Juno II‘s Recovery

Eduarda de B. Ribeirinho
Felipe E. Schwarz
Isabela M. M. Lopes
Juliana M. Carloni

06/08/2022
Contents
1) Official Altitude Logging 1
1.1) Considerations about the speed measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2) Essential Flight Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

2) Local of impact 2

3) Telemetry 3

4) Rocket’s integrity after launch 3

1) Official Altitude Logging

There were four COTS RRC3 altimeters in the rocket, two in the nosecone and two in the avionics
bay. After the recovery, it was stated that all altimeters were giving very similar apogees, which is
a strong sign of the reliability of the recovered data. For the definitive real apogee, an RRC3 of the
avionics bay was picked. Below there is a graph that contains the altitude, velocity, temperature,
battery voltage and the moments of the two flight events, drogue and main. In our rocket, the
latter corresponds to the disreefing event.

Figure 1: Graph generated with the recovered data.

1.1) Considerations about the speed measurements

The maximum velocity shown is not the real maximum velocity presented in the graph’s legend.
This happens, because the altimeter calculates the velocity based on the pressure’s rate of change.
So, when there is a quick pressure variation, there is a peak on the velocity’s value. The real
maximum velocity is shown in Figure 2. According to the altimeter’s flight log, its value is
1049.19 ft/s, which results in approximately 0.94 Mach. This velocity occurs at burn out time.

Figure 2: Maximum velocity emphasized.

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1.2) Essential Flight Data

Parameter Value Unit

Apogee 12149 ft
Maximum speed 1049.19 ft/s
Drogue rate 58 ft/s
Main rate 32 ft/s
Disreefing Altitude 1393 ft

Table 1: Parameters in imperial units.

Parameter Value Unit

Apogee 3703 m
Maximum speed 319.79 m/s
Drogue rate 17.7 m/s
Main rate 9.8 m/s
Disreefing Altitude 424.6 m

Table 2: Parameters in SI units.

It’s important to note that the main rate, that is, the terminal velocity of the rocket is 9.8 m/s, less
than 10 m/s . This relatively low terminal velocity was an important key to the rocket’s successful
recovery.

2) Local of impact

When Juno II was found three members of Projeto Jupiter went to the local of impact, got its
coordinates and recovered the rocket. The coordinates found are 23°20’55.5" S and 47°59’19.1"
W, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Coordinates of the local of impact.

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As seen in Figure 4, the distance between the Launch Pad and the local of impact is 2969.05 m,
less than 3 km. This shows that the rocket’s landing occurred inside the Hazard Area.

Figure 4: Distance between the Launch Pad and the local of impact.

3) Telemetry

The telemetry had one transmitter in the rocket and two receptors on ground. The transmission
was successful, with few problems. One of them was that the GPS stopped transmitting data
soon after the ignition. This happened probably due to the rocket’s very high velocities. A .csv
file with some important data was sent attached to the email for the LASC organization alongside
the Official Altitude Logging.

4) Rocket’s integrity after launch

The rocket was found in very good conditions, almost intact. No critical components were
broken or badly damaged and both mechanical and electrical parts of the rocket kept their
integrity, including our payload cameras.

After in-house inspection, the team members stated that both events occurred on proper time,
meaning all the e-matches were activated and Juno II had a successful dual-event recovery. None
of the rocket’s parts were lost or disconnected during flight.

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Figure 5: Motor, payload and avionics connected to the recovery module.

Figure 6: Motor, payload and avionics modules in good conditions.

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Figure 7: Parachute opened and nosecone attached to the rocket.