Constantine Childs Memorial Rocket

CCMR is a specialty rocket, designed to sustain extreme flight conditions. The rocket is only 30" in length, was is of custom handmade composite materials. The nosecone is composed of S-Grade Fiberglass, while the body tube and fins were roll-wrapped and laid up out of carbon fiber.
The COPV was made using a mixture of carbon fiber sleeves and roll wrapped fabric. With a case wall thickness of over 0.105", the theoretical max pressure was over 3500 PSI!

To test the limit of our composites, my teammate and I decided to use a specialized propellant . The motor’s aggressive thrust curve propelled the rocket to Mach 1 in roughly one second, with a sustained acceleration of over 100 Gs.

To maintain structural integrity under these forces, the airframe was designed with a fiberglass nosecone and coupler, and 1/4" fiberglass fins reinforced with a 3-layer carbon fiber layup. Since drilling holes into carbon fiber creates a weak point, the propulsion section featured a solid phenolic nozzle and forward closure, which were epoxied into place. The nosecone tip was machined from aluminum, held together the avionics bay using a threaded rod.

This project tested my theoretical and physical knowledge of composites, getting real life experience on a completely composite vehicle. Moving forward, I want to optimize the design for weight and strength, as the final design was substantially overbuilt. As a single use vehicle, optimizing for cost is a primary consideration in future designs. COPV's have the benefit of being easily manufacturable and fairly inexpensive, however, that comes with the price of reusability.

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