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A group of U.S. students has nail a series of earth records after launching a " homemade " rocket farther and quicker into space than any other amateur arugula . The student - made projectile soared 90,000 feet ( 27,400 meters ) beyond the late record - holder — a rocket launched more than 20 eld ago .
The record - breaking projectile , name Aftershock II , was design and built by students at the University of Southern California ’s ( USC ) Rocket Propulsion Lab ( RPL ) — a mathematical group run entirely by undergraduate educatee . The students launch Aftershock II on Oct. 20 from a web site in Black Rock Desert , Nevada . The rocket stood about 14 feet ( 4 meters ) magniloquent and weighed 330 pounds ( 150 kilograms ) .
Afterschock II reached a maximum altitude of 470,000 feet above Earth’s surface, which is higher than any other amateur rocket. Its nose cone then detached and deployed a parachute before falling back to Earth.
The skyrocket broke the sound barrier just two seconds after liftoff and reached its maximum speed roughly 19 seconds after launching , the RPL squad wrote in aNov . 14 papersummarizing the launch . The rocket ’s engine then burned out , but the guile proceed to go up as atmospheric resistor decreased , enabling it to leave behind Earth ’s atmosphere 85 seconds after launching and then reach its highest aggrandisement , or apogee , 92 seconds later . At this decimal point , the nose strobile separated from the rest of the skyrocket and deploy a chute so it could safely reenter the air and meet down in the desert , where it was pick up by the RPL team for analysis .
The roquette ’s culmination was around 470,000 substructure ( 143,300 m ) above Earth ’s surface , which is " further into space than any non - governmental and non - commercial-grade group has ever flown before , " USC interpreter write in astatement . The old record of 380,000 feet ( 115,800 molar concentration ) was sic in 2004 by the GoFast rocket made by the Civilian Space Exploration Team .
During the trajectory , Aftershock II reached a maximum pep pill of around 3,600 miles per hour ( 5,800 kilometre / h ) , or Mach 5.5 — five and a half times the speed of sound . This was somewhat faster than GoFast , which had also held the amateur speed platter for 20 class .
The Aftershock II project was run by a team of undergraduates from USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab.
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But elevation and speed were not the only records Aftershock II bankrupt . " This achievement represent several applied science firsts,“Ryan Kraemer , an undergraduate mechanical engineering student at USC and executive applied scientist of the RPL team who will soon joinSpaceX ’s Starshipteam , said in the instruction . " Aftershock II is distinguished by the most knock-down firm - propellant motor ever fired by students and the most sinewy composite fount motor made by amateurs . "
The platter - breaking launch is the latest succeeder to come from RPL . In 2019 , another grouping became the first educatee - led team to launch a skyrocket past the Kármán melodic phrase — the notional edge where blank space officially start , Live Science ’s babe siteSpace.com antecedently reported . Aftershock II is only the second student skyrocket ever to reach this milestone .
The Aftershock II project was run by a team of undergraduates from USC’s Rocket Propulsion Lab.
To create their record - breaking rocket , the Aftershock II squad used new procession in thermal protection , which is vital when a projectile is traveling at hypersonic speeds ( above Mach 5 ) . The students coat Aftershock II in a raw type of estrus - repellent paint and equip it with titanium - coated five , which replace carbon - based parts used on premature models .
" Thermal auspices at hypersonic speeding is a major challenge at the manufacture layer , " Kraemer said . The upgrades the squad made " perform perfectly , enabling the projectile to return largely intact . " However , the heating gist was so intense that the atomic number 22 quintet turned from a silvery color to blue , due to a process known as " anodization , " in which the alloy reacts with atmospheric O to create a layer of titanium oxide , he added .
The team also designed a newfangled ascendancy unit for the rocket salad , known as High ALT Module for Sensing , Telemetry , and Electronic Recovery ( HASMTER ) , which track the rocket ’s flight and deployed its chute .
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The investigator overseeing the RPL squad were impressed with the students , who receive minimum aid from their instructor .
" This is an exceptionally ambitious project not only for a pupil squad , but for any non - professional group of rocket engineers,“Dan Erwin , an aerospace engineer and chair of the USC Department of Astronautical Engineering , articulate in the statement . " It ’s a will to the excellence we seek to develop in our emerging astronautical engineer . "
