USC Rocket Propulsion Lab

[catdlr]

Meet the First College Students to Launch a Rocket Into Space | WIRED


WIRED
Published on May 31, 2019

A team from the University of Southern California's Rocket Propulsion Laboratory became the first student team to launch a rocket into space. WIRED's Arielle Pardes spoke with Neil Tewksbury, the team's Lead Operations Officer, about what it took to make it happen.

Source Article 

 UCS RPL YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk5QAiL41LA?t=001

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk5QAiL41LA

[Steven Pietrobon]

USC Video. Traveller IV launched on 21 April 2019 and reached 103,571 m with 90% certainty using 81.6 kg of solid propellant. Traveller III had launched on 29 September 2018, but the parachute failed to deploy due to the avionics not being turned on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5j74uv427g

[john smith 19]

USC Video. Traveller IV launched on 21 April 2019 and reached 103,571 m with 90% certainty using 81.6 kg of solid propellant. Traveller III had launched on 29 September 2018, but the parachute failed to deploy due to the avionics not being turned on.

For the students involved this was a tremendous achievement both in the event and the learning of how to go about making it happen.

A job very well done.

[catdlr]

....bump for new video

Fireball - A Documentary Film

 May 23, 2023

By Alexandra Miller and Thomas Rudden

A documentary following the students of the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab, the first student group to successfully launch a rocket into space, embark on their next mission - an attempt to build a high-altitude rocket that gets the club and their spaceshots back on track.

https://youtu.be/yt_RZhmHyq0

[Steven Pietrobon]

Fireball launched on 1 April and reach an altitude of about 43 km. Some screen grabs of the launch.

http://www.uscrpl.com/fireball-1

[catdlr]

Shockwave Static Fire (3,796 lbf / 45,698 lbf-s)

Oct 24, 2023
Shockwave is the Most Powerful Solid-rocket Motor Ever Fired by Students! As well as the Most Powerful Composite-Case Solid-rocket Motor Ever Fired by Amateurs'!

Motor Classification: R-class
Thrust: 4,221 lbf (Vacuum) / 3,796 lbf (Sea-level)
Chamber Pressure: 831 psi
Burn Time: 16 s
Total Impulse: 53,059 lbf-s (Vacuum) / 45,698 lbf-s (Sea-level)
Specific Impulse: 266 s (Vacuum) / 229 s (Sea-level)
Propellant mass: 199 lbm

Note: Smoke from case was not a result of combustion chamber leakage and did not affect the structural integrity of the CFRP case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQFTWJPkvhE

[plugger.lockett]

USC RPL is attempting another suborbital space shot on 20 April.

[plugger.lockett]

So to provide a quick update, this attempt failed due to faulty programming on a COTS flight computer. This programming error caused the nose cone ejection charge to fire when the FC detected launch.

[lightleviathan]

Little 3 minute video that details the prelaunch ops of Aftershock, cuts off right after ignition and before anomaly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTR8bP7V6yQ

[Steven Pietrobon]

The point at which they stopped the video.

[ccdengr]

So to provide a quick update, this attempt failed due to faulty programming on a COTS flight computer. This programming error caused the nose cone ejection charge to fire when the FC detected launch.

That's gotta hurt, after all that work ruined by a mistake most amateurs manage to avoid.  I wonder what computer they were using?  I'm guessing one that has notoriously bad documentation (*cough*Telemega*cough*)

[plugger.lockett]

So to provide a quick update, this attempt failed due to faulty programming on a COTS flight computer. This programming error caused the nose cone ejection charge to fire when the FC detected launch.

That's gotta hurt, after all that work ruined by a mistake most amateurs manage to avoid.  I wonder what computer they were using?  I'm guessing one that has notoriously bad documentation (*cough*Telemega*cough*)

That's a negative, they didn't incur the wrath of the altus experience.
It was apparently a Blue Raven, they wrote a custom config, obviously didn't test in irl and most likely didn't simulate it in software (otherwise they would have detected the fault), and just yoloed it.

[plugger.lockett]

Looks like USC RPL is going to make another go at a suborbital space shot this week.

[lightleviathan]

USCRPL's TFR is up!

https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_4_9124.html

[Steven Pietrobon]

In summary, Aftershock II will attempt a launch no earlier than 1300 19 Oct 2024 UTC.

[plugger.lockett]

Flight and recovery were both successful.

[Steven Pietrobon]

JSR reports the launch was on 20 October at 18:24 UTC.

https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/latest.html

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBaRCSvpOvq/?img_index=2

"One year after Shockwave and 6 months after Aftershock I, we have successfully flown Aftershock II to space!

More details to come soon as we process the data."

[plugger.lockett]

Data is in. They hit a max altitude of 470k ft AGL and absolutely shattered CSXT's record.
https://www.uscrpl.com/aftershock-ii

[catdlr]

Data is in. They hit a max altitude of 470k ft AGL and absolutely shattered CSXT's record.
https://www.uscrpl.com/aftershock-ii

Highest-Ever Rocket by Amateurs (470,400 ft, Mach 5.5) | Aftershock II Launch

Feb 13, 2025
Aftershock II was the second successful space shot by USCRPL, reaching an apogee of 470,400 ft (143 km) and Mach 5.5. It broke the twenty-year-standing world record for the highest amateur rocket apogee and RPL’s own highest student rocket apogee world record. Designed, built, and launched from scratch by students at the University of Southern California, Aftershock II culminated from the club's 20 years of internal development. Thank you again to our sponsors, followers, and, of course, our members. These achievements are only possible because of your contributions. Flight On!

To learn more or contact us, please visit www.uscrpl.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLxmjLORESk