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Programs & Specialty Areas

Orbital currently has 3 ongoing programs: Hapsis, Payloads, and Spaceshot. These programs allow members to work on the projects that excite them most while also providing a wide range of projects and skills. Each specialty area represents a critical need across our programs. Each area has a dedicated team, allowing for coordination on projects across programs under the supervision of a specialty coordinator.

Our Programs

Hapsis

Purdue Orbital’s founding mission continues today in the form of Hapsis, a high-altitude balloon and air-launch initiative. Developed to explore how launching rockets above much of Earth’s dense lower atmosphere can enable smaller vehicles to reach greater altitudes, Hapsis allows undergrad students to gain experience thinking outside the box and working on technical challenges unique to Orbital’s mission. With multiple launch attempts already under our belt, the program continues to launch balloon payloads as we work towards integration with our Nova rocket for high-altitude launch. Through this work, Hapsis gives Purdue students hands-on experience designing, manufacturing, testing, and operating complex aerospace systems while advancing Purdue Orbital’s pursuit of flying “higher, faster, and further.”

Payloads

The Payloads Program is Purdue Orbital’s initiative to connect Purdue students with researchers and academic departments by offering an accessible and cost-effective way to test experiments in flight. Building on the successful Icarus Alpha mission, which carried a Purdue AAE 418 microgravity experiment to nearly 8,000 feet, the program strives to provide interested parties with a reusable payload launch vehicle that will support a variety of scientific and engineering projects. Members work across payload design, integration, testing, mission planning, avionics, and recovery to ensure each launch operates safely while meeting the requirements of our payload partners. Through this work, the Payloads Program gives students practical experience with aerospace systems integration while building a long-term mission towards giving students experience with customer-driven requirements.

Spaceshot

The Spaceshot Program is Purdue Orbital’s student-researched-and-developed rocketry initiative focused on building progressively faster and higher-flying vehicles capable of advancing the organization toward the boundary of space. The program brings together specializations to design, build, test, and operate increasingly capable rocket systems using technologies developed by Purdue students. Stratos II set Purdue Orbital’s altitude record at 38,000ft with plans to break that record in the near future. Through extensive ground testing and a series of flight demonstrations, Spaceshot aims to validate student research and the systems we have developed as we build more ambitious vehicles. By pursuing record-setting performance through an iterative and safety-focused development process, the program gives students hands-on experience with the full aerospace engineering lifecycle while establishing a technical pathway towards eventually becoming one of an elite few student organizations capable of launching into space.

Our Specialty Areas

Launch Structure

This team is responsible for designing and creating the system that takes the rocket and all necessary systems to the launch altitude. Members of this team are involved in the hands-on manufacturing of our system. They also host the avionics and other payloads onto the balloon launch structure. This includes thermal control, physical protection, and electrical interfaces. They also work with all the other teams on Orbital, as their hardware interfaces with that of most other teams. This team also captures the footage from important flights.

Flight operations

This team is responsible for three critical aspects of the Hapsis Program, for which three subdivisions exist. The Ballooning Infrastructure subdivision develops the method and devices used to contain the balloon during launch and its initial ascent. The Flight Termination subdivision designs and tests a detachment and deflation device to ensure the launch structure returns safely to the ground. The Flight Dynamics subdivision develops physics simulations of our launch and initial ascent to ensure the mechanical integrity of our system.

avionics

This team designs and manages the hardware and software radio infrastructure that communicates with the payload, the flight computer and how it interacts with all the sensors and controllers on the payload, and the software that allows the team to control the rocket from the ground. The team has a variety of tasks that use concepts from computer science, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and more. Avionics collaborates with other sub-teams such as to make launches and data collection operate as smoothly as possible. This team supports both Icarus and Hapsis with the development of various avionics systems.

Propulsion

The Propulsion team is responsible for designing, manufacturing, and testing an M class, AP propellant solid rocket motor called Jalapeno that will power Icarus. This year, the propulsion team will be finalizing our motor design to complete a critical design review, design motor peripherals like a DAQ system, ignitor, and test stand, and finally hot fire our Jalapeno motor. Team members will be working closely with Zucrow Laboratories to mix, cast, and hot fire. 

Airframe

This team designs, manufactures, and assembles the sounding rocket airframes for the Icarus program. Airframe collaborates closely with the other sub-teams building the fuselage and avionics & payload bays within which every other team integrates. This semester Airframe will finish manufacturing our new Theseus Architecture and integrate with the Propulsion team's motor and the Mechatronics' separation mechanism. Additionally new designs for future two stage rockets will be developed.

Guidance, navigation, & control (GN&C)

GNC is focused on designing a control system to guide the ascent of the rocket and insertion of the satellite into orbit. This year GNC will be developing a Reaction Control System (RCS) for a rocket. This will be the platform to flight test the RCS system. The team will also begin planning for integration of the RCS system into our Theseus rocket architecture. The team is looking forward to an exciting semester of testing and development!    

other oppurtunties

Distinct from Orbital’s long-term programs, these teams offer unique opportunities to get involved in specialty projects and help run our organization.

Space Mission Design Team

Purdue Orbital also hosts a space mission design team, specializing in cislunar and interplanetary mission design and trajectory optimization. This team enables upperclassmen and grad students to gain experience applying optimal control principles to an astrodynamics problem under complex nonlinear dynamics.

Enterprise & Operations  

The operations team focuses on a variety of club logistics, fundraising, and outreach responsibilities. This includes coordinating club events throughout the year and maintaining the public presence of the organization.

TREASURY

Responsible for the finances of the team. To fund our team, the Treasury team seeks sponsorship partnerships, grant applications. Enabling the engineering projects, this team manages budgets and works with Purdue’s Business Office to procure materials and supplies.

Outreach

Responsible for the team identity and Purdue Orbital’s participation in on-campus activities. They also participate in outreach and sponsorship initiatives. The Outreach team designs Purdue Orbital’s logo branding and operates the social media. This team also coordinates with Purdue administration and other student organizations to participate in on-campus outreach and other school spirit events.