Overview
The Project Aurora motor was designed as an O3657 using our recently characterized propellant, Deimos. This propellant was chosen for its low viscosity relative to our other propellants, which require packing as opposed to pouring. Additionally, the long burn time achieved by this propellant was beneficial, given the low mass of the vehicle, allowing us to operate at a consistent, moderate thrust throughout the first several seconds of flight. After a failed static test, the vehicle was flown with a modified grain, designed for flight at URRG, where the apogee ceiling is much lower than the original goal.
Original Motor Design:
Requirements
The following are relevant propulsion requirements defined by the Spaceport America Cup DTEG. Team-defined requirements for specific components may be found on their respective pages.
| Requirement | Description |
|---|---|
| 5.3 | Launch vehicles entered in the SA Cup shall use non-toxic propellants. Ammonium perchlorate composite propellant (APCP) is considered non-toxic |
| 5.5 | Metallic cases and forward closures shall be made of non-ferrous ductile metals such as 6061 aluminum alloy |
| 5.7.1 | All teams shall use either of the following for launch: Two (2) independent motor igniter devices OR One (1) pre-wired igniter containing two (2) ignitor heads |
| 5.17.5.1 | SRAD propulsion systems shall successfully complete an instrumented (chamber pressure and thrust), full scale (including system working time) static hot-fire test prior to the SA Cup |
| 5.18.2 | The minimum thrust-to-weight ratio for all competition launches shall be 5:1 |
| 6.19.4.1 | All SRAD and modified COTS pressure vessels constructed entirely from isotropic materials (e.g., metals) shall be designed to a burst pressure no less than 2x the maximum expected operating pressure |
| 6.19.6.1 | All SRAD pressure vessels shall be proof pressure tested successfully to 1.5x the maximum expected operating pressure for no less than twice the maximum expected system working time |
| 10.2.1 | A rail departure velocity of at least 100 ft/s is required |