Akronauts make history again: Launch first student-designed liquid rocket from Ohio
VLV Launch: First Liquid Engine Rocket by a Collegiate Rocket Team in Ohio
On Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, members of the Akronauts, The University of Akron's (UA) student rocket design team, became the first collegiate rocket team in Ohio to fire a liquid-fueled rocket engine. Now, less than two years later on Monday, March 25, the team made history again by launching the first student-designed liquid rocket from Ohio.
Integration of the VENM engine hot fired in 2022 was not a simple task. The transition from a test stand which had no constraints for weight or instrumentation to a flight vehicle where weight and space efficiency are crucial to how high the rocket flies required the team to focus its efforts on simplifying the system and reducing the weight of existing components. This included consolidating the two propellant tanks into one, creating custom lightweight valves and replacing aluminum fins with a fiberglass composite layup. These were all new developments by the team, and all were extremely successful, reducing the rocket weight to only 80 lbs. (with filled tanks)!
Brothers, Trevor and Reece Davis working on the VLV test article.
"This was the toughest project I’ve ever worked on and the fact that we made it look easy come launch day is a true testament to how great this team really is," shared Reece Davis, Akronauts Liquid Propulsion Lead. "Even though this started as a liquid engine project, this would not have been possible without aerostructure, recovery, composites, avionics and controls. It truly took a full team."
The flight took place in Port Clinton, Ohio at ARES Inc. on the coast of Lake Erie where spectators and team members watched from bunkers or a live video feed. After a morning of rehearsed preparations, the rocket was carried out to the pad and hoisted up on the rail. After taking pictures of team members with the rocket, the majority of the team dispersed while the designated hazardous operations team filled the rocket with propellants, making it ready for launch.
Pictured left to right are Akronauts members Lukas Seggi, Aidan St Clair, Emily Spinelli and Eric Diffendal working on the composite layup.
After this was completed the remaining members went into the bunker, controlling the rocket pressurization and launch remotely with team-written software. The rocket was launched and reached a peak altitude, or apogee, of 10,012 feet. It descended under a parachute and landed in Lake Erie where it was recovered by ARES and a team of students and was brought back unharmed.
"Two years ago, the team approached me with this ambitious plan of becoming the first team in Ohio to build, test and launch a liquid engine rocket," said Dr. Manigandan Kannan, Akronauts faculty advisor and assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "After two years of hard work and diligence and failing numerous times, I am proud to say that this set of amazing students with a never-quit attitude achieved something that no other collegiate team in the state has done. And they did it within a shorter time and a lower budget than anyone else."
With this launch, the Akronauts became the first student liquid-fueled rocket launch in Ohio, as well as the fifth highest liquid-fueled rocket launch in the country. Afterward, a paper on the development of this rocket was presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2024 Region III Student Conference, where it received second place.
Interested in keeping up with the Akronauts? Contact them at uakronauts@gmail.com or visit their website at akronauts.org.
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Story by CEPS Marketing.
Media contact: Cristine Boyd, 330-972-6476 or cboyd@uakron.edu.