THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A 100 KM TWO-STAGE ELECTROMECHANICAL PARACHUTE RECOVERY SYSTEM

摘要

Recovery systems for amateur and university-class rocket projects are notoriously unreliable and tend to be ad-hoc systems without much engineering analysis. This paper demonstrates the design, development, and testing of an electromechanical recovery system for a 100km capable university-class amateur rocket. Traditional recovery concepts such as pyrotechnics and gas cartridges were studied, as well as recent innovations such as shape memory alloy wire, in an effort to create a repeatable, robust, and testable high-altitude rocket recovery system. This paper discusses the initial research, engineering analysis, design decisions, prototype development, and validation testing of the system. Validation testing includes reliability metrics gathered from extensive ground testing, a complete system test deployed from a helicopter, and finally the system's use on a roughly half-scale rocket.