Over the course of two semesters, students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville designed, built, and flew a sounding rocket in the NASA Student Launch Competition. The sounding rocket had a 6 in. diameter, was 119 in. long, and flew on an Aerotech L2200 solid rocket motor to an altitude of 5160 ft The rocket airframe had a secondary set of fins located forward of the main stability fins which could be actuated to control the roll of the rocket. The objective of the project was to launch the rocket to 1 mile above ground and during the glide phase of the flight, induce a controlled two revolution spin, followed by a counter roll to stabilize the rocket to a zero roll state. The student team consisted of 8 mechanical and 6 aerospace engineering students. Throughout the two semesters the students developed a rocket design, fabricated the rocket, conducted subscale and full scale preliminary flights, and provided design reviews to the NASA sponsors. This paper provides an overview of the student launch competition, the requirements for the rocket project, the UAH rocket design, the payload design, and results from flight tests.
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