The Georgia Tech Experimental Rocketry team (GTXR) embarked on an ambitious trip to the Mojave Desert this summer, where they launched two rockets, “Fire on High” and “Strange Magic”.
The launch, following a five-day journey across the country, marked a significant milestone in GTXR’s pursuit of becoming the first collegiate team to launch a two-stage rocket into space. “Fire on High” and “Strange Magic” were built after a year of planning and preparation by several key club members, including Connor Johnson, M.S. AE and GTXR’s co-president.
“‘Fire on High’ started in the summer of 2023. We had a team-wide discussion of our club goals for the year and how our design cycle would operate. This year was unique because we decided to make two single-stage rockets,” Johnson said.
GTXR, a subgroup of the Ramblin’ Rocket Club, is an interdisciplinary high-altitude rocket development team. They have routinely built one two-stage rocket per year since 2018. The decision to build “Fire on High” and “Strange Magic” was prompted by a failure during the 2023 launch of “Material Girl,” a two-stage rocket. This past year, they built two one-stage rockets to better isolate and improve specific technologies. The choice is a part of GTXR’s larger goal of becoming the first collegiate team to launch a two-stage rocket into space.
Rockets are built in stages to improve efficiency, with each stage containing its own engine. As the rocket launches, it drops the empty stages, allowing the rocket to keep accelerating. Multiple stages are used for bigger payloads that keep the rocket in the air. With a single stage, “Fire on High” reached 9,000 feet into the atmosphere and reached speeds of Mach 1.8, which refers to the speed of the rocket relative to the speed of sound.
“Our goal is to eventually reach space with a two-stage rocket. Building two separate rockets this past year allowed us to learn the specific boundaries we have to meet to do that. We were able to conduct better simulations and testing and engineering design while improving overall performance,“ said Jaiden Patel, third-year AE and GTXR’s co-president.
GTXR follows a tradition of naming its rockets after popular songs that represent that specific rocket’s purpose. Their inventory includes “Sustain (Stayin’) Alive,” “Rubber Band Man” and “Mr. Blue Sky.” “Fire on High” symbolizes the potential altitude the rocket could achieve, while “Strange Magic” represents the experimental nature of its avionics.
GTXR is structured into several subteams, including avionics, simulations, ground systems and internals, propulsion and structures. “Fire on High” and “Strange Magic” required all teams to be especially dedicated to overcoming the specific challenges of building two rockets in one year.
“It was pretty difficult from a structural perspective. “Fire on High” is our first rocket that uses an 8-inch diameter rocket motor and “Strange Magic” is our first rocket that uses a completely custom flight computer. We also changed the architecture and design for the fins, which required a lot of testing and analysis on the ground before flight,” Johnson stated.
The team executives credit the success of “Fire on High” to the team’s persistence and motivation during the past year.
“We had a horizontal work structure to make sure we progressed as quickly as possible and we were lucky to have a lot of dedicated members who made these challenges not seem as daunting,” Parth Garud, fourth-year AE and GTXR’s Chief Engineer, stated.
The journey to California has taken place every year since 2018 and involved a massive undertaking.
“63 people went this summer,” Johnson said, “It took a lot of logistical planning to get everyone and all the supplies out there.”
Five days before the launch, four team executives transported the rockets and equipment from Atlanta to Ca., while the rest of the team followed later. The team rented houses in Los Angeles and drove to the Mojave Desert, where they began testing.
“The Friday before launch was a dedicated testing day without any live energetic materials. We went through a ‘go-no-go’ checklist before the launch window opened, which happened on Saturday morning,” Johnson stated.
The launch day did not come without obstacles either.
“It’s inevitable to come into roadblocks when bringing all the subsystems together. Today we had a number of issues including undersized holes from paints, making sure the motor casing fit inside the airframe, and some final touches being made on the flight computer software,” Vincent Nguyen, fourth-year ME and Structures Lead, stated during the live stream of the launch.
The team’s efforts culminated in a successful launch day for “Fire on High” at the Amateur Rocketry launch site, with several safety and organizational precautions, such as walkie-talkie communication throughout the desert and shelter in concrete bunkers during the launch. Fire extinguishers were also stationed by the bunkers to address potential bushfires.
“It does feel surreal. We have a tradition where we get a full group picture right before we launch because it does take a village, and we were lucky to have a prideful one. Having the opportunity to do this is something you don’t really get at other universities, especially at the timeline we do it. For those of us who are invested, there is a lot of tension every time we move one step down the “go-no-go” list until we launch. You can’t feel that type of excitement anywhere else as we see a year’s worth of hard work culminate,” Garud said.
“Fire on High” successfully launched, while “Strange Magic’s” launch was halted due to unforeseen issues with their flight software during the launch trip. The team looks forward to launching “Strange Magic” this fall, as well as developing new technologies and fine-tuning their subsystems for their new rocket, which will launch next summer in the Mojave Desert.