![WaPo Creative Group Feature Image](/images/Posts/TRELRocketeers.jpg)

## This. Is. Awesome.

Great news! The Washington Post Creative Group did a piece over the summer on TREL. In it, they highlight our director of test operations, Jason Deng (neat!), in addition to all of the other incredible aspects of TREL (our synopsis, engine, our first hot-fire test, etc.) The story itself is incredibly interactive with all sorts of cool visual effects and videos, so we recommend you check it out yourself! 

Here’s the [link](https://www.washingtonpost.com/creativegroup/ni/the-rocketeers/)!


Washington Post Creative Group's Newest Piece, "The Rocketeers", Spotlights TREL


![Jay_Hartzell](/images/Jay_Hartzell.jpg)

On Sept. 24, UT President Jay Hartzell delivered his inaugural speech, promising to both cultivate the diversity of the student body as well as move UT up the ranks in academics. In addition to that, he also mentioned TREL when discussing how UT could have a “greater impact by pulling together great people in this special place and pursuing the right things.” In the short snippet of the speech, he included how staff such as Sarah Kitten (an academic advisor here at UT) was able to help create this remarkable organization by connecting former TREL CEO and director of operations Shawn Lee to the lab in the first place.

## Our Snippet

To read the entire part of the speech discussing TREL, you can see it below:

“Let me give you an example. Shawn Lee graduated in May from the Cockrell School. As a freshman, he connected with the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab, or TREL for short. They’re a student group developing the first collegiate liquid bipropellant rocket to reach the Kármán line — the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. That’s a pretty awesome project, right? About like what we did when we were in college?

It was Shawn’s academic adviser, Sarah Kitten, who connected him to the lab. A faculty member and TREL’s director at the time, Dr. Leon Vanstone, soon became Shawn’s mentor. These experiences didn’t just provide Shawn with knowledge. They taught him how to build cool teams as well as cool stuff. Shawn went on to mentor other students and eventually served as TREL’s CEO and director of operations. He interned at Blue Origin, a rocket and spacecraft company with the mission of building a road to space. Shawn now works for them full time. With people and stories like these, we’ve joked that we may need to change our tagline to ‘What starts here changes the universe.’”

### If you want to see the entire speech...

The entire speech can be found [here](https://president.utexas.edu/messages-speeches-2021/2021-presidential-inauguration-and-state-university-address). 


TREL Featured in UT President Jay Hartzell’s Inauguration Speech


Just last Wednesday, Oct. 6, TREL delivered its first public presentation of the year at Austin Startup Week. Hosted by Amazon Web Services, high-profile business leaders and corporations from around the world tuned in live to see what TREL had to say about being one of the most advanced collegiate rocket organizations in the country.

## Presentation Time!
![Lauren Rodriguez, Adam Norwitz, and Gregory Gaasche presenting](/images/Posts/TRELAWSPresenting.jpg)

Chief engineer Lauren Rodriguez, who was given the task to present the Halcyon rocket to the audience (along with corporate development leads Adam Norwitz and Greg Gaasche), explained that the most difficult part of the presentation was “trying to figure out what level of detail [she] needed to provide to get [her] point across.” A task she accomplished by considering who her audience exactly was throughout the entirety of the presentation and trying to communicate to them in an effective way.

“I tried to emphasize Halcyon’s projects and their complexity the most -- we learn so much from our challenges, so talking about the vehicle really drives home what an incredible opportunity being a part of TREL is,” Rodriguez said.

## Happy Hour

After the presentation, TREL was given the opportunity to attend Austin Startup Week’s “Happy Hour”. An event that made it possible for TREL to connect with a myriad of companies, business leaders, and those wanting to innovate in the space industry.

“Happy Hour was another incredible opportunity for TREL. We were finally able to meet our friends at AWS in person, as well as many other companies making an impact in the space industry,” Norwitz said. “TREL hopes to partner with more space companies from Texas to help us in inspiring the next generation of aerospace pioneers.”

Ultimately, the event for TREL proved to be a success. And with it getting its name out as an organization that both builds complex rockets and educates the next generation about aerospace, TREL hopes to continue its legacy for years to come.

“Kudos to @Gregory Gaasche, @Adam Norwitz, and @Lauren Rodriguez for a fantastic presentation to AWS Wednesday,” director Sandy Barker said while congratulating the trio on Slack. “I've gotten fabulous feedback from attendees, volunteers to come speak with us, and an invitation for TREL AWS to join their space forum. This will provide opportunities for years to come. Please join me in congratulating them!”


TREL Presents at Austin Startup Week

Beginning Nov. 10, TREL will participate in its first-ever HornRaiser event. Through the funds raised, TREL hopes to be able to complete projects such as running major manufacturing and test campaigns, purchasing major flight components, performing end-to-end testing of those major flight components, along with a slew of others. Moreover, the tier-based donation system incorporated into the HornRaiser page will also provide donors with the opportunity to be featured on the TREL website donor wall in addition to having gifts such as member-signed Halcyon stickers and dedicated Halcyon components delivered to their front door too. 

## One Whole Month of Raisin’ Money!

Throughout the month-long donation process (stretching from Nov. 10 to Dec. 10), TREL will plan out several emails and social media posts aimed at encouraging supporters to share the HornRaiser page with their family and friends. In those emails and social media posts, not only will TREL vocalize its mission as a university-based rocket lab aimed at training and educating future rocket engineers, but ones that also help educate a future generation, too. Moreover, it will also include snippets of TREL’s outreach program teaching and inspiring children of all ages (from elementary to high school).

If you believe in TREL’s mission (as stated above), you too can participate in our HornRaiser process. As an ambassador, you can help us share our HornRaiser page, and as a donor, you can help contribute to our projects (whether they be educational, technical, etc.). To do this, just click on the link below. And if you want to see our HornRaiser description along with our gifts, check out the photo below too!


Link to [Our HornRaiser Page](https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/28076)

![TREL’s HornRaiser Description and Gifts](../images/Posts/HornRaiserPage.jpg)


Our First-Ever HornRaiser!

Are you interested to see what TREL accomplishes within a given month or week? Well, this is the place for you! In each subteam update blog post, teams are given the opportunity to share with you both recent milestones and funny things that happened while working. And ultimately, we hope that you -- whether you’re a future applicant, family member or friend, or sponsor -- will enjoy reading these.

Best regards,
TREL

## Reaction Control Systems (RCS)

First off, a huge congratulations to the Reaction Control Systems (RCS) subteam for completing a number of tasks this past month. During this past month, they validated and evaluated nozzle design through several testing campaigns, in addition to iterating and developing new components and system designs based on test results. Moreover, they have also been working on integrating with fluids and structural systems.

Overall, though, the RCS test and design team has been consistently on top of their game. Something that's been seen through them "knocking things out when they need to or even before." This has allowed RCS to finish testing and most analyses and design iteration in barely over a month, keeping them on track to finish before the spring!

Future goals for them include looking at control algorithms and other control integrations with fins. Also, they plan to continue working with other teams to integrate.

## Payload

![Payload Fluids PDR Meeting](../images/Posts/paymis_Stephanie_Gonzalez.png)

After a change in mission objectives shifted the payload's focus, the payload team began wrapping up redesigns. This past month, the team successfully passed Preliminary Design Reviews (PDR) for their recovery and fluids subsystems. The recovery system ensures the payload is recoverable to review collected data, while the fluids system is responsible for inflating a balloon upon descent. Members of the lab were able to attend a meeting, providing feedback on the designs of the subsystems and the next steps for these subsystems.

The team would like to extend special thanks to the recovery team's Katy Mueller and fluids team's Josue Caballero and Daniel Young for their hard work in these subsystem redesigns!

To finalize designs, the recovery team and fluids team will begin prototyping! The remaining subsystems will be scheduling their PDR  in the coming weeks. After every subsystem has passed their PDRs and finished prototyping, a joint Critical Design Review will be held over the payload system as a whole.

## Propulsion

![TXE-2 3D Printed Mockup](../images/Posts/TXE2_Scale_Mockup_Ben_McCord.jpg)

Since the start of the semester, the propulsion team has been busy making TREL's TXE-2 flight engine a reality! After completing a successful Critical Design Review of our system, the team has entered the manufacturing, testing, and iteration phase. Manufacturing has begun on all propulsion components, post-processing pipelines have been developed for the additively manufactured copper alloy combustion chamber, and the next iteration of flight engine designs has also begun. With each task, there will be a focus on increasing performance, manufacturing, and mass efficiency. Test plans and configurations, assembly instructions, and Concept of Operations (CONOPS) are also currently being finalized so that the team can rapidly and efficiently transfer to hotfire testing once manufacturing is completed!

The team also wants to share a shout-out regarding Chase Holder for leading the analysis campaign effort, Evan Kolderup for overhauling the TXE-2 chamber CAD, Chase Meech for his upgraded injector SN3 design, and Phillip DuPont for leading the extended FMEA for TXE-2 operation. The new Propulsion team members Maritza, Lipika, Blake, Luciana, and Aditya also get a shout-out for jumping right into TREL, taking ownership over their projects, and getting the team to hotfire!

Moving forward, the propulsion team is looking to start printing and post-processing the copper alloy combustion chamber, continue practicing assemblies using their 1:1 scale mockup, finalize test plans and risk mitigation, and prepare for hotfire testing.


Subteam Updates - RCS, Payload, and Propulsion

## Structures
![The structures team holding up the flight liners](../images/Posts/AllLinersHorizontal.jpeg)

Recently, the structures team received the shipment of Halcyon's flight COPV (composite overwrapped pressure vessel) liners. This is **huge**! It means that they have officially shifted from developmental testing to manufacturing & testing flight hardware. Moreover, the team has also resumed skirt production for Halcyon, kicking it off with two skirts using lighter carbon fiber.  Without the material testing done beforehand, this would not have been possible (so congrats!). Something also interesting that happened was this quote from structures systems engineer Ray Tin: 
> "There are 7 inches in a foot, right?" 
 
![The shipment of flight liners](../images/Posts/FlightLinersShipmentPicturedTogether.jpg)
 
What will happen within the next few weeks is that, with the new shipment, the team will wrap the flight liners up in carbon fiber and begin conducting a comprehensive testing campaign. Additionally, the hold downs (HD) team will also continue to pump out spicy memes and make fantastic CADs and ANSYS simulations. 
 
## Fluid Systems 
![The fluid systems team enjoying Halloween together](../images/Posts/MehulHalloweenPhoto.jpg)
 
Reflecting on the past three weeks, the fluid systems (FS) team has hit numerous milestones. First, they redesigned the FW (Flight Weight) system to satisfy the mass requirement by cutting out a ton of components. Second, their GSE (ground support equipment) team passed their RP-1 MRR (Rocket Propellant-1 Manufacturing Readiness Review). And third, the QD (Quick Disconnect) team passed their CDR (Critical Design Review). But that’s not all! Because in addition to all of those impressive things, they’ve also accomplished a plethora of other tasks. Tasks such as receiving quotes from different companies for a significant number of components after sizing those components with simulations and calculations, speccing out virtually every fitting, and beginning to plan their orders for everything needed for FW and GSE. 
 
At the moment, QD is working on a test stand to test the separation system. For GSE, they are working on building their RP-1 line and passing MRR for the other lines. Ultimately, however, the team has made a lot of progress in creating simulations for every line in the rocket. Examining previous calculations and coming up with better numbers and functional requirements, they hope to produce even more accurate simulations in the future.


Subteam Updates - Structures and Fluid Systems


## Hot Fire

![A photo of Gabe Bishop](/images/Posts/120321_GabeBishopPhoto.jpg)
Hot Fire would like to give a big shout-out to their new team member, Gabe Bishop, who has been working on tube fabrication and box installation during the past couple of weeks while learning about the inner workings of the test stand. Over those weeks, he has also made his love for Kanye, minions, and zip-ties abundantly clear.

## A few photos from the past two months

![Hot Fire Photo 1 of Lauren](/images/Posts/120321_HotFirePhoto1.jpg)

![Hot Fire Photo 2](/images/Posts/120321_HotFirePhoto2.jpg)

![Hot Fire Photo 3](/images/Posts/120321_HotFirePhoto3.jpg)

![Hot Fire Photo 4](/images/Posts/120321_HotFirePhoto4.jpg)

![A pumpkin carving of the Firefly Aerospace logo TREL did](/images/Posts/120321_FireflyPumpkin.jpg)


Hot Fire Member Spotlight (Gabe Bishop) and Photos


Last month on March 5th, TREL was given the exciting opportunity to showcase its progress in the TEDxUTAustin 2022 Blueprints event. The event's goal was to inspire others to create and innovate by showcasing the beginnings and progress of large projects. TREL was a perfect fit for this and were able to highlight the lab's progress on Halcyon to other current and potential innovators.

## Display
At our table, we showed off pieces of designs from various parts of the lab: a skirt, the nosecone, TXE-2, heatsink, and a COPV dome.
![TREL display at TEDx](/images/Posts/TREL_display.jpg)
![TXE-2xUT](/images/Posts/TXE-2xUT.jpg)

Event Spotlight - TREL at TEDx


TREL did not go unnoticed at the launch of the What Starts Here campaign on March 4th. This event was the biggest fundraising campaign in UT’s history, meant to lend support to and encourage UT's researchers. Our lab, members, and mission made an incredible impact in showcasing the drive and ambition of UT students, showing off our 30-foot-tall rocket in the middle of the EER.

![TREL group photo next to mockup](/images/Posts/WSH_1.jpg)

The mockup is a tangible indicator for the reality of TREL's mission and reflects the progress of our lab and community since our inception. A huge round of applause to everyone who tirelessly put the mockup together!

## Putting Together the Rocket
![Putting the stand together](/images/Posts/WSH_2.jpeg)
![Wooden stand set up](/images/Posts/WSH_3.jpeg)
![Putting the mockup together in the EER](/images/Posts/WSH_4.jpg)
![Completed mockup](/images/Posts/WSH_5.jpeg)

Event Spotlight - TREL at What Starts Here


![TXE-2 print](/images/Posts/TXE2_1.jpg)

TREL was originally founded to compete in the Base 11 competition. The mission of the competition was to encourage an increased representation of inclusion for women and minorities in STEM, while attempting to launch the first collegiate liquid bipropellant rocket a hundred kilometers to the Karman line for a prize of $1 million. Due to extenuating circumstances with Covid this challenge has since been canceled. Nevertheless, TREL is still aiming for the stars, and plans to continue pushing the limits of science and rocketry and achieve this feat regardless of the monetary reward being removed. Elementum 3D and EOS North America have partnered with TREL to push the limits of science and rocketry with the inclusion of additive manufacturing, printer technology and advanced materials. Our partners, EOS and Elementum 3D, have been an incredibly valuable asset in helping TREL take major strides towards accomplishing our project of Halcyon. With their help we’ve recently been able to 3D print our rocket engine.

![The chamber print in-progress and some dev prints of the injector](/images/Posts/TXE2_2.png)

By using 3D printing we are able to have a single piece combustion chamber helping guarantee less points of failure, special geometries to optimize regen channels for max cooling with minimal pressure drop, a greatly simplified manufacturing process, unique design capabilities, and it has allowed for us to have a special injector design, making this print potentially the most efficient collegiate rocket engine! The chamber is made up of a copper alloy to withstand high chamber pressure and is designed to be fully reusable, as well as be able to support up to 60 second fire durations. With our engine in hand, TREL will continue to shoot for the stars, and with the progress made so far, it won’t be long now before we’re ready for lift-off!

![TREL members standing in front of the EOS sign and another view of the TXE-2 print](/images/Posts/TXE2_3.png)

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