SOAR - Solid Rocket Motor Development

Blue was SOAR's first ever successful solid rocket motor development project in 2024. This N-class motor, composed of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, and resin binders, produced an average thrust of 560 lbf (2500 N) and burned for 4.75 seconds. I served as the lead engineer for this project, and I led the fuel manufacturing, full-scale static fire, and integration into the competition rocket. 

Following Blue, Turbo was the second successful ammonium perchlorate composite propellant developed by SOAR in 2025. This motor achieved an N-class designation as well and produced an average thrust of 750 lbf (3350 N) for 3.15 seconds. Because this formula produced considerably more thrust than Blue, it required additional safety and reliability testing. I led the fuel manufacturing process, sub-scale and full-scale static fires, test stand development, and integration for this design cycle.

These projects included work involving:

• Design and manufacturing of an N-class solid rocket motor fuel assembly

• Design and construction of a rocket motor test stand

• Development of custom electronic hardware and software for data collection

• Numerous sub-scale and full-scale static fires for safety validation