Rockets

 In the summer of 2023, Team Abhyuday presented its first sounding rocket at the SAC'23, NM, USA. Participating in the 10K feet, COTS Solid Motor category, I lead a group of 5 members at the Airframe and Propulsion Subsytem of the team. Optimized the rocket's design using the feedback from the CFD and Structural simulations done using ANSYS.  This iterative optimization process coupled with state-of-the-art manufacturing incorporating carbon fiber into the rocket led to an accuracy of 98% in the actual vs predicted flight. Chetak our very first sounding rocket ranked 16th in the Jim Barrowman Flight Performance category.

 For the next competition, we decided to develop an all-new design. Including canards as control surfaces to actively reduce the rocket's roll. As the team lead, I recruited class "A" players, procured funding for the project, and led a 60-member team to achieve its second successful launch in the summer of 2024.  The propulsion subsystem at Team Abhyuday developed India's first student-built hybrid rocket engine.  

Chetak 2.0 achieved an overall rank of 20th globally amongst 140+ college teams, 11th in the 10K feet, COTS Solid Motor category, and 1st in Asia at the SAC'24.