Ground system
Ground station
A Teensy 4.1 ground station with GPS, LoRa telemetry, an LCD and a GUI.
- Controller
- Teensy 4.1
- Links
- GPS, LoRa
- Interface
- LCD and GUI
Flown2025
Project Myriad
Myriad
4th at AURC 2025 in 10,000 ft COTS, with ARD's first airbrakes.
4th
AURC 2025
10,000 ft · COTS propulsion
- Stages
- Single-stage
- Propulsion
- Solid
- Motor
- AeroTech M1845NT-PS
- Length
- 2.36 m
- Diameter
- 160 mm
- Apogee
- 8,900 ft
Project Myriad was ARD's Level 3 rocket for the 10,000 ft COTS category at the Australian Universities Rocket Competition (AURC) 2025: a 160 mm, three-section fibreglass rocket on the AeroTech M1845NT-PS. It introduced ARD's first active apogee control and carried a 1U CubeSat microfluidics experiment. It reached 8,900 ft above ground level and placed 4th.
01Anatomy
Take it apart
Scroll to separate the rocket into its components. Each one is explained as it comes into view.
C-01·Nose cone
Nose cone
A fibreglass Haack-series nose cone with a fineness ratio of 4.4.
- Shape
- Von Karman (Haack series)
- Material
- Fibreglass
- Length
- 400 mm
- Fineness ratio
- 4.4
C-02·Payload bay
Payload bay
A 1U CubeSat (10 × 10 × 10 cm) biological experiment on microfluidics in microgravity, developed as a University of Adelaide honours project.
- Format
- 1U CubeSat, 6061 aluminium
- Experiment
- Microfluidics in microgravity
- Computer
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W
- Power
- 0.5U power unit
C-03·Recovery system (parachutes)
Recovery system
Dual deployment: a drogue at apogee, then the main parachute at 400 m above ground.
- Deployment
- Dual deploy
- Drogue
- 68 cm, at apogee
- Main
- 200 cm, at 400 m AGL
- Ejection
- Black powder, 0.26–0.5 g
- Shear pins
- 4 main, 3 drogue
- Protection
- Nomex fire blankets
C-04·Avionics bay
Avionics bay
An SRAD flight computer built on an STM32F4, flown with a COTS backup altimeter.
- Processor
- STM32F4
- IMUs
- ICM-20948, LSM6DS3TR
- Barometer
- BMP388
- GNSS
- u-blox NEO-M8
- Telemetry
- RFM95CW LoRa
- Power
- 4 × 18650 cells
Built on
- Project Myriad (2024)
Builds on the single-board Teensy 4.1 flight computer of the 2024 build.
C-05·Airbrakes
Airbrakes
ARD's first attempt at active apogee control: four tabs extended by a high-torque servo under PID control.
- Tabs
- 4
- Extension
- Variable, 0–25 mm
- Drive
- High-torque servo
- Control
- PID
- Construction
- Prototyped in laser-cut acrylic, then waterjet-cut aluminium
C-06·Recovery system (parachutes)
Main parachute bay
Carries the 200 cm main parachute, deployed at 400 m above ground.
C-07·Motor and propulsion
Motor section
The 900 mm aft airframe carries the 98 mm AeroTech M1845NT-PS reloadable motor.
- Motor
- AeroTech M1845NT-PS (98 mm, M class)
- Total impulse
- 8,307 N·s
- Average thrust
- 1,875 N
- Maximum thrust
- 3,081 N
- Burn time
- 4.4 s
- Thrust-to-weight
- 9.25 at lift-off
Built on
- Project Myriad (2024)
The same motor as the 2024 build.
C-08·Fin can
Fin can
Four trapezoidal plywood fins, reinforced tip-to-tip with carbon fibre.
- Count
- 4
- Planform
- Trapezoidal
- Construction
- Plywood, tip-to-tip carbon fibre
- Thickness
- 5.5 mm
02Lineage
What it built on
Every ARD rocket carries hardware, code and hard-won lessons from the ones before it.
From
Carried over
The 160 mm, 2.36 m three-section airframe (280, 760 and 900 mm sections), the fibreglass construction and the AeroTech M1845NT-PS motor.
From
Carried over
The fibreglass airframe, nose cone, tip-to-tip fins and dual deployment first validated on the May 2024 L2 prototype.
03Systems
Propulsion and ground
Stage 1 · Motor
AeroTech M1845NT-PS
- Propellant
- Solid
- Impulse class
- M
98 mm reloadable motor. Total impulse 8,307 N·s, average thrust 1,875 N, maximum thrust 3,081 N, burn time 4.4 s.
04Flight log
Launches
| Date | Site | Outcome | Apogee |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | White Cliffs, NSW | 4th in 10,000 ft COTS | 8,900 ft |
05Results
On the board
Build the next one.