Rocket Laboratory

The home to a booster signed by Homer Hickam and seven level three large-scale rockets, the Rocket Laboratory supports two highly popular student organizations, as well as research projects in Astronautics for students and faculty.

Two separate student organizations are housed in this space on the first floor of Lehman: the Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers & Developers Society (ERFSEDS) and the Rocket Laboratory. Each of the student organizations focus on different fields of rocketry; ERFSEDS focuses on high-powered rocketry competitions, and the Rocket Laboratory focus of the development of experimental rocket propulsion subsystems. These two groups are collaborating in this space to develop an autonomously guided parachute system that will be capable of using a parasail to fly a rocket to a specified landing location. While in flight, this payload will also deliver real-time telemetry, consisting of GPS location, altitude, heading, and airspeed. 

Equipment

• Aquila: Liquid Rocket Engine and support system, with a testable engine to determine different fuel mixture efficiency and a second one capable of producing 1,500 pounds of thrust.
• Vulcan: Modular Hybrid Test Engine, used to determine the overall efficiency of an engine and the thrust increase of different engine components.
• Hydrus and Kryso: Hybrid engine with composite body being used for a composite rocket competition.
• Test Stands: Test stands for the hybrid test engine and for high-power rocket motors.
• Electronics Systems: Impedance matching network and power supply, an Artemis II telemetry station, a Yagi antenna, and flight computers, supported by in-lab soldering stations.