Duke AERO Rocketry

Who are we?

Duke AERO is a collegiate rocketry engineering team that competes in the International Rocketry Engineering Competition (IREC) where university teams from around the world design, build, test, and launch high-powered rockets to reach target altitudes.

Our objective

Every year, students design, manufacture, and test a rocket almost entirely in-house, featuring SRAD avionics, roll-stabilizing canards, a payload with computer vision capabilities, and a guided recovery system. During the 2025-2026 academic year, Duke AERO competed in the 30k SRAD solid motor category. I worked with the solid propulsion and guided recovery subteams to build "Devil's Advocate," an 11 foot 125 lb rocket. In this year's competition, our rocket launched nominally, hitting an apogee of 29,400 ft and placing 3rd in the 30k SRAD category.

Solid Propulsion

The solid propulsion team focuses on developing a 6'' O-class solid rocket motor capable of producing 35,000 Ns of impulse and 5000 N of thrust for a 30,000 ft target altitude. I contributed to the propellant research, analysis, and testing for our rocket's solid motor. I was responsible for researching the propellant formulation and characterization, mixing the propellant, and developing the propellant testing infastructure for the static hotfire test.

I analyzed the Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant (APCP) and proposed modifications to improve pourability and processing during mixing. Additionally, I helped mix and cast the propellant grains, integrating them into the motor case. Finally, I helped develop the static hotfire teststand, modeling and machining the load cell adapter used for the static hotfire test. Alongside the test stand, I worked on the wiring and code for the Mini DAQ, an Arduino-based data acquisition device used to measure the force and pressure of the motor during the static hotfire test.

GOPR4975 - Trim.mp4

Guided Recovery

The guided recovery team focuses on developing the drogue and main parachutes, the recovery spur reel assembly, and separation mechanism for effective flight back down to Earth.

I worked on researching and optimizing the guided recovery spur reel mechanism, analyzing the CAD assembly to improve deployment and separation. I also learned how to sew the parachute and looked at how previous year's threaded their custom drogue parachute.

Upcoming Year

This year, I'm continuing to work on the solid propulsion sub team in addition to exploring the structures sub team. For the 2026-2027 IREC season, we are competing again in the 30k SRAD category, building another 6'' O-class motor for our rocket.

Solid Propulsion

In this semester, I have had the opportunity to explore new grain geometries within our motor and spearhead a prototype propellant characterization plan. Previously, we utilized four BATES grains in our motor.

This year, we are experimenting with three BATES grains and one finocyl grain as we transition from a primarily booster-based burn profile to a sustainer-based burn profile.
We are also developing an experimental mini-motor testing plan in addition to revising our mixing standards of procedure. As we are expecting to test and characterize new propellant formulations developed in previous semesters, our mini-motor testing plan will allow us to analyze our experimental propellants across various throat and grain geometries.

Structures

Within the structures sub team, I am exploring carbon fiber and fiberglass composites within the fins of our rocket.

Our team has been developing the fin manufacturing plan and test fig jig in preparation for the integration onto our test rocket. We are utilizing a fiberglass fin core and will be utilizing an epoxy layup design within our fin jig in order to effectively integrate the fins onto our rocket.

Thrust vs. time analysis for experimental grain geometries

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