Model Rocket Design

Over the summer of 2025, I decided to make a few projects to further my skills in the engineering field. One of these projects was designing a model rocket in OpenRocket software.

I Designed two versions of a rocket (for normal conditions and windy conditions) in OpenRocket to precisely reach an apogee of 10000 ft; inspired by the Spaceport America Cup. My first model (normal winds) was able to accurately reach an apogee of ~10000 feet, while the second model (windy) was able to reach 9933 feet. Both rockets were optimized using OpenRocket’s Rocket Optimization tool.

The rocket features a secant ogive nose cone, a fiberglass body (comprised of two body tubes), a parachute, Cesaroni Tech 3727L 1050-P motor, and trapezoidal fins. It also contains a launch lug to allow for a smooth takeoff, and tube coupler to join the two body tubes together, along with a payload of 1.5 kg, all joined together with a shock cord. Since OpenRocket lets the user design any rocket (even ones that don’t make physical sense), not only was this project a matter of trial and error (it mostly was not) it was a challenge to create a working rocket that would satisfy my goal while also being feasible in the real world.

Technologies Used: OpenRocket