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Responsible Engineers: Ben, Sera, Dylan, Sam, Ezra, Emily, Hong, Juan, Nihal

*Note this system was descoped due to its complexity and safety concerns and was replaced by a new staging cone design. This staging cone included dowel pins that interfaced with holes on the bottom lip of the sustainer nozzle to prevent the sustainer from "twisting off" the booster during stage separation. A picture of this design can be seen below.

MIT Rocket Team > Medusa Active Separation (ASIT) > image2023-12-3 13:53:1.png

Purpose of ASIT:

Minimize effects of roll coupled instability to increase altitude
Create a mechanically reliable separation mechanism between stages to be independent of external factors
Replace drag separation system

Possible separation mechanisms:

Pyrotechnic bolts: Black powder inside the bolts is ignited and the bolts break which allows stage separation
Shear fasteners: Second stage ignition creates pressure build up which breaks the shear pins holding stages together
Clamp bands: Two rings clamped together are held in place by bolt; explosives used to cut the clamping bolt or low shock release mechanism allows separation

Previous Research: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tLNmXbTf-7U4gAcfWLIA0tKY9M7hDJ0tfNnUzZUsjvk/edit#slide=id.g163b4058356_0_75, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1--9ZwutVredU8o6Q8-siPTgBAkyPWjnj13VRFe6kv1g/edit, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qsLoEZxI6sGaqtcGwe-9B6oirdFroUk_BiBHpKw73Pw/edit

Current Research:

Method	Pros	Cons
Pyrotechnics - Emily, Dylan, Justin	Simple Can be tested in blast chamber Simple enough to integrate at launch	Blackpowder
Shear Pins - Sera, Ben	Simple Easy to integrate at launch Compact Can be light if we don’t need a lot of metal to soak in heat from the second stage ignition	Uses some of our energy to separate Cannot be tested on campus, can maybe try with a smaller scale rocket Need to protect first stage from heat/exhaust
Clamp Bands - Kevin, Nihal	Well tested and demonstrated. Can be tested 50 million times in quick succession if needed.	More complicated, harder to make ourselves Might be difficult to assemble Can be heavy
CO2 - Juan, Sam	Work consistently at high altitude Can be tested easily	Heavy Lesser pressure than pyro, needs big tanks for this. Leads to first point.

Design Constraints:

Pre-loading for extra force of separation
Strong Connection Points to each stage
Method of actuation must be powered by flight computer on booster stage