Vehicle · 2024 · Spaceport America Cup

Luminis

The first airframe designed around its payload rather than the other way round.

Flight record

What it did.

Figures come from the onboard flight computer.

Apogee
Not publishedfeet above ground level
Max velocity
Not publishedat burnout
Max acceleration
Not publishedpeak, from flight data
Length
2.8 m (110 in) overall, tip to tail
Liftoff mass
16.8 kg dry / 22.6 kg wet fuelled, with payload
Motor
CTI 6800M3700-P designation and impulse class
Recovery
2 ft drogue @ apogee · 12 ft main @ 1400 ft drogue and main configuration
Result
Not published
The build

How it was made.

Luminis kept the 5 in fiberglass layout from Marauder II (Von Karman nose, three clipped-delta carbon fins) and added the team's first functional payload: an onboard camera for flight video. Dual-deploy recovery used a COTS EasyMini with Void Lake 4 as SRAD backup. It flew on a CTI 6800M3700-P (6,800 N·s).

Gallery

At competition.

The Luminis team poses with the completed airframe under the range tent, LUMINIS lettering and bib 58 visible.
The Luminis crew under the range tent before flight. LUMINIS lettering and bib 58 on the airframe.
Luminis lies horizontal on the launch rail at Spaceport America Cup, team 58 making final checks before flight.
On the rail at Spaceport America Cup. Final checks before launch.
The Luminis avionics sled wired for dual-deploy recovery, VL pyro and main/drogue channels labeled on the harness.
The avionics sled wired for dual-deploy recovery. VL pyro and main/drogue channels labeled on the harness.
A team member kneels beside the recovered Luminis airframe after landing, bib 58 and signed fins visible beside the parachute.
After landing in the scrub. Signed fins and the parachute beside the recovered airframe.
Marauder IIAll vehiclesLuminis V2
Build the next one

We hire first years.

We hire people who have never touched a rocket. Come ready to learn. We'll teach the rest.

Find us at Facultyfest on August 31, 12:30 to 17:00, or Clubsfest on September 14, 16:30 to 19:30 on the JHE field. Applications close September 18. You don't need to be an engineer: we need people on operations as much as on airframe.

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