PoliTo Rocket Team

PoliTo Rocket Team is a student-run team within Polytechnic University of Turin|Politecnico di Torino, with over 85 members. The teams is devoted entirely to the design and construction of high-powered sounding rockets and rocket engines. PoliTo Rocket Team's technology is strictly non-military and devoted to civil scientific research.
== Projects==
PoliTo Rocket Team provides students and researchers with the ability to design, build and launch their own experimental rockets, to carry out technical, scientific and medical research. The team was founded alongside the development of Project Cavour in 2022, and new projects have been started afterwards.
=== Cavour ===
Project Cavour is named after Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, one of the leading figures of the Italian Unification and the main promoter of Italy’s industrial and scientific development. It is the first rocket of the Founding Father series. The rocket's design is focused on cost-effectiveness, reconfigurability, in order to mount and test different propulsion systems, and reusability, with a dual-event recovery system.
The rocket is designed to mount COTS solid motors. It is composed of four compartments, the motor bay, which holds the motor, the avionics bay (stored in the coupler section) which includes the electronics and telemetry system, the payload bay which stores the scientific payload, and the recovery bay which contains the parachutes and other recovery components. The airframe has a total length of 2.17m, an internal diameter of 100mm and makes large use of advanced 3D printed and composite materials.
The project has been completed after 3 successful launches. In the first launch the rocket was in the test-launch configuration and mounted a COTS K-class solid motor, reaching an apogee of around 1300m near Straubing, Germany. In the second launch the rocket was in its competition configuration, with a COTS L-class solid motor and an apogee of around 3100m in New Mexico, USA, participating in the 2023 Spaceport America Cup. In the third launch the rocket was in another competition configuration for the 2023 European Rocketry Challenge and reached an apogee of around 2800m in Costancia, Portugal. 
====2023 Spaceport America Cup====
Project Cavour was the first Italian rocket to compete at the Spaceport America Cup, the world's largest rocket engineering competition, in June 2023.
The PoliTo Rocket Team’s delegation showcased the Project Cavour at the Las Cruces Convention Center on June 19th and 20th. On June 20th, the Cavour rocket passed the first safety review and obtained preliminary clearance for launch. Additionally, the Team's extended abstract titled "3D-Printed multilayered fins for flutter suppression" was selected to be presented during the podium session, a special session dedicated to the best technical presentations.
On Wednesday, June 21st, the competition moved to the Vertical Launch Area of Spaceport America, the world's first commercial spaceport located in the Jornada del Muerto desert, approximately 90km from Las Cruces. During the day, the Cavour rocket was assembled and passed the final safety review, positioning in queue for the launchpad. However, the launches were canceled in the early afternoon due to intense winds.
On Thursday, June 22nd, with moderate wind conditions, the Cavour rocket was launched from launchpad B2 at 9:20 local time (17:20 Italian time). The launch was a success, and the rocket reached an apogee of 3,144 meters, close to the target apogee of 3,048m. The flight of Cavour proceeded under nominal conditions, except for an early deployment of the main parachute, which did not affect the recovery. The rocket landed gently on the sand of New Mexico’s desert, approximately 3km from the launchpad, in good reusable conditions.
The Team ranked 20th overall out of 119 participating universities and 13th in their category (10K COTS). In the James Barrowman Award for Flight Dynamics category the Team ranked 21st, as the Cavour rocket reached the apogee objective with only a 3% error compared to the simulation. The Team ranked 6th in the "Build Quality" category.
The Cavour Project was awarded the Dr. Gil Moore Award for Innovation by the jury. The award is given to a project that includes one or more technical, analytical, or operational process solutions that the judges consider particularly innovative, creative, or aimed at solving a specific problem identified by the team. The project was appreciated by the jury, in particular the assembly of 3D-printed multilayered fins designed to suppress flutter. The use of opology optimization techniques with advanced materials in additive manufacturing allowed the Team to create an extremely lightweight structure without compromising structural rigidity, despite its complexity. According to the judges, "the approach adopted by the Team is destined to revolutionize not only rocket modeling but also the rocket engineering industry".
====European Rocketry Challenge 2023====
date=August 2023
Project Cavour is the first project from a team from Politecnico di Torino to compete at the European Rocketry Challenge, in October 2023.
On October 13, at 14:45 (UTC+1), the Team launched the Cavour rocket for the 3rd time in 2023. The rocket left the launch rail at Santa Margarida Military Camp, Portugal, and completed the boost and coast phase nominally, reaching an apogee of about 2800m. After this phase, Cavour descended hitting the ground at 75 m/s. Cavour competed in the 3km apogee AGL with COTS solid propulsion category with the competition number 17.
The Team was awarded the ANACOM (Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações) prize for the best spectral signature and quality of the telemetry signal.
===Efesto===
Project Efesto works to develop a regenerative liquid rocket engine, in order to propose a small and reusable propulsion system for the first stages of a general micro launcher. The bi-liquid rocket engine will be powered by LOX and bio-CH4. It will be the first Italian Student-Research-And-Developed (SRAD) liquid rocket engine.
===Vittorio Emanuele II===
Vittorio Emanuele II (VES) is the second competition rocket project of the Founding Fathers series, named after the first King of Italy.
The VES rocket has been designed to participate international rocketry competitions. It is capable of reaching a maximum apogee of 10,000 meters (32,000 ft) with a CO2-based recovery system and airbrakes for apogee control. The rocket will be powered by a COTS solid propulsion system and will feature an airframe that will allow for the future implementation of the self-developed liquid rocket engine Efesto. It will be the Team's first supersonic rocket.
==Outreach==
outreach event for high school students interested in rocketry was organised. In December 2022, PoliTo Rocket Team took part in a large event for Italy’s National Space Day, hosted in Politecnico’s Aula Magna, where The Team’s President presented the active projects. It was the first public showing of the Cavour Rocket prototype, which was showcased for entire duration of the event.
During the month of May 2023 the PoliTo Rocket Team organised the 1st IRESS - Italian Rocket Engineering Student Summit, which was held at Politecnico di Torino's Aula Magna. The event brought together all major rocketry teams from the Italian universities, promoting collaboration and networking among students, professionals, and industry leaders in the field of Rocket and Space Engineering. The summit provided a platform to discuss the realities and challenges of rocketry in Italy. In addition to the team presentation, several academic, industrial, and institutional representatives held talks related to the space economy, research, and rocket engineering.
==Membership==
The team's member are approximately half undegraduate and half graduate students, with some PhD candidates. Approximately 50 percent of members come from the aerospace engineering courses of Politecnico di Torino, with the remaining coming from other courses, including mechanical and electronic engineering. Approximately 30 percent of the PoliTo Rocket Team's members are international students.
Category:Companies established in 2022
Category:Companies based in Turin
Category:Aerospace research institutes