THe fighting irish in huntsville

Since its founding in the 2011-2012 academic year, Notre Dame Rocketry has participated in the NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI). Every year, the Fighting Irish have to design and document the construction of a flight-ready launch vehicle, performing various tests and launching several sub-scale and full-scale prototypes in order to qualify for the competition launch hosted by the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

The Competition at a glance

​USLI (University Student Launch Initiative) is the collegiate division of the Student Launch Challenge administered annually by the NASA Office of STEM Engagement. Students participating in the competition are responsible for the design and construction of a rocket that meets predetermined launch criteria laid out by NASA. At the start of the academic year, a team must formally apply to the competition, explaining their plan for approaching the competition's major challenges while meeting deadlines, keeping proper organization, and taking the necessary safety precautions. Once accepted into the annual competition, the team must keep NASA updated on their progress through major reports and their associated presentations. These reports are the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), Critical Design Review (CDR), Flight Readiness Review (FRR), FRR Addendum, and Post-Launch Assessment Review (PLAR). The competition has to design a launch vehicle that safely ascends to an exact target apogee (maximum height) before ejecting parachutes for a safe descent. The launch vehicle must also  incorporate a payload that performs certain tasks designated at the start of each year. The payload design challenge changes year over year to keep the competition exciting and expose students to different sciences and aspects of engineering design. The team is also responsible for paying their learning experiences forward through different educational outreach events that they host for local schools and community groups, serving the youth of their respective area.

The University Student Launch Initiative provides a unique opportunity for students to learn and grow as engineers in their time at college. Students learn not only the various aerospace and engineering concepts that go into designing rockets, but also more general life skills that will make them successful in their future careers as professional engineers.

MEET THE SQUADS

VEHICLEs

The Vehicles squad is responsible for the design and manufacturing of the exterior of the rocket. This includes the body tubes, fins, and nose cone. The squad also runs simulations to estimate the final altitude, speed, stability, and overall flight performance of the rocket.

Recovery

Recovery ensures the safe landing of the rocket. This is done with two modules that deploy parachutes, using sensors and ejection charges to separate the launch vehicle at specific points. The design must meet requirements for drift radius and kinetic energy upon landing.

PAYLOAD

Each year, this squad is responsible for the design we use for the annual Payload Design Challenge. The three most recent challenges have been a self-piloting helicopter that ejects, a radio transmitter extending from the body, and a device collecting soil samples.

Apogee Control System

ACS designs a secondary non-scoring payload that is responsible for reaching an exact apogee for the rocket. Ensuring the rocket will naturally overshoot the apogee, ACS designs a mechanism that extends flaps to slow down the rocket based in data from an IMU and altimeter. 

SAFETY

The safety squad works to identify and mitigate all potential risks to personnel, property, and the environment during all rocket construction, transportation, and launch procedures in order to maintain compliance with all application regulations.

Systems

The Systems Squad is responsible for outlining requirements for the team that must be subsequently verified or tested to ensure compliance. For example, a subscale launch vehicle is tested in a wind tunnel to accurately determine the drag coefficients and center of pressure.

Electrical

The electrical design squad designs electrical systems so that the different modules work as intended. This includes designing Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) to integrate sensors and actuators for the embedded systems and writing code so that the modules work efficiently.