The Next Frontier: Launching STARLIGHT and STARLIGHT MINI into Space! Part 1

I’m excited to announce that I’ve partnered with Polaris Aerospace to launch the STARLIGHT and STARLIGHT MINI rocket control boards into space! I’m so pumped about what Polaris is doing and wanted to share their great work with all of you.

Read below to hear more about their rocketry goals and component selection, as well as how STARLIGHT will be playing a role in their upcoming launch.

Who is Polaris Aerospace?

Polaris is a high school model rocketry club based in Pennsylvania. The group was founded in 2022 and participates in the American Rocketry Challenge each year. They have achieved high-power launches and are currently preparing for their first space launch of a model rocket!

How many high school students are involved in Polaris?

There are currently 8 student members of Polaris who spend an average of 10 hours a week working towards their goal of a space launch.

What is Polaris working to achieve this summer?

The team aims to send the first ever high school-built rocket to space this summer, and is planning their launch from the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in Mojave, California. They will likely utilize the site’s high tower launch pads to give them the best shot at success without additional budget spend.

How did the team select their model rocketry components?

The team focused on cost-effective components as well as donations, (Circuit Wizardry donated 2 STARLIGHT boards and 3 STARLIGHT MINIs to the team). Components include:

• Filament-wound fiberglass tubing as the airframe material
• Commercial motor hardware, as the costs of developing their own solution would have been prohibitively expensive. This includes a two-stage solution, with an Aerotech O5500x as the booster motor, and a CTI M2245 as sustainer motor. This combo is one of only a few options capable of sending a vehicle past the Kármán lineThe M2245 is the most powerful 75mm diameter motor in existence, which is crucial as the smaller diameter of the second stage reduces drag significantly
• To ensure a safe flight and successful recovery, the team is using COTS (Commercial, off the Shelf) solutions. The includes the KATE-3 from Multitronix as the main flight computer, due to its ability to relay GPS data all the way from space, and because it is a proven platform for space launches.
• For the interstage computer stack, the main computer is a Featherweight Blue Raven, chosen for its extremely small form factor.
• The Circuit Wizardry STARLIGHT family of flight computers will be present on both stages. According to Polaris, these boards are just as powerful as the Blue Ravens onboard, and they will serve as another point of data for the spaceflight.
• The team is currently planning on using a STARLIGHT computer to handle the two most exciting parts of the launch, the stage separation and stage ignition events.

Polaris has clearly done their homework to build a powerful model rocket on a shoestring budget. I’m honored they selected Starlight components for this record-breaking flight.

Tune in next time for part 2 of this blog post, where I’ll share more about Polaris Aerospace’s project. In the meantime, check them out on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Patreon.