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Here is a picture of the test firing, taken from the test control area:




ASA is very proud of the team's work and wishes to thank our sponsors once again for making this possible. Additionally, the students and volunteer engineer/mentors have worked tremendously hard on this program and deserve many thanks and congratulations.

The primary goal of the ASE program was to teach engineering skills via the construction and test firing of a rocket motor, and in that we were successful. A secondary goal was to create a useful propulsion system for next year's ASE program, but unfortunately the rocket motor is not ready. A few hardware failures in the motor system prevented a full exercise of the motor's capability and therefore the motor needs to be re-tested prior to continuing the program.

The most dramatic example of one failure can be seen on the test firing video www.asa-houston.org. The nozzle blew apart at ignition resulting in reduced thrust and motor efficiency. A preliminary review of the data suggests that the motor experienced a "hard start" at ignition and the resulting pressure wave may have caused the nozzle to break. A full team review of the test data will occur soon and hopefully the cause of this failure can be determined.

Here is a still shot immediately after ignition:



Aside from these developmental issues, though, the rocket motor development and test was a great educational success and will continue to be next year.]]> http://www.asa-houston.org/Projects/Blog-Prop/index.php?entry=entry070929-203655
After the data review, we discussed ways to improve the next test firing attempt, worked on upgrading the ignition system, and came up with a few ways to improve the LOX fill process.

We will meet 3-4 more times and then we will head out to the field to test fire the motor. Preliminarily, we will shoot for November 11.]]> http://www.asa-houston.org/Projects/Blog-Prop/index.php?entry=entry070826-232914
On Sunday we attempted to test fire the rocket motor three times. Each attempt was foiled by either hardware or software failures. This was very frustrating for the team but was certainly a good lesson in problem solving and field-engineering for the students.

Following this weekend's failed attempt, ASA will take a one month break and will then regroup and attempt another test firing.]]> http://www.asa-houston.org/Projects/Blog-Prop/index.php?entry=entry070818-023531
We started the day working on the nozzle retaining ring, which is a steel ring that grabs and holds the graphite nozzle in the end of the combustion chamber. Sixteen holes needed to be threaded and tapped for the ring, and here is a picture of the tapping process:



As this was happening, we finished up a couple of remaining brackets and configuration issues for the plumbing system. This involved some creative clamping, since the vise was occupied with the nozzle retaining ring activities:



Additionally, we spent much of the day working on the test stand, specifically the support rails and the motor mounting plate. All of our hard work was worth it, though, when we got to see the motor mounted on the test stand for the first time:



During the day, the computer team worked on the video and data streaming setup for the test site. We have a wireless video system in place that will give us remote monitoring capability for the test stand. If we can work out the details, we may even be able to broadcast a live video feed of the test onto the ASA website (still working out the bugs).

This coming week will be very busy building up to the test firing next weekend. Our team is ready!

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The next picture shows the injector hanging in free space with all of the propellant, igniter, and sense lines connected to it. Normally the the injector would be mounted on a steel plate, but the plate was removed for the picture:



We are taking next weekend off but will be doing final assembly work on the 18th.

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The steel version is identical to the wooden test stand (where it counts) and integrated easily with the main valve assembly. Next week we will add the ignition system and the rest of the avionics.

Lastly, it looks like we will be able to perform the rocket motor test firing in August, which has us very excited. When we settle on a date it will be posted here and on the main website.
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