Solid Rocket Motor Development

Rocket Launches

Blue - N2500 Motor

Blue was Pitt's first ever successful student-led 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. 

While creating the safe operating procedures for the Blue static fire, I created several drawings in AutoCAD of the test stand assembly and motor assembly. These drawings were used in SOP documents to guide members on how to safely assemble the motor and set up the test stand prior to the test.

Turbo - N3350 Motor

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 ~3.25 seconds. Because this formula produced considerably more thrust than Blue, it required additional safety and reliability testing. For this reason, there were two full-scale static fires for this motor. The first occurred on 2/23/25, and the second on 3/29/25. Prior to the full-scale fires, many sub-scale static fires with 38mm motors were performed before scaling up the propellant structure. 

Photos