Insight C1 DIY Rocket Features Dual Motor Thrust Vector Control
Orion Aerospace's Insight C1 includes a pair of rocket motors with thrust vector capabilities that let it maintain stable flight.
The Orion Aerospace team is developing a DIY rocket capable of thrust vector control to maintain stable flight in adverse conditions. They designed the novel thrust vectoring system that employs servo-powered gimbals for the motors, which can also eject spent engines and replace them to maintain lift and stability.
The rocket packs a Raspberry Pi Compute Module and Teensy 4.0 that control the 3D-printed gimbals and processes tracking data via a pair of cameras positioned on the bottom skirt of the rocket. Moreover, the cameras use a modified SLAM (Simultaneous Location and Mapping) algorithm for precision tracking, which provides a higher accuracy over GNSS and GPS.
A cardboard rocket body, in this case, was not an option as it limits the amount of hardware that can be packed on board and limits access if changes need to be made. So, the team decided to go with a carbon fiber frame, which is ideal for test flights and can be outfitted with skin when needed. On the code side of the build, the engineers implemented a new code and control law.
“Our new code base consists of 15 different custom libraries we created. Varying from efficient orientation resolution using quaternions to making LEDs blink and buzzers beep,” Orion Aerospace writes on the Insight C1 project page. “The new code is significantly more efficient and uses more best practices. The rocket features State-Space control that allows the rocket to control for more than one input and more than one output; this will be particularly useful with the implementation of our cameras.”
The Insight C1 rocket is still in the development phase, and those interested can follow the engineer’s progress on their YouTube page.