Project Deimos

Project Deimos (launched in June 2023) was ARES’ first 30,000 ft sounding rocket, and the team’s second ever competition rocket. I took over as avionics lead for Deimos, having a year of experience from the team’s inaugural rocket Phobos under my belt. It was my first time in a leadership position for an engineering project, a challenge heightened by me being the only member of my team. My first act as avionics lead was onboarding 10 new members, and working with them to design, test, and build the entire avionics system for Deimos. At that time in ARES’ history member retention was poor, with around 60% of onboards dropping out in their first month. Exceeding expectations, not a single one of my recruits left during my tenure as avionics lead; in fact, 4 of them are still active team members in 2026 making them some of the longest serving members in the club’s history. I managed projects involving flight computer design, miniaturisation of flight control electronics, camera systems, Kalman filters and state estimation, and more. Several of my members landed internships during their time in avionics due to the electronics experience they gained through their projects.

The transition from Project Phobos to Project Deimos was significant. Deimos was to be launched on a Cesaroni N5800 solid rocket motor, nicknamed the ‘rocket killer’ due to its crazy acceleration. Our rocket would be subjected to 26g of acceleration for 3.5 seconds, much higher than our past projects. The avionics for Phobos had been lacking, contructed out of plywood and completely noncompliant with our competition wiring standards. This changed for Deimos - I moved the team towards a custom-designed 3D printed SLS nylon avionics bay. All wiring was carefully reviewed and planned and passed all safety inspections at competition.

We test launched Deimos in May 2023, reaching an apogee of 7,000 ft. We fell short of our target by a few thousand feet; a manufacturing defect created a big hole in the nose cone mid-flight, causing caused the rocket to act more like a bucket than a sleek aerodynamic surface. Despite this, the system operated nominally and all our avionics worked correctly.

Despite the promising test launch results, Deimos was an ill-fated project. We took Deimos to New Mexico, USA to compete in the 2023 Spaceport America Cup - my first time at the competition and my first time in the US. Deimos was very well received by judges and competitors alike - we were even pulled aside by the head judge who had been told our avionics were exceptional and worth taking a look at. I additionally had the chance to present on my flight computer Hermes in a podium presentation. Deimos placed 8th in the competition forquality of its design and construction.

Unfortunately, Deimos suffered an anomaly during flight that caused it to disintegrate about 2.8 seconds after launch. Its still not entirely clear what caused this to happen, likely either fin flutter, bending moments, or strange dynamic instability. Whatever the root cause, Deimos tipped sideways going twice the speed of sound, causing its airframe to break apart into multiple pieces. Our onboard accelerometers saturated at 200g peak acceleration, with the actual acceleration likely being much higher. It was simply not a load profile the airframe was ever designed to withstand. Whilst the flight wasn’t successful, I am proud to say that when we opened the avionics bay post-flight, all systems were powered on and working - not a single wire disconnected and not a single board stopped working, a real testament to my team’s engineering.

I learned many things during Deimos, both technically and managerially. Whilst the project didn’t achieve the success we wanted, it paved the way for our next rocket Florence (which performed significantly better) and gave me the leadership skills I needed to assume the position of Chief Engineer. We still have some pieces of Deimos laying around in our workshop, which make great mementos of a fantastic project.