This literally is rocket science. A group of students from the University of Southern California have successfully launched a self-made rocket into space.
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The innovative rocket design made by the students smashed the previous record which had stood for 20 years. The new amateur rocket flew an unbelievable 470,000 feet or 89 miles into space. Furthermore, it reached hypersonic speeds, hitting an astounding 5,283 feet-per-second at Mach 5.5.
This makes the group of students the first people outside of private industry or government to go so far into space with a rocket. The nose cone even managed to make a rather elegant and safe descent.
The Students Break Down How Their Rocket Broke Records
To succeed in their rocket flight, the students had to get creative. They invented new forms of fuel, specialized paint jobs, and clever designs to withstand the strains of space. Just praise comes from Yannis Yortsos, dean of the USC's Los Angeles-based Viterbi School of Engineering. "This extraordinary group of students shows how to imagine, what can be done in the lab, and how to make it a reality."
The record-breaking flight of the rocket was due to a few key elements invented by the students. One of the core changes was the use of a new type of fuel. The grain-type fuel takes a lot less space, weighs significantly less, and has an enormous output compared to their previous. The team boasts of their new propellant, saying "'Each propellant grain is made by USCRPL starting from raw chemicals, setting the club apart from many other collegiate rocketry teams."
This has cut a massive weight from previous amateur rocket designs. Due to the stripping of fuel weight, the 13-foot rocket comes in at only 330 pounds. This means more power for less weight, resulting in a huge record-breaking rocket flight for the students.
Not only was the launch from the Nevada desert a success, but the return journey was a breeze too. Using a new paint job on the student's rocket, they were able to recover a lot more of it than usual. In their report, they state "'Thermal protection at hypersonic speeds is a major challenge at the industry level. And the protective paint system that we developed performed perfectly, enabling the rocket to return largely intact." They owe the protection at intense speed and heat to a titanium coating that turned blue in the heat.
