Our Crowdfunding Groups
What is LRA?
The Longhorn Rocketry Association is a project-based engineering student organization for rocketry enthusiasts at The University of Texas at Austin. We design and optimize our rockets to reach thousands of feet in altitude, build our own composite airframes, and launch with commercially built solid motors all in the hopes of meeting our longtime goal of reaching 100,000 feet! This year, we are taking the next steps by designing, building, testing and launching a hybrid engine powered rocket for the IREC competition.
What is a hybrid engine?
A hybrid engine is essentially a rocket motor that runs on a combination of a liquid and solid propellant. Solid propellant engines are less efficient compared to hybrid propellant engines while liquid propellant engines are much more complex and dangerous. As a middle ground between solid or liquid engines, the hybrid engine system can be used to maximize both efficiency and simplicity. Our Engine Development Team has been working on creating a liquid N2O (Nitrous Oxide) and solid HTPB (Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene) hybrid engine to power our IREC rocket.
A preliminary conceptual design of LRA's hybrid engine. This model includes the solid fuel grain and the exhaust nozzle.
The engine development team, one of LRA's high powered teams, will produce as much of the engine themselves as possible. To do this, the team will need a variety of materials such as HTPB and binder for the solid fuel grains for each engine iteration, graphite for the nozzle, aluminum for the oxidizer injector, and other materials for smaller components of the engine. The team will require new machining tools that are compatible with these materials in order to develop the necessary engine components. The nozzle is critical to the performance of the engine, and as such, the team will outsource the nozzle to a professional machinist for fabrication.
What is IREC?
The Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) is part of the Spaceport America Cup that will be held in New Mexico in June 2017. IREC is an international event that brings in collegiate rocketry groups from multiple universities in several countries to compete for recognition in different rocketry categories. LRA will be competing in the 10,000 feet student researched and developed (SRAD) hybrid or liquid rocket propulsion system category.
For this competition, LRA will combine our research groups (Engine Development and Serial Staged) to launch a rocket that will be completely designed, built, and tested in-house, from the composite airframe to the hybrid engine itself. IREC will be a great challenge for us this year and for years to come.
The Serial Staged team will be responsible for the design and fabrication of the IREC rocket's air frame. The team will need fiberglass, some carbon fiber and epoxy for a majority of the airframe. They will also need G10-fiberglass for fin fabrication and avionics such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and inertial measurement units.
What do we do at the Pickle Research Campus?
The Pickle Research Campus is The University of Texas at Austin's off-site research campus, where dozens of university departments conduct groundbreaking research every day. LRA recently acquired a test site at the Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics' wind tunnel facility for the Engine Development Team's engine test stand, which we will use to conduct hotfire testing of our hybrid engine system. This will be our first venture into developing a test site to safely and regularly run tests for this year's competition and for future research into engines.
Preliminary layout of LRA's Rocket Engine Test Site at the Pickle Research Campus.
LRA has secured a cement pad at the Aerospace Engineering department's wind tunnel at the Pickle Research Campus that will hold the thrust structure and the engine during testing. In order to protect all of the important research that is conducted here, LRA will clear all combustibles from the immediate vicinity of the test pad and install blast shields on the test pad. The k-bottles that hold all the fuel and fluids necessary for testing will need to be close to the test stand and will be housed in a shed near the test pad. This shed will need several upgrades so that it can safely house pressurized fluids. LRA plans on putting metal side paneling to fire-proof and strengthen the shed in the unlikely chance of explosions on the test pad. The interior will also require renovations so that the k-bottles and sensitive equipment along the fluid lines can be properly mounted. Engine tests will be conducted remotely from a near-by building that has a direct line of site of the test pad. This building will house all necessary electronics needed to collect data from our engine during hot-fires. Wiring from instrumentation on the engine and thrust structure will be run through conduits from the test pad to the observation and data collection center in the near-by building.
___________
LRA is an organization that brings together what we've learned in and out of the classroom to reach new heights (and break the speed of sound, several times, too). Join us in experiencing the explosive results of our projects by supporting LRA!
~Thank you and Hook 'em!
A rocket needs a body! LRA can buy much needed fiberglass to build our IREC rocket's body frame.
The team needs to run stainless steel tubing at the test site to carry fuel and water. Help our members test engines safely!
LRA needs specialized machining tools to machine critical parts of the hybrid rocket engine. Help them out with a tool or two!
LRA's test site is home to important research for both LRA and UT's Aerospace Engineering department. Help us keep them both safe during engine testing with a blast shield!
LRA's engine tests will be conducted remotely. Help us get all the necessary wiring and electronics installed at our test site to ensure our tests are conducted safely!
The engine test stand is designed to withstand the forces from the hybrid engine during testing. To ensure it can take the forces of testing, LRA will outsource the thrust structure to a professional welder!
There are components of the engine that will have complicated geometries such as the engine nozzle. These components are critical to the success of the rocket in the IREC competition, so help us send our designs to a professional machinist!
The IREC team is a consolidation of almost all of LRA's members and they all need transportation to and lodging at the IREC rocket launch site in New Mexico next summer. Help our team get there and experience the explosive results of their hard work!
Help LRA complete all test site upgrades and improvements and obtain all materials needed for our hybrid engine!
Although IREC is next summer, LRA hopes to continue researching and developing custom rocket engines for years to come! Help us make our engine test site a permanent addition to the Pickle Research Campus by supporting our research into hybrid rocket engines!
