General Discussion

A follow-up meeting was held the day after the first meeting. The meeting focused on in-depth discussions around achievable short-, medium-, and long-term goals, and translated the objectives, division of labor, and toolchain established in the first meeting into a more specific roadmap and timeline.

Roadmap and Timeline

The team has broken down long-term goals into a series of deliverable milestones, with approximate timeframes for follow-up tracking and evaluation:

1. Club Start & Early Trial

   • Phase Timeline: 2024-Present (Ongoing)

   • Goals and Content: Learn foundational skills, participate in and replicate relevant small-scale projects to gain experience. Emphasize theoretical learning and hands-on training to lay the foundation for subsequent prototypes.

2. Theoretical Learning, Popularization, and Prototyping

   • Phase Timeline: 2025 (Launch)

   • Goals and Content: Plan and implement a minimum viable product (MVP), conduct small-scale combustion/nozzle/injector testing, and simultaneously conduct educational research and documentation to ensure knowledge archival.

3. Small Engine Improvement / RCS Attempt

   • Phase Time: 2025-2026

   • Goal and Content: Based on MVP, improve component design (e.g., nozzles and pintle injectors) and conduct basic experiments with small-scale RCS (reaction control) or thrust vectoring control (TVC) to enhance understanding of system behavior.

4. Small-Medium Liquid Fuel Engines

   • Phase Time: 2026

   • Goal and Content: Develop a more complete engine, integrating gas oxygen supply/ambient ethanol, regenerative cooling, and electric pump cycles, and gradually transition to more complex propulsion system design and manufacturing processes.

5. TVC Control System Thrust Vectoring/Hover Control Implementation

   • Phase Time: 2026-2027

   • Goal and Content: Demonstrate a prototype of hover and attitude control using PID and other control algorithms, integrating the propulsion system, sensors, and control loops to form a repeatable T&C (test and control) solution.

Technical & Project Discussions

Aligning Tools and Responsibilities

Members discussed using Fusion 360/CREO for CAD modeling, SimScale/OpenFOAM and Ansys for simulation verification, and KiCad/Arduino for measurement, control, and data acquisition. These tools will be assigned to team tasks and milestones.

Prototyping

The possibility of using sand casting for prototyping was discussed and will be investigated by the team. However, the drawbacks of this approach are that it requires post-processing on a lathe or CNC machine and does not allow for regenerative cooling.

Next Step (Continued from the previous meeting)

• Investigate and research the software, hardware, and resources required to design, test, and manufacture liquid rocket engines.
• Improve project direction planning and specific cooperation methods, such as real-time collaboration on electronic design and CAD parts.
• Research the feasibility of the direction and prepare a report.
• Explore the possibilities of using sand casting method.