Big Red

BIG RED is ITR's first dual-stage rocket with a targeted altitude of 33,000ft. Initially built for the 2022 Spaceport America competition, "Big Red" stands slightly over 13 feet with a 4-inch diameter. 

Big Red features NOVA, a STM32 custom flight computer designed and fabricated by ITR student, along with custom ground station for live telemetry and data analysis built from Python tkinter. 

The rocket is a whopping 13.35 feet and weighs just under 60 pounds. The booster stage is equipped with AeroTech N2000W motor, and the second stage is equipped with an AeroTech M1780. 

"Big Red" was ultimately launched at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in Mojave, California on December 16th, 2023

Structure

After the body tube and fins are cut, the fins are secured to the body tube using West System epoxy. A laser-cut MDF fin guide is used to keep the fin straight while curing. Fin guides are an auxiliary tool that can be purchased at a rocketry vendor or designed and laser cut in-house. Keeping the fins straight is extremely important for dual-stage rockets to ensure a straight flight and prevent tilting. Most commercial fin guides are just flat pieces of fiberglass or plywood. 

Commercial fin guide designs only work well when fins are attached at the end of the body tube or when used for a minimum-diameter fin design. As a result, our leads designed and laser cut a fin guide that can act as a guide and holder to keep everything straight and in place.

Once the fins were set in place, the Structures team performed a tip-to-tip carbon fiber layup using carbon fiber cloth and West System epoxy to prevent fin flutter. A tip-to-tip layup is a continuous layer of composite cloth from the tip of one fin to the tip of the adjacent fin. This method helps increase the fin’s strength and improve the surface finish. Once the epoxy is cured, students sand the surface with high-grit sandpaper, water, and acetone for a smooth finish.

Avionics

Sustainer & Booster

All flight computers and supplementary electronics (Pull pin switches and batteries) are in the sustainer’s avionics bay, inside the sustainer’s dual-deployment coupling (mid-body length of the stage). The primary flight computer system consists of an AltusMetrum TeleMega, which has barometric and GPS altitude detection and is also responsible for igniting the sustainer motor. The backup flight computer consists of a Featherweight Altimeters Blue Raven, which has barometric altitude detection with no RF transmission.

Ground Station

The ground station also utilizes the dual-redundant setup for safety. The primary system consists of TeleBT paired with a 433 MHZ Yagi antenna connected to a laptop running AltOS software. The backup system consists of Baofang BF-F8HP with NA-771 antenna receiving APRS packets sending data to Android tablet using APRSdroid software.

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