2015-2016 Closing

[Cal Poly Space Systems]

Hey CPSS,

Sorry for the delay, I have been busy with family matters since we got back from IREC. I hope the active members read this whole email even though it's long winded.

2015-2016 Achievements: I want to thank everyone for all the hard work this year. I'm proud of you all and happy that this was my last year with the club. I'm proud of the rocket we built, and how much we improved our processes and club knowledge this year. Kyle is now an expert on the winder, and hopefully we get a few more experts early next year before Kyle graduates. Steven has completely revamped our ground support and improved data acquisition tremendously. We need a few new ground support people next year to keep this success going. Yaroslav has done an excellent job getting people involved with test rockets and getting us to our first successful recovery in a few years. Hopefully we can have a few more experimental flights next year to perfect our systems. George has done an exceptional job in the shop and is responsible for CPSS having more machined components on our rocket than any other team. The quality of workmanship of our rocket is among the best, and we should take pride and that and strive for better next year. Let’s keep as much of this knowledge as possible in the club, and work over the summer to get as much as possible written down.

Now on to IREC.
We scored 600 points in the competition, which put us 7 out of 8 advanced teams. I’ll say that’s pretty good for not flying, but we need to move up 7 places next year. (We also need to fly this year’s rocket over the summer to show how well we would have done)

I know tensions were high at times, and some of us seemed frustrated at times, but I don’t want that to deter anyone. Rockets can be a stressful business at times, and we all need to work together and keep our cool, which admittedly was difficult for me at times in the Utah desert. I want to reiterate that I’m proud of the work everyone has done, and hopefully we learn from our mistakes and are able to run much smoother next year. (Test everything so we don’t run into another issue like the fire valve at IREC)

IREC timeline: (this was put together by Harrison)

                Tuesday: Showed up, pitched tents, slept.

-Wednesday: Submitted report and stuff, showed up for welcome ceremonies. Gave design presentation, which seemed to be well received. Got a lot of questions on the decoupler, though. Moved equipment to launch site to prep for launch.

-Thursday: Showed up early, got electronics approved. Rocket was not assembled fast enough after electronics approval to make the high-altitude launch window. (Not entirely our fault: FAA window was shorter than ESRA requested, and electronics approvals started late.)

-Friday: Showed up early again, assembled rocket with nearly an hour of launch window remaining. Delays from other teams on the pad prevented us from setting up and launching. Set up GSE by a pad in the evening to prepare for Sat. launch.

-Saturday: Early as usual, did final rocket prep and set up on the pad. After some LabView issues (The program itself, not Steven's stuff), we were ready to fuel and launch with at least an hour remaining in the window. Began fueling, discovered leaky valve.

-Sunday: Packed up camp, left Green River at 6:30. Drove for far too long. Unpacked at the hangar late at night.

Summer FAR day: August 6 or August 20 look like good days.
Sometime over the summer, a team will be up in SLO to examine the fire valve and fix it or build a new one. Once that is complete, the rocket is ready to fly at FAR. We will work with Cody to get gases for FAR and will be taking our trailer to the launch site since it looks like we will be able to use it at IREC next year and it will make integration much easier. Harrison and Alaina will be planning this trip, and I encourage you all to look up to the club’s new leadership. I have great confidence in them and have high hopes that next year will be much more successful than this year and a better learning experience.

Thanks again for all the hard work and dedication.
Fly High,

Adam Whitmarsh🚀