Galileo Rocketry

Galileo Rocketry was founded in 2019 to compete in the American Rocketry Challenge (TARC). We seek to encourage students to consider aerospace and engineering as a career path as well as give attention to aerospace and space exploration which is often sidelined in school.

We are one of the first high-school level American Rocketry Challenge teams in San Francisco.

TARC Website

We learn and apply aerospace and engineering concepts to build rockets that compete in the American Rocketry Challenge.

Topics we cover:

• Basic Physics (Forces, torque, velocity)
• Basic Chemistry (Exothermic reactions, combustion)
• Basic Aerodynamics (Lift, drag, stability)
• Materials and Manufacturing (3D printing, CNC milling)
• Rocket Design (Computer-Aided Design (CAD))
• Numerical Analysis and Simulation
• Engineering Process (prototype, review, iterate, test)

No prior experience or background is required.

Overview Slides

The goal of the competition is to launch a rocket to (800 ft), have a flight time between 40 and 43 seconds, and have an egg as a payload (remain uncracked throughout the flight). The score is determined based on how close to those goals your rocket can get.

The full rules can be found here.

GALILEI

The upper section houses the payload bay and the avionics bay. The payload bay contains a foam retainer that holds the egg payload throughout the flight. The avionics bay contains the altimeter that records the height of the rocket. The lower section houses the recovery bay which contains the parachutes.

The nose cone and fin can were custom designed and optimized for the criteria of the competititon. They were 3D printed out of PLA plastic. The fins were also custom designed and optimized. They were cut out of 1/8" plywood using a CNC (computer numeral control) machine, courtesy of Galileo Robotics.

Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown in March, the rocket was unable to be launched.