Project Ares is the liquid-propellant rocket team within Rocket Project at UCLA. After completing my freshman year with Project Prometheus, the hybrid-propellant team, I joined Project Ares to work on a much larger rocket: one with a target apogee of 30,000 ft.

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As a part of the nose cone and boat tail subteam, I modeled both the nose cone and boat tail in SolidWorks to perform Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and to design 3D-printed molds to manufacture these parts. I conducted preliminary CFD analysis in SolidWorks to confirm the geometry (particularly the oddly-shaped boat tail) would allow for efficient air flow. The models were then handed off for analysis of the full rocket in Ansys.

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With only Prusa Mk3 printers available, we printed the molds for the feet-long aerostructures in 8 in segments, then attached them together and sanded them before laying up the fiberglass. With a vacuum bag and oven, we were quickly able to cure the parts to sand them smooth for assembly onto the rocket.

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This experience, along with a similar procedure in Project Prometheus, ​laid the foundation for my understanding of composite manufacturing. It was also my first experience designing any sort of mold, and the expertise lent by more senior teammates was invaluable to a successful manufacturing session.