3D Printed Rocket

Engineered to a tight flight envelope: under 3 oz with the Estes A8-3 motor, 1.10 to 2.50 calibers of static stability, at least 15.24 m/s rail-exit velocity, under 5 m/s descent, and a fully 3D-printed PLA airframe with parachute recovery and at least 15 cm^3 of chute space.

Designed a freeform three-fin airframe in SolidWorks with an elliptical nosecone and Starship-inspired nose fins, then validated static stability and flight performance in OpenRocket against the 1.10 to 2.50 caliber target.

Led build of the all-PLA airframe, printing four body-tube iterations to converge on the thinnest structurally viable wall and minimize mass against the under-3 oz limit, plus three nosecone iterations to resolve nose-fin printability at small scale.

The internal shock-cord ring cut into parachute space. Verified in OpenRocket that total mass held under 3 oz and rail-exit velocity stayed above 15.24 m/s.

Achieved a near-vertical boost with only a slight launch-rail angle; the parachute failed to deploy, but the shock-cord held, and the airframe survived.

With airframe/stability proven in flight, the recovery failure taught me a valuable lesson. I'd improve our recovery system design, as the constrained parachute space most likely drove the non-deployment.