He is the founder and captain of the Rocketry Hephaestus team. He is very young, but already has very clear ideas: he wants to continue his studies in famous and prestigious US universities. His name is Christian Ferracane and he was among the protagonists at Maker Faire Rome 2021. He tells us about his project.
A functioning and autonomous rocket
We want to «develop a scale model of a fully functioning and autonomous rocket – Christian explained – all systems, such as the launch sequence, stabilisation and parachute opening, are managed by the electronics of the launcher and the launchpad. Ferracane also said that «the avionics, thanks to a series of sensors, is able to determine the attitude error and, after a series of calculations, to correct it by controlling the thrust (thrust vectoring control). What we really care about is scalability and replicability, which is why we make all our files open source».
Leading the team
The team is divided into «three departments that work in collaboration with each other – explained Ferracane – the structures department is responsible for designing, building and testing the structure of the rocket and every component attached to and connected with the available means. The propulsion department builds the engine from compounds that are accessible to anyone, so it can be easily replicated by following the open source instructions on our website www.hephaestus.space. Finally, the electronics department is responsible for designing the beating heart of the model, ensuring that the rocket starts, is stable and functional».
sources: makerfairerome.eu
Cover photo: makerfairerome.eu
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