Noita I

In 2024 I had an opportunity to meet an employee at NanoAvionics. At that moment I got pulled in to a deep rabbit hole called High Power Rocketry(HPR).

As a side project (I was leading an FTC team during this time), I challenged myself to develop a rocket in 3 months completely from scratch, that would reach an apogee of 1000 meters with a Cesaroni class G motor.

First, I did lots of research about other open-source designs, for me this was the best way to learn new concepts, tips and tricks, learn from other's mistakes. After simulating my rocket using OpenRocket I quickly designed it using SolidWorks and bought the required materials from a local construction depot.

The next two months I spent manufacturing the rocket. Laminating my own airframe (Reinforced a cardboard tube with fiberglass cloth and laminating epoxy resin), 3D printed a modular nosecone. I tried strenghtening the nosecone wth fiberglass but the tip proved to be too challenging without some more advanced and expensive tools. I cut the fins out of 4mm plywood and epoxied them to the motor mount as well as the airframe. I used the same laminating technique to increase the rigidity of fins nearly 300%.

Lastly, I installed the recovery system. I used a drogue chute + main parachute design to slow down the fall of the rocket using the drogue and gently touchdown with the main chute. This was because I couldn't let the rocket to be carried too much away from the launch site by wind. In the first launch I planned to use a dummy avionics module, in case of rapid unscheduled dissasembly :) but had everything ready to go, reused from my CanSat project just with a more capable radio module. Finally, I invited my girlfriend, Akvilė, to help paint the rocket and apply clear-coat.

• G class motor ready. Easily adaptable for an I class motor
• 3 months of development
• Cool decal
• Payload, recovery system
• Custom ground station software

Due to some annoying shipping regulations I was not able to acquire the required motor to fly this rocket in 2025. I am hoping to launch it in the summer of 2026.