HORIZON II is the next step in my journey of designing and launching a thrust vector controlled model rocket. With STARLIGHT as its flight computer and an aluminum TVC gimbal, HORIZON II is the ultimate thrust vector controlled rocket up to this point.
HORIZON II is essentially a mix of all of the skills and projects I’ve been working on for the past year and a half – thrust vectoring, hardware design, software, fabrication and machining skills, and 3D printing.
Features
HORIZON II has a similar design to HORIZON I, with a few major changes that will hopefully allow a safe launch and recovery.
Aluminum Thrust Vector Control Mount: HORIZON II boasts an aluminum thrust vector control mount, which will increase reliability and make the thrust vectoring mount much stronger.
Three-Part Airframe: HORIZON II is built with couplers in three parts for a myriad of reasons. These are explained more later.
MissionControl Software: HORIZON II is flying with STARLIGHT using the MissionControl firmware. This is an upgrade from HORIZON I, as HORIZON I simply used custom firmware, where HORIZON II has much more customizable and easy-to-use firmware.
Parachute Deployment w/Black Powder: The parachute for HORIZON II is going to be deployed with black powder, instead of a passive deployment system like HORIZON I. This should increase the chance of the parachute deploying successfully and the rocket landing safely.
Internal Design
I designed HORIZON II in a three-part airframe. The lower part is for the thrust vector control mount and the motor itself. The middle part is avionics – it’s connected to the bottom part with simple M-F jumper wires to allow easy disassembly. The top part is a pressurized volume that will be used to deploy the parachute at apogee. Again, the charges that are used to deploy the parachute are controlled via M-F jumper wires that connect the middle to the top.
The airframe is split into these three sections for a few reasons:
- Ease of assembly. One long tube would make reaching internal components significantly more difficult.
- Replicability. Splitting the airframe into three parts helps mentally split the jobs of all three parts, resulting in a more streamlined thinking process and
- Maintenance. Going back to ease of assembly, if one part breaks or needs maintenance I don’t need to remove every single part to reach it. Splitting the airframe into three parts simply makes my life easier when assembling the physical rocket.
How do I know HORIZON II will work?
The truth is – I don’t. I’ve taken what I’ve learned from HORIZON I and all the research I’ve done and I’ve put it all into HORIZON II. After researching as much as possible, I think I’ve gotten HORIZON II to a point where it is the best I can make it for my current skill level. That’s why I decided to settle for this design – it’s the best I can do with my current experience.
Conclusion & Next Steps
At the end of the day, HORIZON II is still a prototype. I haven’t put the rocket together yet. However, there are a few things I need to do before I can launch HORIZON II. These mostly have to do with the thrust vectoring and ejection charges.
- Aluminum parts are expensive! As of right now, I’m putting as much money as I can into HORIZON II. However, there’s only so much money I have.
- Black powder is hard to get! I’m still doing research on how I can obtain a small amount of black powder for the ejection charge.
Again, HORIZON II is one of the most ambitious projects I’ve started. I’m putting everything I know how to do into this rocket. I’m hoping it’s enough for a safe launch and landing.
Until next time.
