Returning to Spaceport America’s 30,000 ft challenge, Miner’s Lady made her debut in the desert. Building on the strengths of 2023’s Blue Ridge Blazer, which had to be scaled back to the 10,000 ft category, Miner’s Lady returned WVUER to the 30k category with several new innovative designs. From the top of the rocket all the way to the bottom, nearly every component was scratch-built using all the tools available to WVUER, the most notable of which was the airframe. Having tested filament-wound airframe tubes on Blue Ridge Blazer, the technology was fully integrated into Miner’s Lady, with a sleek carbon fiber booster section and fiberglass upper section. Attached to the booster were fins with an unusual shape inspired by the Standard Missile series designed to reduce torque loading on the fins. With fiberglass spars, honeycomb filling, and four layers of carbon fiber support, the fins were ready to take any supersonic force they encountered. The rocket was propelled by a fully student researched and designed (SRAD) O3800 solid rocket motor using the NASSA Yellow propellant. The rocket also carried a payload called Torricelli which was to measure the pressure profile of the nose cone and compare it to a computational fluid dynamics simulation of the rocket’s flight.
Just a few months prior to Spaceport, Miner’s Lady flew above Argonia, Kansas in a test flight that successfully demonstrated the subsystems of the rocket working together. After a triumphant flight, the WVUER team came into New Mexico in June confident with their work. The rocket was quickly assembled and prepared for launch in the desert. The team was eager to launch as soon as possible, but through a combination of technical difficulties and poor weather, a chance to launch was not available until the very last day of the competition. Having waited three whole days to launch, the rocket was placed on the launch rails, and the time to launch had come at last. The countdown was given, and on zero, Miner’s Lady was lifted into the air by a roaring motor with a bright yellow flame, on its way to pierce the sky.
But it was not to be.
As the rocket ascended, an oscillation developed, and within seconds, the rocket was flying on its side at Mach 1.7. This off-nominal configuration led to a rapid disassembly of the airframe, and the recovery system was torn apart instantly. Miner’s Lady descended in pieces back to the Earth. What was once a successful rocket had been turned into a lesson on the immense forces of supersonic flight and the consequences of failing to take into account every minute detail in the complex realm of rocket flight. The booster fell ballistically into the hard sand of the Chihuahuan Desert, taking a core sample and shattering the upper part of the carbon fiber tube. Remarkably, the lower airframe and fins were completely undamaged, a testament to the airframe’s structural integrity. The upper airframe sections and nose cone were scattered about, having taken damage from intense internal load shifting. Upon closer inspection, the forces experienced by the rocket were quite evident. Solid steel bolts and quick links had been bent, and nylon cords had been torn. Of the 12 screws attaching the motor to the booster section, every single one had sheared clean off.
This outcome was clearly not the one that everyone who worked so hard on the rocket had hoped for. Most members of the team had never experienced a failure of this magnitude before. So many things had gone right, but only one thing needed to go wrong to cause a catastrophic failure. But rather than dwelling on mistakes, points of failure have been identified, and corrective actions for the future have been made. There are also many elements of the rocket to be proud of. The rocket motor performed perfectly, the airframe and harness stitching were nearly indestructible, and the design skills of the team were clearly demonstrated. The rocket scored third in the world for design and build quality, just one point off from a perfect score.
While Miner’s Lady had her flaws, everyone on the team was largely satisfied with their work, and their achievements have been recognized. With proper planning and effort, WVUER is ready to enter Spaceport 2025 with a new rocket that has built on everything learned previously, surpassing all achievements made to date. A rocket may have been lost, but the most important thing is to improve, which WVUER has never failed to do.
Joseph Long
Tripoli
#25585
Secretary, WVU Experimental Rocketry
The successes of WVUER would not have been possible without the generosity of the team’s sponsors and the help of the team’s advisors: Dr. Joseph Pscolka and Dr. Patrick Browning. Their help has been indispensable, and we cannot thank them enough. We look forward to working with them again for future projects.