Overview

The Avionics Tower sits inside the Avionics Bay and holds the batteries, altimeters, and 4 cameras for flight.

Rev. 1

The first revision of the Avionics tower was built for the Hermes Pathfinder. It evenly distributed altimeters and batteries throughout its 6 panels. The piston fits in the middle of the avionics tower. It did not accommodate the camera system.

Rev. 2

In order to accommodate the camera system and batteries, the tower needed to be reorganized. Two of the batteries were moved to the inside, fitting between the piston and the tower panels. The tower will split into two shells with three panels each for ease of wiring and assembly, and use brackets to attach to the avionics bulkhead. 

CAD model inside the Hermes assembly (in progress). 

Rev. 3 (Flight 1 Config.) 

The avionics tower consists of 2 identical 3D printed end caps, and a 3D printed standoff. The 6 individual panels are made of 1/8" polycarbonate, and are bolted to the 2 end caps. The caps are indexed such that Panel 4 aligns with 0 deg on the rocket and the D-Sub connector. 

The tower was assembled on July 7th for the flight configuration. An interference was found between the elbow attachment for the Firebolt, and the upper end cap. This was fixed by cutting off the excess material on the end cap. The initial fitup with the panels and the piston was successful after fixing the interference. Pictures of the initial fitup are below.