USC Rocket Propulsion Lab students wave hello to their two world records

In a desert north of Los Angeles last weekend, a group of engineers got together and on October 22, accomplished what they have been dreaming about for years: the successful static fire, or fundamental motor test, for a rocket that might end up with a front row seat to the stars.

USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL) has had their sights set on space for a while. Meghna Kiran, a senior and the lead operations engineer for RPL, says their goal is set in the pursuit of reliably finding their way to space.

“RPL, just as an entity, was founded with the goal of being the first student team to go to space,” said Kiran, who is studying mechanical engineering and pursuing a progressive degree in astronautical engineering. “And we achieved that goal in 2019. Since then it’s been all about knowledge transfer and really trying to turn just a space shot into a space program. So we want to be the first team — [the first] student team — that can reliably send rockets to space and potentially even carry scientific payloads in the future.”

Producing new rockets capable of getting to space hasn’t been an easy journey for the RPL team. The current undergraduate team was not present for the last RPL launch for space in 2019. After multiple failed attempts with an eight inch diameter motor, the decision was made to scale down the rocket to a six inch in 2022.

“We are trying to get our second space shot working, but between 2019 and now … we blew up three static fires — eight inch static fires, space shot scale static fires,” Kiran said. “And then last year we took a step back. We scaled down to a six inch scale. We went a lot slower … [because] the static fire and the flight vehicle of last year were a success, we were able to validate most of our designs that are now flying on this space shot.”

Before the team tested the motor in the static fire — a test to see if the ignition, pressure, fuel and structure will work for a launch — emotions were scattered. Mezie Nwizugbo, a junior majoring in aerospace engineering, was the trip coordinator. He had a fearful anticipation of what might happen during the test, but was hopeful because of all the work that had been put in.

“Our next year and months will be decided by a one second ignition — or will be decided after half a second — [or] less than that, so I don’t know what to feel right now,” Nwizugbo said. “I’m very scattered, I’m worried, I’m also not sure what I am going to see … Seeing like a month, months of work, years of work on a pad and not knowing what’s going to happen after the second once you ignite it is kind of like kind of paralyzing. I’ve been biting my nails all night, and day. Yeah, so I have  silly optimism because I don’t know what else to expect.”

Some RPL members said that they prefer to hide their emotions until after a launch.

“The best emotion to have is none,” Kiran said. “Like, I don’t know. I’ve accepted that I’m going to cry, whatever happens.”

For Kiran being out in the desert at the test site after all the work was put in makes this experience so much more real.

“There’s like those couple of moments where you’re like, holy shit, we’re like, actually out here and we’ve been working on this since June,” Kiran said. “Really it’s been a lead up of years, but like this particular motor we’ve been working on like the design, the manufacturing since June. We’ve remade so many parts to try to get it to, you know, our high standards and tolerance and, you know, as perfect as we can get it because like, especially on this scale of motor, there’s no room for error, pretty much.”

Due to there not being any room for error, finding and making fixes before the test is a normal part of the days leading up to the static fire. Not finding any issues would be a bigger cause for concern.

Kiran noted a last minute issue that occurred the day before the test. While in the desert, “we had, during motor integration, a tolerance stack-up issue with how our bulkhead seals on the inside of our case and we just needed an extra plate for that,” Kiran said. “So Andrew Lana [an RPL member], who had dropped from the trip because he was sick, had manufactured basically four separate options for us out of different materials and different thicknesses.”

As Lana was able to manufacture the needed part and get it sent out to them in the desert that night, they were able to complete integration, a process of putting the motor with the fuel inside the motor case, well ahead of the test. The group was grateful because this allowed the test to progress with minimal changes to the plans.

Usually when something goes wrong, people are a bit scared, but finding and fixing things in the moment is what they prepare for. “Overall we work through it and we find solutions when it happens, right, which is normal,” Nwizugbo said. “So was I and am I a bit scared. Yeah, but also this is pretty normal.”

The only thing left to do was wait for the moment that it would either work or wouldn’t.

As the rocket fired successfully, the weight of the accomplishment hit everyone in the bunker. Students erupted into cheers, giving each other hugs, crying and clamoring “We did that!” This means there could be a “space shot!” — a launch that reaches space.

Romit Banerjee, a member of the data acquisition team and junior majoring in mechanical engineering, cried and hugged the people around him as he was flooded with joy.

“I don’t even know how to describe it.” Banerjee said. “I think we just there’s like a certain point where it goes from like, that was cool to like, oh, that was art. I think we passed that boundary. That was just, there’s just something else about what we just did. That was art.”

For these students, this success validates the work and effort of their multi-year goal.

“It means everything,” Banerjee said. “This team means so much to me. Everyone here is like family to me. And like, the fact that, we all did this, — like we did it! There’s no other way to describe it. I don’t have the words to describe what I’m feeling right now. Except I am so deeply proud.”

For Jacqueline Nguyen, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering who worked on composites for the project, it was her first time at a static fire event.

“I was blown away. I was a little nervous, but it was amazing. It was insane,” Nguyen said.

Jessica Ridgeway, the lead propulsion engineer and a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, was reminded of all the years of struggle this success meant for her and the program.

“[It was] just instant tears when I saw that firing, We’ve come such a long way,” Ridgeway said. “This is – I was counting – my seventh time integrating a motor. And we’ve made eight motors since my freshman year, and I’ve been a part of all of those. I’ve seen so many ‘almost’s. [And] to see the growth of the team producing this motor, and to see that work was just one of the best things I’ve felt.”

For Ainsley Starr, a junior majoring in mechanical engineering, and member of the red team or the essential minimized team of leads during the final minutes leading up to launch, this meant a lot to her as well.

“I’ve seen two failed eight inch static fires my freshman year and sophomore year,” Starr said. “So to see a successful one and the amount of work I put into it, the amount of work our team has put into it and the amount of growth our propellant team has seen is amazing. I’m so proud of everyone and I’m so excited to take over and continue what Jess has done [next year].”

RPL said on Instagram that this rocket motor “Shockwave is the most powerful solid-rocket motor ever fired by students, as well as the most powerful composite-case solid-rocket motor ever fired by amateurs.”

Because it was a continuous burn and didn’t blow up, it is considered a working and successful static fire.

“It means all the components that we made on the static fire are going to hold the pressure we need, [and] are going to withstand the temperature and the thrust,” Kiran said.

Juan Contreras, the data acquisition lead for RPL and a senior majoring in aerospace engineering, talked about how the implications of breaking the most powerful motor record meant that this motor’s fuel to force efficiency should help them get back to space.

“With having successfully static fire this weekend and having now data that supports our simulations, we can safely say that our motor design and our entire kind of design for our rocket is capable [of] not only reaching space, but kind of surpassing our record if everything goes well,” Contreras said.

Traveler III and Traveler IV were rocket launches in 2018 and 2019 that aimed for space with Traveler IV being the rocket that got them there. This static fire test was a “qualification of the largest motor we’ve ever made that’s supposed to get us well above our previously held record [for] altitude well past the Kármán line [the proposed boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space],” Ridgeway said. “It’s the largest motor we have ever fired and it’s kind of insane for us, [because] we’ve been trying to go back to space bigger and stronger since [the Traveler III and Traveler IV] era. And we’ve had so many people put [their] hands in to help get us here, [and] get us back, so it’s insane.”

If the simulations are successful, RPL might not have to worry about other groups taking their records away. They are going where no amateur team has gone before or might be able to go again without extreme difficulty and precision.

“This motor has a predictive apogee [or highest point] of a little bit over 400,000 feet, which will break the record we currently hold and is almost at the legal limit [of 485,000 feet],” Kiran said. “So the theory is that, if we are able to actually make the static fire work, and have the flight vehicle work, we will have that record and theoretically no one can beat it.”

The progress is one not-so-small step for USC’s RPL team,  and a giant leap for the future of student and amateur rocketry.