Testing is an important component of aerospace development. By abiding by team-wide testing guidelines, tests provide useful insight to the state of hardware and software in the rocket.

Testing Terminology

• HIL testing - Hardware In-loop Testing

• SIL testing - Software In-loop Testing (no hardware)

Test Procedure Development Guidelines

The Most Important Things

Written test procedures should follow two primary directives:

1. Reproducibility and clarity of instruction: A written test procedure should be detailed enough that someone on the subteam should be able to follow it without having been directly involved in creating the test procedure

2. Expectation of result: A written test procedure should outline the expected result of the test and how to document the results or any anomalies.

Also Important

Tests need to be performed and recorded in order for them to have value. Tests done in support of internal design reviews MUST be recorded to be considered valid. Testing needs to be recorded during major design or development milestones so that we have a history of the development.

For testing to have a positive impact on the reliability of our launch vehicles, launches should not occur unless tests are passed by all components of the rocket, both in component form as well as during post-integration.

Subteam-Specific Guidelines

Avionics

1. Any software-related (HIL or SIL) testing should have test software associated with each related test, to facilitate reproducibility of that test.

2. Hardware testing should begin with basic board debugging techniques, as described in the Avionics Gitbook page Debugging Tips. This is to ensure there are no defects or obvious design bugs before software-hardware integration.

3. Firmware testing should occur on both the SIL (software providing simulation of hardware responses) and HIL (integration) levels. Firmware integration testing is critical to ensure mission success, and should be documented both by virtue of having test software written to automate testing and by filling out test results for major developmental milestones and any tests run for internal design review requirements.

4. Testing should note what version of software is running (either a release number or a GitHub commit hash) as well as what revision of hardware was used (if a HIL test).

5. Any miscellaneous testing is also very important to document. This includes the radio board with launch rail tests and other such integration tests

Payload

To be determined once payload(s) are selected.

Avionics

The damage report form for avionics can be found here.

Recovery will be running a total of 7 pressure and ground tests to analyze the capabilities of the recovery stage separation system.

SRAD Pressure Vessel Testing This test is designed to confirm that the CO2 ejection system is capable of separating the launch vehicle in stage separation.

Proof Pressure Testing This test is designed to confirm that the launch vehicle is capable of withstanding a minimum of 1.5x expected operating pressure for no less than 2x the expected system working time.

Burst Pressure Vessel Testing This optional but highly recommended test is designed to confirm the pressure at which the launch vehicle will either be broken or critically damaged.

Secure Connections Tug Test This test is designed to confirm that all safety critical wiring and cable connections are secured.

Ejection Gas Protection Test This test is designed to confirm that the launch vehicle and its components, including the rest of the recovery system, are undamaged due to stage separation.

Wire Cutters System Test This test is designed to confirm that the wire cutters system is capable of separating the launch vehicle during stage separation.

Explosive Bolts System Test This test is designed to confirm that the back up stage system design of explosive bolts is capable of separating the launch vehicle.

The test proposal form can be found here. The test data/results form can be found here.

The simulations request form can be found here.

Proposal and results form responses can be found in this folder.

Pressure Test

For the pressure tests, essentially what we want to do is examine how airframe components react when they are under high pressure. For this test, we are going to place an exploding device (e.g. black powder or CO2) inside a tube and airtight seal it between two bulkheads with a certain and fixed distance between them. For the first trial, the pressure examined will be relatively low and continuing on it will increase until the point of airframe components failure. The type of airframe components that fail first should be recorded and described after every trial.

Tube Strength

Bulkhead Strength

Fastners Test