight data collection, telemetry, and safe rocket recovery.
Avionics and Recovery Team Lead: Samantha Kinnunen
Avionics Bay
Throughout a given year, the Avionics and Recovery Team will design an avionics bay for the subscale rocket and, subsequently, for the full-scale rocket. The team ensures a reliable telemetry system is in place, enabling us to collect large amounts of useful data from our launches. The live telemetry data collected during the flight includes altitude, acceleration, GPS location, and barometric pressure. There are also more sensors on board to help collect video, along with an Inertial Measurement Unit.
Live Telemetry
The Avionics and Recovery team has the added goal of achieving live video telemetry from our launches, so we can view the rocket launch in real time. We have the ambitious objective of creating a data overlay on that video that reflects live telemetry data gathered from the avionics bay. To accomplish this goal, multiple sensors in the avionics bay collect the data and video required. Alongside this, we will have an antenna in the avionics bay to gather and compile the data, then send it to the ground through that antenna.
Recovery System
Another key responsibility of the Avionics and Recovery Team is a safe rocket recovery after launch. The team installs an ejection charge system to ensure proper body separation and recovery. We use a dual-deployment system, which is beneficial because it helps ensure the system's success by connecting two different altimeters to the charges. When the deployment altitude is reached, the primary altimeter will activate its charge, and the secondary altimeter will do the same after a set time delay.
Current Projects
The next few months will be mostly devoted to testing. The design of the live video and telemetry system is finished, but now the team is ensuring it works. This testing includes RF penetration testing to ensure we can receive signals from the rocket on the ground. Alongside this, the team is testing the battery to confirm it can support all of the rocket’s electronics.
While testing the electronics, the Avionics and Recovery team will also finalize our recovery system design and begin testing. The main process is using ejection-charge testing or a "pop test" to confirm that the rocket will separate and release parachutes properly during recovery. This testing will be done on both the subscale and full-scale rocket to ensure the safety of our launches.