The Daedalus Project
Project Overview
The Daedalus Project took shape from a shared passion for aerospace engineering by the five members of the Senior Design Team 523PC. This team's goal was to successfully compete in the 2023-2024 NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) as a rookie team, engaging the local community in aerospace, and form a club aimed at fostering rocketry and mechatronics at FSU Panama City. This year, the rigorous NASA USLI requirements were as follows:
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A 5lb payload ejected from the vehicle during flight and land in a predetermined orientation
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An apogee, or maximum altitude, between 4,000 - 6,000 ft
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The final launch vehicle consists of a fiberglass wound airframe, equipped with fully redundant avionics systems designed to deploy the recovery parachutes of the vehicle. This project commenced in the Fall of 2023, operating outside of the typical Senior Design schedule at the campus. The team navigated organizational challenges, holding meetings at FSU Panama City and launches in Samson, AL, while balancing their full course load. All project deliverables have been submitted to NASA and the Mechanical Engineering Department. The culmination of our efforts resulted in the successful flight of the final launch vehicle, the Daedalus I, during the competition held in Huntsville, AL.
Timeline
Our timeline shows different stages of our project from the creation of the group to competition launch week.
Project Proposal
August 2023
The Daedalus Project submitted a 250 page report with rudimentary designs for a launch vehicle to NASA to declare their intent to represent Florida State University Panama City in the 2024 NASA Student Launch.
Certification Launch
September 2023
The team decided to launch 5 model rockets to get more familiar with the rocketry process and familiarize themselves with the intricacies of launching
Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
October 2023
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The team went through the engineering design process to create an initial model for the Daedalus I vehicle. The PDR report was created with material selection, dimensions, and plans for construction and flight of a test vehicle, the Icarus I.
Subscale Flights
December 2023 - January 2024
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The team created a subscale flight vehicle at one half the diameter of the full-scale Daedalus, and had three test flights. The first was done in Palm Bay, FL, in 15 mph winds and was successful. A second flight was done to verify the results in Samson, AL, though the vehicle suffered a premature separation leading to a critical failure of the flight vehicle. This failure was due to improper airflow over the avionics bay, and was rectified with a successful third flight.
Critical Design Review (CDR)
January 2024
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The team submitted the critical design review to provide evidence that the design was mature enough to proceed to full-scale fabrication. This included flight data from the first two flights, and plans to rectify the full-scale so no errors would occur.
Full Scale Flight I
February 2024
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Team523PC launched their first iteration of their full-scale vehicle, the Daedalus I, in Samson, AL. This flight was nominal until a premature release of the main parachute at apogee, or the maximum altitude. This led to the vehicle drifting 2.5 miles away from the launch rail.
Full Scale Flight II
March 2024
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The Daedalus I launch vehicle was reflown with adjustments to the packing of the main parachute. The flight behaved similarly to the first flight, with a premature ejection of the main parachute, however the retention worked better than previously as the vehicle only drifted half a mile from the launch rail. Unfortunately, the vehicle landed in a watery ditch, ruining some of the electrical components for the avionics and payload.
Flight Readiness Review (FRR)
March 2024
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After an unsuccessful launch 2 the team submitted a report on our progress on the project and a what changes needed to be made before competition launch day. With another early deployment the team planned to redesign the parachute packing method to avoid another early deployment.
Full Scale Flight III & IV
April 2024
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The team launched Daedalus I and deployed the payload on the descent this ended with the payload crashing to the ground and the vehicle landing outside of the recovery range. The team mourned the loss of the payload quickly and then scrambled to reconfigure the vehicle for a successful vehicle demonstration flight, which was achieved.
Flight Readiness Review Addendum
April 2024
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After the early deployment in flights 1 and 2 the team opted to submit an addendum to allow for time to make corrections to the launch vehicle . After flights 3 and 4 the team submitted the addendum stating that we would not be launching a payload vehicle but did have a successful launch vehicle and safe recovery. The successful flight and document allowed us to make competition launch week!
Competition Week
April 2024
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After a successful vehicle launch the team was fortunate enough to be allowed into the final competition launch week where we got to network with other teams and professionals. The team also had a successful launch during competition and the flight and recovery of Daedalus I was described as "textbook" by the National Association of Rocketry.
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