Every year, NASA challenges university students with a different, multifaceted rocketry competition with the purpose of teaching them about real-world engineering project lifecycles and how NASA’s programs operate. This year, the challenge was to accurately predict the altitude to which their rockets would fly during launch week and to design and build a payload that could navigate to a collection site, collect 10 mL of simulated lunar ice, store it, and navigate 6 ft out of the site.
To meet these challenges, the OSU USLI team predicted an altitude of 4,000 ft, and worked to ensure that the rocket would fly to 4,000 ft through designing and manufacturing a reliable rocket, selecting a commercial motor, and implementing a custom airbrake system. The team designed and built the payload to be a remote-controlled rover with a scoop that could collect the ice and then be retracted to store the ice as the rover was driven away. The team also designed and manufactured a recovery system that allowed the rocket to land safely and an avionics system that collected data and helped locate the rocket after landing.
Ultimately, OSU USLI successfully met all of NASA’s challenges, however, the team was unable to finish the competition due to COVID-19 and all USLI activities after April 1st being cancelled. Despite this, the competition was still scored with 60% of the regular points. OSU USLI placed 8th overall out of 46 teams, and 1st in STEM Engagement, with over 2,000 K-12 students reached.