Model rocket flight computer lesson plan
Bring up a barometer and an IMU, catch apogee, then fly a full state machine that logs to microSD.
Objectives and materials
By the end, students can
- Turn pressure into height and acceleration into launch.
- Find apogee, open the door, and log every sample.
Materials for the whole unit
- Accelerometer and gyroscope, MPU6050
- Arduino Uno R3
- Buzzer
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED x 3
- microSD card module
- Pressure and temperature, BMP280
- Pushbutton x 2
- Resistor x 3
Every part is already on the simulator’s bench, so there is nothing to buy or hand out. The counts are the most any one lesson uses, if you build it on real breadboards too.
Sense the flight
Turn pressure into height and acceleration into launch.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Altitude from air pressureTurn a BMP280 into an altimeter: read the pressure, zero the pad, climb with the slider and keep the highest point you reach. | 55 min |
|
| Which way is upRead an MPU6050 register by register: 1 g at rest, a tilt lockout for the pad, and launch detected as three readings over 2.5 g. | 45 min |
|
Materials
- Accelerometer and gyroscope, MPU6050
- Arduino Uno R3
- Buzzer
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED x 3
- microSD card module
- Pressure and temperature, BMP280
- Pushbutton x 2
- Resistor x 3
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "Which way is up" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 4 of its 4 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "Feel the launch".
Fly and recover
Find apogee, open the door, and log every sample.
| Lesson | Time | What students do |
|---|---|---|
| Catch the top of the flightFilter a noisy altitude, work out the climb rate, find apogee without being fooled, and let the parachute door go with a servo. | 65 min |
|
| The flight computerPut it all together: a self-test, an armed state, a seven-state flight, beeps you can hear in a field and every sample logged to microSD. | 75 min |
|
Materials
- Accelerometer and gyroscope, MPU6050
- Arduino Uno R3
- Buzzer
- Full-size breadboard
- Hobby servo
- LED x 3
- microSD card module
- Pressure and temperature, BMP280
- Pushbutton x 2
- Resistor x 3
Check for understanding
Each student finishes "The flight computer" on their own, without opening the hints. The simulator checks 7 of its 7 steps as they go.
Then ask each one to explain, in a sentence or two, the last thing it asked of them: "A bench flight".
Teach this unit as a class
Start a class from this course and its 4 lessons are assigned in one go, in order. Students join with a six-character code or printed login cards, and each one’s work comes back to you.
The class tools are free for 30 days for one class of up to 20 students, with no card. The lessons themselves are free either way.