HILT

The High Impulse Launch Team (HILT) is designing a custom solid rocket propellant that will deliver optimal performance in the harsh conditions of a high-altitude launch. This motor is being developed in support of GLADIUS, an SHC project dedicated to the design and development of a three-stage rocket, with the intention of bringing a payload beyond the Karman Line, and a potential Spaceport America Cup (SAC) effort.

Project HILT aims to characterize solid rocket propellant formulas by collecting pressure, temperature, and thrust data from multiple static fire tests. A system to record combustion chamber pressure was manufactured using high-pressure lines and fittings, a pressure transducer, and a DAQ system. Additionally, a MATLAB program was developed to process static fire test data and develop a numerical solution for characteristic velocity and burn rate. By finding these important propellant properties, solid motors of similar scale can be designed for a variety of applications. A specialized topic we are working on is improving aluminum fuel combustion in small-diameter solid rocket motors. This will be investigated by testing various aluminum particle sizes in solid propellants by exploring bimodal aluminum particle size distributions.