Cloud (2025)

Cloud was UGA AIAA’s 2025 launch vehicle for the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). The vehicle was developed as an interdisciplinary aerospace engineering platform, integrating propulsion, structures, avionics, recovery, telemetry, and a research payload into a single flight system.

The project followed an iterative development philosophy: previous flight experience informed the vehicle architecture, while simulation, ground testing, fabrication, and flight data were used to refine subsequent designs. Cloud supported the team’s continued development toward the IREC 10,000-foot mission while providing an opportunity to demonstrate increasingly capable onboard instrumentation and experimental hardware. The broader program ultimately achieved a 6th-place finish among 87 teams in the 10,000-foot COTS category and 10th overall among 193 international teams, representing an 8.3% improvement in apogee over the preceding vehicle.

Quick Stats

IREC 2025

Launch Vehicle: Cloud

Mission: 10,000 ft-class IREC flight

Payload: I.M.P.U.L.S.E. liquid-sloshing experiment

Research Method: LiDAR-based free-surface measurement

Analysis: Experimental data correlated with CFD

Flight Environment: High acceleration, vibration, thermal exposure, and recovery loads

The Vehicle

DESIGNED AROUND AN INTEGRATED MISSION

Cloud was designed around the requirements of IREC while leaving sufficient volume, structural capacity, and electrical infrastructure for experimental systems.

The vehicle represented an evolution of UGA AIAA’s previous IREC platforms, with engineering decisions increasingly driven by measured performance rather than isolated subsystem optimization. The program incorporated simulation and analysis into the design process, then used fabrication and testing to validate those models before flight.

The launch vehicle served as the host platform for the I.M.P.U.L.S.E. experimental payload, which investigated liquid sloshing under rocket-flight acceleration. That integration required the vehicle to accommodate a dedicated payload volume, provide a mechanically secure mounting interface, and preserve reliable electrical and data-system operation throughout launch and recovery.

I.M.P.U.L.S.E.

MEASURING THE MOTION OF LIQUID IN FLIGHT

Cloud carried the Impact and Measurement of Payload Under Liquid Sloshing Experiment (I.M.P.U.L.S.E.), an experimental payload developed to investigate the behavior of liquid inside a rocket during acceleration.

Liquid sloshing can alter the distribution of mass within a vehicle. As the free surface moves, the resulting changes in mass distribution can influence the vehicle's center of mass, momentum, and dynamic response. Understanding this behavior is particularly important as aerospace vehicles incorporate increasingly complex propellant and fluid systems.

Rather than attempting to infer fluid behavior indirectly, the I.M.P.U.L.S.E. team developed a direct measurement approach.

THE EXPERIMENT

The payload incorporated a cylindrical tank and LiDAR sensor positioned above the fluid surface. During operation, the sensor measured the distance to the moving free surface. That measurement could then be compared against the known fluid height at rest to determine displacement as a function of time.

The experimental architecture incorporated:

LiDAR sensing
Raspberry Pi Zero data processing
Two lithium-ion batteries
A boost converter
A 3D-printed tank
Plexiglass transparent lid
Aluminum structural frame
Dedicated sensor and electronics mounting

The team reused an existing payload frame to reduce machining requirements while developing a new tank, sensor mount, and electronics enclosure around the experimental requirements.

The payload was constrained to a 3U form factor measuring 10 × 10 × 30 cm, required to weigh at least 2 kg, and was designed to withstand the environmental conditions expected during IREC operations, including temperatures approaching 50°C.

01 // PROPULSION

THRUST AS A SYSTEM REQUIREMENT

The propulsion system was treated as more than a source of thrust. Motor selection had to balance altitude performance, vehicle mass, acceleration, structural loading, and the requirements imposed by the experimental payload.

Previous UGA IREC development established a simulation-driven propulsion workflow using OpenRocket to evaluate thrust-to-weight ratio, rail departure velocity, acceleration, velocity, Mach number, and predicted apogee. The preceding vehicle, for example, achieved a simulated maximum acceleration of 6.52 G, maximum velocity of 866 ft/s, and predicted apogee of 10,725 ft in its design analysis.

For Cloud, this engineering approach allowed propulsion performance to be considered alongside the payload's experimental requirements rather than independently.

02 // STRUCTURES

DESIGNED FOR LOAD, MASS, AND MANUFACTURABILITY

The structural architecture was developed around the competing requirements of low mass, sufficient stiffness, aerodynamic stability, payload protection, and manufacturability.

UGA AIAA's IREC development used composite airframe construction, mechanically integrated internal components, and structural analysis to evaluate the loads generated during powered flight. Previous vehicle development established the use of fiberglass airframes, through-the-wall fin integration, machined centering components, and high-strength structural bonding.

Cloud continued this progression toward structures capable of supporting increasingly complex onboard systems without allowing the vehicle's structural architecture to become unnecessarily heavy.

03 // AVIONICS & EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

TURNING FLIGHT INTO DATA

Cloud's avionics architecture supported the increasing emphasis on telemetry, instrumentation, and post-flight analysis within the UGA AIAA IREC program.

The vehicle was developed to support onboard electrical systems while maintaining the reliability required during high-acceleration flight. This development built upon earlier avionics architectures incorporating redundant altitude measurement and GPS tracking, with the broader IREC program subsequently expanding into telemetry and guidance, navigation, and control capabilities.

For Cloud, the objective was increasingly clear: flight was not simply the end of the design process, it was a source of engineering data.

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