Engineering Education Lessons From A Sounding Rocket Capstone Design Course

The FalconLAUNCH program is a two-semester capstone engineering design experience for the Astronautical Engineering major at the United States Air Force Academy. The program’s long term technical goal is to develop a reproducible sounding rocket capable of carrying small scientific payloads to an altitude of 100 km. In 2006-2007, the program’s fifth year, the student team designed FalconLAUNCH-V, a single-stage solid-propellant sounding rocket capable of achieving 60 km altitude. The course closely approximates the DoD systems engineering process used to develop new aerospace systems. The student team begins with specific system requirements and progresses, within a single academic year, through a complete development cycle by designing, building, testing, and operating a supersonic sounding rocket. Through the process, students learn many practical lessons in this multidisciplinary program. The program benefits from a close association with the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and the solid-rocket commercial industry. Along with their engineering mentorship, these partners provide an extremely valuable “real world” aspect to the course.