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The Tripoli TRATECH Technical Conference and Summit 2024, was held during LDRS-42 in Potter, NY, and featured some outstanding presentations to the membership on the evenings of June 6th and 7th, following the launches at LDRS, at The Mansion on Keuka Lake.

Recordings of the presentations were captured and are available for members to view below. Additionally, there are copies of many of the presenters' slides available.

Any questions or comments, please contact us vial email at: tratech@tripoli.org

Bryce Chanes

The Amateur Rocketry Propellant Variability Study: Phase 0

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Synopsis: You mixed propellant. I mixed propellant. How different are our propellants? Time to find out! One common formula was mixed by numerous amateurs and test fired to compare results. The results and performance values will be shared including detailed analysis that will quantify the question of how different propellant can be across the country.

Bio: Bryce Chanes is a professional solid propulsion engineer focused on research and development of new rocket motor technologies. He holds multiple patents and travels around the world living the dream of testing wild and exciting rocket motors. He has been a Tripoli member since 2012 and currently serves as President of the Washington Aerospace Club.

Vince Giovannone

Scratch Building a High Power Rocket

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Synopsis: The prices of high-power rockets can be something of a setback especially if the rocketeer is on a limited budget. Scratch building the high-power rocket can be a worthwhile endeavor using past design practices with current online computer programs and readily available materials a rocketeer of all ages can design, build and fly their high-power rocket cheaper and not be worried about “the cost.” Designing the rocket using Centuri TIR-33 form with a CAD program (i.e. RockSim, Open Rocket) as a backup and then building the rocket using available off the shelf materials (epoxy, mailing tubes, plywood, webbing etc.) and adjusting those materials to make them able to handle the stresses of flight. Working through the issues of the avionics bay, ejection charge systems, altimeters and finally figuring out flight parameters and the best places for launching.

Bio: Vince started flying model rockets in 1981, joined NAR in 1988, began competition flying in 1995. He certified level 1 in 2008 and then level 2 a few months later becoming a Tripoli member in 2014.

Curtis Heisey

Clustering: And You Thought Lighting One Motor was Hard

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Synopsis: This presentation provides an overview of how to cluster motors in rockets. The techniques apply to low-power, mid-power as well as high-powered clusters. Curtis' presentation is aimed at both people who want to start out in clustering as well as more experienced rocketeers. Curtis takes a safety approach to clustering. Clustering motors, especially in high-powered rockets, raises an additional set of safety concerns. Curtis presents an inventory of things that can go wrong then discuss different possible means of mitigating or lowering risk in each risk area. Curtis' aim is to help rocketeers develop a general safety mindset that can not only be applied to clustering but to other aspects of rocketry as well. Curtis discusses different motor cluster and rocket geometries then go over considerations peculiar to each. Curtis has a large section on “Getting ‘em all to light” in which he discusses various lessons learned over the years for getting all motors to light in a cluster. He has a brief section on “Advanced Topics” that mentions issues such as mixing black powder and composite motors, blast plates, and cluster boxes. Curtis enjoys photographing rocket lift-offs, and includes lots of exciting photos of cluster rockets. Curtis' hope is to get people excited about cluster rockets and help rocketeers do it in a safe way.

Bio: Curtis Heisey is a BAR who got into high powered rocketry with his son in 2007. He earned his L1 in 2010, L2 in 2013, and L3 in 2020. He has been interested in clustering motors in rockets since his very earliest rocket days. His signature rocket is an upscale Deuce’s Wild! rocket, which he has been building and launching since 2011 (subject of a TRITECH 2023 talk), as well as many other types of cluster rockets, both low and high-power. He has authored numerous articles for Sport Rocketry. He works as a software engineer and has mentored TARC and IREC teams.

Francis Graham

Early Tripoli Rockets

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Synopsis: The Tripoli Rocketry Association began as the Tripoli Rocket Club, and there were many experiments early on that were way beyond the standard Estes model rocket regimen. They were full-blown amateur rocketry. I'd like to talk about the technology used then: caramel candy, zinc dust/sulfur, aluminum high power model rockets, rockets that could go a mile. That's what was happening in 1966 to 1970. Francis Graham will take you down memory lane to what rocketry used to be.

Bio: Francis Graham Emeritus prof. Kent State University, wrote technical papers including an AIAA paper on monocopters, plus a book on the subject sold for many years by Apogee Components. Author of other books including a physics textbook, and recognized as the co-discoverer of the (extremely) tenuous atmosphere of the Moon. Also helped found the Tripoli Rocketry Association, the largest and best rocket club in the world!

Pat Artis

Understanding the Energy Requirements for Orbital Launch Vehicle Recovery and Reuse

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Synopsis: During the inaugural TRATECH presentations at LDRS 39, I delivered a session titled Understanding the Energy Requirements for Orbital Insertion. This session analyzed the energy requirements (plus or minus) for an orbital launch vehicle and tabulated these requirements in terms of gravity loss, drag loss, propulsive losses, steering losses, and the loss or gain associated with the orbital inclination and the launch latitude. This session will begin with a review of these gains and losses. To recover rocket stage for reuse, the stage must dissipate the energy which was added to the stage during the launch process. This energy is comprised of two components. They are potential energy (the energy which is added to the vehicle when it is raised in a gravitational field) and kinetic energy (one-half of the mass of the stage a burnout times the velocity squared). To successfully recover a stage via a vertical landing, the stage must arrive at the landing site with a zero horizonal velocity and a vertical velocity (i.e., kinetic energy) which is within the limits of the landing system for the vehicle. This session will compare the energy requirements for recovering the first and or second stage for a two stage to orbit vehicle (TSTO).

The session will also focus on the vehicle performance vs. launch cost trade presented by recovery and reuse. For example, if a fully expendable Falcon 9 can deliver a far heavier payload to a specified orbit than the same vehicle can when the first stage is recovered for reuse. As a result of the first stage needing to retain propellant for the recovery phase of the flight, the first stage can deliver a smaller fraction of the required for desired orbit. Hence, the payload mass of the second step must be reduced so that the second stage can deliver a larger fraction of the required for desired orbit. Finally, we will discuss the trade between propulsive and aero breaking for the first and second stages of a TSTO vehicle

Bio: Dr. H. Pat Artis is a Professor of Practice in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. He holds degrees or certificates in Engineering Mechanics, Computer Sciences, Systems Engineering, and Flight Test Engineering. He started his engineering career in 1972 at Bell Laboratories, entered the startup ecosystem at Mornio Associates in the 1980s, and then founded and directed his own engineering company for more than thirty years before returning to Virginia Tech to teach aerospace engineering.

Within the department, Dr. Artis is the lead instructor for the sophomore Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Aircraft Performance course, is co-instructor for two semester capstone aircraft senior design course series, and has authored and presents elective courses in Avionics Systems and Booster Design, Fabrication, and Operation. In addition to his teaching activities, he advises Virginia Tech’s NASA SLI, Rocketry@VT, and Orbital Launch Vehicle Team. Wherever possible, he incorporates a rocket design, build, and fly project in his courses. Dr. Artis has been building and flying rockets since 1958. He has been a member of NAR for more than six decades, has been a member of Tripoli for two decades, is a TAP member, and continues to be an active flier.

Kyle Brookes

Upscale Roto Rocket - Concept to Flight Analysis

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Synopsis: Helicopter recovery rockets are nothing new and these days mostly seen in low power lightweight kits for STEM or NAR competition. Autorotation is not unique to these small kits and is employed to safely land multi ton helicopters upon engine failure. This presentation will dive into the development of a high power upsizing of the concept blends bigger scale and a modern scratch build design. I'll cover all aspects from basic theory to mechanical implementation using CAD and 3d printing.

• Autorotation principle
• Blade design and performance simulation
• Rotorhead mechanism design and construction
• Test rocket design and construction
• Flight data analysis and performance verification

Bio: Kyle is a 20 year aerospace engineer who's professional career has led to involvement with items ranging from picometer mirror measurements to 1.2 MW electric propeller systems. Loving rocketry as a kid on the baseball field in rural VT and rediscovering HP rocketry in the western desert, he now calls the Green Mountains home once again. The local CRMRC NAR chapter and nearby URRG fields serve as weekend development test sites for everything from scratch built from additive construction to research motors.

Quentin Trull

Active Control System for the American Rocketry Challenge

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Synopsis: This presentation covers my experience applying an active control system to the American Rocketry Challenge as a high schooler. It will cover some of the engineering hurdles my team overcame, some of the skills and lessons we learned, and how error analysis can be performed after bad flights to find out what went wrong. It will also cover some applications of active control systems in rocketry as a whole and some of the challenges that come with working in small teams

Bio: Quentin is a 19-year-old mechanical engineering student at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, originally from Garden City, Idaho. He got into model rocketry when he was 7 years old. He built and successfully flew a TVC stabilized rocket during his sophomore year of high school and created a team to compete in the American Rocketry Challenge during his senior year. Once Quentin graduated high school, he entered the high-power world. Quentin received his Level 1 and 2 certifications in August of 2023, and his level 3 certification in January of this year.

Christopher Nilsen

Sounding Rockets, The Humble Workhorse!

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Synopsis: For over six decades, sounding rockets have been the backbone of the scientific and engineering community. Yet, surprisingly, even the most avid rocket enthusiasts often overlook their regular launches and the extensive scope of their missions. In this talk, we'll delve into the captivating history of sounding rockets, explore their varied applications, and unveil opportunities for you to actively engage in this exhilarating field of science.

Bio: I Build Rockets! Meet Christopher, the Founder of Pluto Aerospace and a dedicated rocketry enthusiast and a member of TRA for over 15 years. From the classic Alpha III's to advanced liquid engines, Christopher has an impressive portfolio of rocket flights. He’s also a mentor and advisor at Purdue University, where he coaches hundreds of students through various innovative rocket propulsion programs.

Lex Kuehn

Numerical Modeling of Various Solid Propellant Motor Geometries

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Synopsis: Tools to accurately predict motor performance for new motor designs have always been an invaluable part of the motor design process for those involved in research rocketry, yet few understand how the tools we all use to design motors work at a fundamental level. Alex will talk about how her motor design tool, CoreBurner, works, covering the basics of motor design, numerical integration for internal ballistics simulations, and the equations involved in predicting the performance of motors for various grain geometries including core burning grains, Bates grains, and the less common nozzleless motor, along with potential novel grain geometries for the future of amateur rocketry

Bio: Alex Kuehn is a professional aerospace engineer and entrepreneur. She designs space-rated shape memory alloy actuators, satellite separation systems, and launch vehicle payload adapter structures at her company, XTERRA Space, in Austin Texas. Formerly, she briefly worked for Aerotech Consumer Aerospace as a production manager and prior to that she worked in manufacturing engineering for Cirrus Aircrafton the Vision Jet and SR10/AG100 programs, where she specialized in production tooling design and additive manufacturing for prototype aircraft tooling. She grew up around aviation thanks to her father and grandfather and was originally inspired to get into rocketry when she saw October Sky in the theatre at a young age. Those interests coalesced into a desire to work in commercial space after reading about the SpaceShipOne project in 2004, discovering that it was possible to work in this field with only a small driven team. She's also the author of the motor design tool CoreBurner and the fin simulation tool AirBounce.

Steve Gregorski

Nosecam - A New Spin on Vertical Orientation Control

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Synopsis: NoseCam is an electro-mechanical device used to stabilize (de-spin) an in-flight rocket video by isolating an onboard camera from the body of a spinning rocket. With the addition of servo- actuated control surfaces, NoseCam becomes a Vertical Orientation Control (VOC) system which can keep a rocket vertical during flight, regardless of wind conditions. The foundational element of NoseCam is a sensorsystem and rotating nose shell which tracks and compensates for roll, pitch and yaw of a rocket during flight. A video camera mounted in the NoseCam shell will produce smooth (no spinning!) video of the flight, and ensure that the video frame is aligned with the horizon at apogee. When a VOC subsystem is added, two stage flights with extended coast times can be accomplished. Recent two stage flights at AirFEST 2023 used a NoseCam VOC to exceed 20K feet in apogee.
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Bio: Steve Gregorski is a mechanical engineer and multi-disciplinary inventor who currently holds 23 US and international patents. He started flying high power rockets in his early 40’s, and quickly used HPR as a platform for many interesting and (sometimes) useful inventions - a.k.a. rocket gizmos. During the many years before he received his TRA L3, the only commercial motors he had ever purchased were the two motors for his L1 and L2 certification flights - everything else was EX, and mostly sugar motors. His passion is for cramming as much homemade avionics and electronics as possible into two stage rockets in order to do cool and unusual stuff. One of his fondest rocketry memories is of recovering a rocket at URRG in Potter, NY and getting a text message that a research payload he had constructed while at Cornell University had successfully flown on a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight. Steve holds a BS, MS and PHD in mechanical engineering from MIT, where his graduate research focused on the invention of the original Three Dimensional Printing process. Steve is currently on his third attempt at retirement, which will undoubtedly fail once his rocket savings gets CATO’d (again).

View Previous TRATech Events

Content and materials from previous TRATech events.

TRATech 2023
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Requires TRA Membership to view

TRATech 2022
Victorville, California
Requires TRA Membership to view

TRATech 2021
Wendover, Utah
Requires TRA Membership to view

Would you like to Help?

The committee responsible for organizing and coordinating TRATech is now on the lookout for additional members to join and contribute to the logistics and operations of the event. If you're a Tripoli member with a passion for rocketry and an interest in helping out, don't hesitate to contact the committee. Together, we can continue to make TRATech an incredible experience for high-power rocketry enthusiasts around the world. If you're a Tripoli member interested in getting involved, please contact the committee via email at tratech@tripoli.org.