MOMENTUM - November 2023 - 14

STUDENT GENERATION
The Sovereign taking off with The Arbiter on a snow-covered field.
working to eliminate bugs from the software.
Consisting primarily of graduate students, this sub-team's
contributions were significant. The multifaceted engineering
and hands-on skills-coupled with a key support position
bridging aerodynamics, structures, and avionics- provided an
invaluable asset to the design team. The result was a
tremendously accelerated iteration enabled by rapid
prototyping, comprehensive analytical validation
via technical expertise, and smoothed
integration through a bridge role
connecting disparate sub-team
disciplines.
ADVERSITY AND INNOVATION
By the time the third iteration of the primary aircraft
was completed, the temperature dropped drastically and
snow began to set in. This posed a major challenge,
especially with the battery performance diminishing to the
point where the aircraft could not take off. We took
unconventional measures, such as storing the batteries near
the heaters to warm them up before the flights.
Furthermore, the snow impeded the takeoff run,
14 November 2023
hindering the aircraft's ability to reach the required takeoff
speed. To address this issue, we opted to remove the
standard-issue 750-W power limiter, enabling the aircraft to
overcome the adverse conditions and reach the
necessary airspeed for takeoff.
The primary goal of this test flight was to
showcase the PADA deployment,
conducted without autonomous
CAD assembly of
The Sovereign and The
Arbiter showing the
overall structures of
the two aircraft.
MOMENTUM
Minsu Joo
Minsu Joo
MOMENTUM - November 2023

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