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Rocket ProjectBackground for Rocket Memo

Goals

The goals of this project:• Introduce class members to the

design, analysis, and test process. • Develop team skills• Reinforce or preview course content–Physics 1: ballistics–Calculus: integration concepts

Who Wants These Skills

Status

• Design work on this project is completed and the project is at a stage where the engineering team is responsible for performance analysis and test.

Team Members

• Team leader: responsible for logistics, ensuring access to materials and space, coordinating final report. Responsible for data logger for launch data.

• Manufacturing engineer: responsible for ensuring that the rocket is built to specifications

• Test engineer: provides data for input to model of rocket.

• Design analysis engineer: responsible for ensuring that a complete numerical model of the rocket is available and used with test data inputs and comparison to mission logger results.

First Job: Communicate!!!!

Memo will focus on how you will contribute to the rocket test program with the computer model of rocket performance and estimate of the maximum altitude of the rocket.

You will need to communicate both the value to the project and your needs for input to the modeling (thrust curve, mass of rocket, ??).

What Will You Promise?

Remember, you are proposing what you will do in the modeling, not providing results.

YOU DO NOT GIVE RESULTS, YOU TELL WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING!!!!

You will need to explain what tools (physics, math and Octave or Excel) will be used to do the modeling and why we can depend on those tools.

Writing Questions…

• Audience:– A “non-specialist technical sophisticated audience.– Explain why you are able to do this work reliably and

explain that the model is based on well accepted physics

– Describe how you will verify the accuracy of your model– The memo needs to be succinct. Length does not make

it stronger.– You should at least mention budget and timeline even if

you are not able to include details at this time

Details

• Who are you:Johanna Smith, Engineer, Rocket Products, your town ME

• Who are you addressing:Your boss, a technically sophisticated non-specialist

• What you will be doing– Creating a computer model of flight to find maximum

altitude– Building a rocket– Validating the model with data from a flight

Staffing and Budget

• Staffing– Team leader– Manufacturing engineer– Test engineer– Design analysis engineer

• Budget– Rocket (Estes Loadstar), engine, launch site

expenses (cookies?), rental of launch pad ???

Who Gets the Memo

• If you are in ECP101 – it is a class assignment• If you are not in ECP101 – it is a way to

organize your thoughts and I will review it• All submissions are electronic