"Card" War Space Race

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  Finished Saturn V and Sputnik I

Inspiration

As an aerospace engineering major, I have always been interested in the space race, as many of today's greatest technologies emerged as a result of the intense competition between the two superpowers. In addition to aerospace, I have been making gifts and various accessories out of duct tape, and I always enjoy using cardboard and similar materials to make models. These two passions combined into this historical model of the United States' Saturn V Rocket, which brought Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon in 1969, along with the U.S.S.R's Sputnik 1 Satellite, the first object to orbit Earth.

What it does

The Saturn V model is a to-scale replica, with accurate staging and proportions across the entire design. The Sputnik is not to the same scale as the Saturn V, but it provides a historical representation of how the general public viewed the possibly dangerous satellite, the first object to orbit Earth and over the United States.

How we built it

The models were made entirely out of cardboard and duct tape, as I was far more confident in my ability to use duct tape from my extensive prior experience. Many different cutting techniques were used, including the X-acto Knife, box cutter, scissors, and laser cutter. I was able to make use of the perforated cardboard to easily make tubing, while I scored other sections to create visible contrast. Finally, the laser cutter was used to accurately create cone templates, which were bent into cone shapes, along with cut template for the Sputnik sphere that I CADed in Solidworks.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge was simply unanticipated issues with cardboard, as I was not used to working with this material. The perforation meant that I had to scrap many of the early cuts, as I was not familiar with the difficulty of bending cardboard perpendicular to the perforations. Once that hurdle was crossed, the only issues were with tolerancing, as hand-cutting the cardboard made it very difficult to get the accurate dimensions I needed for the tubes to fit together.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I'm proud of the accuracy I was able to achieve on the dimensions for the rocket, as it looks like an actual model rocket. I am also proud of the fact that I was able to make the stages separable as they would be in real life, and overcome the lack of experience in cardboard to create a pretty cool looking project.

What we learned

I learned for cardboard that planning is the most important aspect. So many of my mistakes could have been prevented if I just planned a little better or checked a measurement a little more. These minor mistakes costed me time, preventing me from making the best possible prototype.

What's next for "Card" War Space Race

The next improvements would simply be a higher fidelity model. Adding engines, outside livery, and more accurate antennae placement on the Spuntik would make this project more useful as an educational device.

Built With

• ducttape
• laser
• solidworks