I was a member of the Vehicle Design Squad of the Notre Dame Rocketry Team for the NASA University Student Launch Initiative 2017-2018 competition. As a member of this squad I was able to contribute to the design analysis, refinement, and implementation through construction of the vehicle as a whole. The rocket we designed was named Murphy, for Murphy’s Law, after several unexpected and extremely adverse events caused the team to have to reevaluate and even completely redesign in a very short time. These events did not stop the team; Murphy was able to have a successful demonstration flight, and the team placed 10th overall in the competition.
This experience allowed me to gain experience in documentation during a design life-cycle for a project being reviewed by NASA. I wrote sections of the Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Flight Readiness Review, and Post Launch Action Review reports. I also had the chance to present via video conferences for each milestone report to a panel of NASA engineers and scientists about the portions of the project that I was responsible for.
By the time of the Flight Readiness Review I had taken ownership of all structural analysis of the rocket during its flight, with emphasis on events of critical load and stress during the flight. I accomplished by calculating expected loads on the rocket during its flight using computer simulation software. I then modeled the stress on the rocket body as a whole during these events, as well as points of critical failure (where the stress caused by the load would be highest) and calculated the stress at those locations for the various conditions and events I was interested in. I used the properties of these elements (material, geometry, etc.) to calculate the factors of safety for the rocket and these critical components during the events of interest. I reported both the method of analysis as well as the results in the Flight Readiness Review report that we submitted to NASA.
The entire experience was extremely valuable, as it gave me both technical and hands-on experience. The design of the rocket was extremely complex, I gained a solid foundation in technical writing and presentation, and the construction of the rocket allowed me to learn principles of designing for manufacturing as well as practical skills such as machine operation.