MCGILL ROCKET TEAM
A tall, slender white rocket with red markings, including the name "STELLA" written vertically, stands upright on a launch rail in a desert landscape. The ground is sandy with sparse green bushes and some dried brush. In the background, a flat horizon separates the desert from a clear, bright blue sky.

Project Stella II (2018)

Stella II 30K COTS

The 2018 IREC marks McGill’s 4th year participating in the competition. Stella II is the successor to Stella, the team’s first 30,000 ft COTS category entry. Following the off-nominal flight of Stella last year, the team has fundamentally reworked the recovery system design and airframe manufacturing process to prevent the same issues from reoccurring.

To further validate the changes, the team has built a secondary rocket, Bertrand, which flew on a test launch on June 2nd, 2018. However, manufacturing an entirely separate rocket to test critical recovery and avionic systems increased financial costs. In order to help offset the additional costs, the group expanded the number of student-made components, replacing off-the-shelf pieces. Only 3 of the 53 major components in Stella II were off-the-shelf - being the motor itself, the avionic redundancy, and a motor retaining ring. Student made components such as parachutes, shock cords, CO2 ejectors, tender-descenders, and the airframe lead to cost savings of several thousand dollars.

Stella II is divided into four main subsystems: propulsion, aero-structures, recovery and payload. The propulsion unit is an O-class Cesaroni motor.

A full-length rendering of a white rocket, "MRT STELLAH" written vertically along its side in red letters. Below the letters, there are several sponsor logos. The rocket has a pointed nose cone and three fins at its base.

The aero-structure subsystem features a composite airframe manufactured in-houseusing a refined resin infusion process. This method was perfected over the course of the year and allows for high quality, tight dimensional tolerance composite structures as well as reduced lead times.

The avionics are centralized in a radio-transparent fiberglass airframe section, featuring triple-redundant ejection and telemetric systems. The centralized avionic section allows for rapid, convenient assembly, and easy access to theejection charges located in the forward parachute chamber.

A single separation point is located at the nose cone, which houses a payload intended to measure the pressure distribution on the cranial cavity resulting from high accelerations.

Design Cycle
#4
2017 - 2018
Length
11.00 ft
3.35 m
Outer Diameter
5.20 in
13.21 cm
Liftoff Weight
74.60 lb
33.84 kg
Average Thrust
768.80 lbf
3.42 kN
Max Mach Number
1.70
1,912.50 ft/s
578.49 m/s
Average Thrust
31,047.00 ft
9.46 km
Thrust-to-Weight Ratio
13.54
Propulsion Type
Solid
Cesaroni 03400

Results:

Spaceport America Cup 2018:

  • 30K COTS Category: 7th/15
  • Overall: 22 of 99

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A white rocket with a pointed nose cone and small fins is resting horizontally on a launch rail in a dry, desert-like landscape. The rocket's body is covered with various small colored markings and logos. The launch rail, made of metal and wood, extends into the foreground, casting a shadow on the sandy ground. Sparse green bushes and other desert vegetation are scattered across the scene, with distant mountains visible under a clear blue sky.
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