Blog #6 | International Astronautical Congress

Just this past week, UNH SEDS attended our first conference of the school year. The IAC (International Astronautical Congress) held this year in Washington D.C. is an event to gather experts in the field of aeronautics and discuss the future possibilities of spaceflight. Three of our members attended the event this year being Charlie Nitschelm, Thomas Collins and Ross Thyne. During this event, we were able to connect with many aerospace companies and we look forward to hearing from them in the next few weeks. And as a quick announcement, our application for the 2020 Spaceport America Cup has been accepted!

The Hackathon finished up with a full reassembly of the rocket frame and its internal components so that we can move on to Usurper V2. At present, we have a goal of 5 rocket versions, each one further improving the design after testing it. Some current projects that our engineering teams are working on are an expendable cap on the end of our engine used to pressurize the combustion chamber before opening the oxidizer valve, researching possible options for a decoupling system using shear pins and CO2 canisters, and working out methods to decrease the heat transfer in the combustion chamber walls.