Georgia Tech Tests Ever More Powerful Motors with Ambitions of Space Flight (GTXR)

July 9, 2023
Every year, Georgia Tech Experimental Rocketry, a division of the campus's Ramblin' Rocket Club, designs and builds a two stage rocket as part of a spaceshot campaign. This year, the team brought out two "P" class experimental rocket motors to try to fly to 220,000ft. This provides no shortage of power for their latest rocket "Material Girl", and any successes in the flight would be valuable data for next year's rocket. This also marked the first use of the new Pad 2 48ft T rail, designed to the same rail spec as the Baxter T rail.
Upon ignition, however, the sustainer nosecone deployed with their parachute. This occurred almost immediately after the rocket began to lift off, which may rule out interference from the already independent launch box which ignited the booster several seconds prior. The rocket continued on without the nosecone to an estimated 30,000ft, before both stages impacted the desert floor. The rocket's vertical flight meant that both were recovered within a reasonable distance from the launch site for post-flight analysis.

[@Dan-py2kf]

Hell yeah