Page History

Method

Pros

Cons

Pyrotechnics - Emily, Dylan, Justin

• Simple

• Can be tested in blast chamber

• Simple enough to integrate at launch

• Blackpowder

Shear Pins - Sera, Ben

• Simple

• Easy to integrate at launch

• Compact

• Can be light if we don’t need a lot of metal to soak in heat from the second stage ignition

• Uses some of our energy to separate

• Cannot be tested on campus, can maybe try with a smaller scale rocket

• Need to protect first stage from heat/exhaust

Clamp Bands - Kevin, Nihal

• Well tested and demonstrated.

• Can be tested 50 million times in quick succession if needed.

• More complicated, harder to make ourselves

• Might be difficult to assemble

• Can be heavy

CO2 - Juan, Sam

• Work consistently at high altitude

• Can be tested easily 

• Heavy

• Lesser pressure than pyro, needs big tanks for this. Leads to first point.