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The Rocket
The New Jersey Institute of Technology Rocketry Club (NJITRC) in its second year as a club, joining into the largest rocket competition, was a large undertaking. The 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) was not only our clubs very first competition, but also first high powered rocket. In this we learned a lot not only in the design and construction of high powered rockets, but also in project and timeline management, logistical organization, and staying prepared and ready for what came ahead. We were lucky to have our mentor George George to guide us and ensure we were staying practical and safe. Only with his help were we able to finish the project in time for competition and have everything go to plan. Later placing 43rd/80 in the 10K COTS category, and overall placing 63rd/141 teams.
In this project I worked unofficially as (the Team lead would later call me) Chief Engineer, and officially as Structures sub-team lead. In this I played a critical role in the design of the rockets structural elements including, the fin assembly, motor retainment, avionics bay, and finally the payload assembly. With our design completed I then lead the procurement, manufacturing, and assembly of our rocket under the guide of George George, with him carefully inspecting everything along the way, giving his seal of approval.
Mass Emulator Payload
For the IREC competition there are two options with regard to the payload; either create a scientific payload, with an objective, or use a non scientific, "boiler-plate" (mass emulator) payload. Since this was our universities first year we decided to keep the project simple, opting for a boiler-plate payload. This means we had to follow the requirements outlined below. This ultimately led us to using Acetal for our material with the final payload passing all dimensional and mass checks for competition!
4.4 lbs. or greater (Above 4.2 lbs. no penalty)
Independently weigh-able from the rest of the rocket
Not altering the trajectory of the rocket if replaced with the same mass
Dimesions of 100 mm x 100 mm x 300 mm ±2 mm (3U - Payload Cube Units)
With these requirements we found Acetal to be the best choice due to its stability from moisture as well as thermal expansion. We focused primarily on these category's since the payload would be manufactured in the relatively humid and cool New Jersey climate, with final weighing and dimensional measurements being taken in the dry hot Texas desert. We couldn't afford our payload meeting the requirements in Jersey and being out of spec in Texas.
After squaring up the rough stock, and taking it to final external dimensions, we measured the density of the acetal we were using. We did this by measuring mass of the block and then the length of each side and taking the largest of the dimensions to calculate the volume. We specifically used the largest dimensions in order to artificially inflate the volume, therefore decreasing the density; this minimized the material we would need to remove since were essentially minimizing the initial weight in the CAD model. This ensured that if we messed up our calculations we would be falling on the higher side of 4.4lb, ensuring we didn't go below the minimum weight.
More engineering work and calculations will be added soon!
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