Aerobrakes — Lesson 13: Aerobrake Mechanism Design

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The flight computer can now detect coast phase reliably — now the team needs a physical mechanism for it to actually control.

Objective: design and prototype the physical deployable airbrake surface.

Session Activities

Run a CAD design session for the mechanism: it needs to sit flush with the rocket body at rest, deploy reliably on command, and stay simple enough to control with the limited in-flight compute available. Then prototype and bench-test the actuation itself — cycling the servo or motor repeatedly, measuring deployment speed, and deliberately looking for jam failure modes.

Safety Checkpoint

Run an explicit failure-mode review, covering asymmetric deployment (one side opens, the other doesn't), out-of-phase deployment (opening at the wrong moment), and failure to close. Document mitigations for each before any flight testing happens. Students design and defend this review themselves — it isn't handed to them as a checklist.

Maps to milestone P3-M2.