System Development of an Experimental Rocket and an Autonomous Free Falling Mobile Robot

This paper presents the development of a small experimental rocket for the National Launching Campaign held by the DGAEM in France since 2009. The campaign organized by CNES was conducted by the French Association of Planete Sciences. The rocket design was developed by Space Club Gifu and Sasaki Lab at Gifu University. The main mission is the autonomous navigation of a quasi-satellite maneuvering with a parachute and two propellers to a target point using GPS data. The rocket is 2m long, 150mm in diameter, weight 11.4kg and made entirely of CFRP. With a solid rocket motor provided by CNES, the rocket can reach an altitude of 840m. Onboard are a pressure sensor, accelerometer, GPS and two video cameras. The video cameras begin monitoring at launch. The acceleration, velocity and position were recorded for later comparison to simulation data. While the rocket launch and quasi-satellite deployment were successful, strong winds prevented the latter from maneuvering to the target point. All components were recovered intact and all recorded data were available for analysis.