Summary

The Odysseus Payload was a 3U Cubesat designed to fly on RIT's IREC 2019 rocket. It was developed to test multiple engineering and avionics systems during ascent and landing.

The Odysseus Payload was lost on June 20, 2019, when the IREC 2019 rocket "Water Bearer" was destroyed 0.5 seconds after liftoff, due to a manufacturing error in the motor grain.

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Frame Design

To meet the minimum 8.8 pound mass requirement for IREC while still maintaining RF transparency, a frame had to be designed and manufactured that is a mix of steel and fiberglass. 

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Camera System

The primary system tested on this payload was the recording system. 5 SQ12 cameras recorded around and below the payload, which was saved to onboard memory. A sixth camera was connected to a Raspberry Pi Zero, which sent the video feed to a 5.8GHz radio transmitter. This allowed for crews on the ground to watch back video in real time.

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Propulsive Landing

The second system that was to be tested on this payload was a propulsive landing system. This system used a LIDAR to determine height off the ground, and then fired a small solid rocket motor to slow the descent of the payload.

This system would have allowed for the use of a smaller parachute and get the payload onto the ground faster than using a series of larger parachutes. This would reduce the possible distance that the payload could drift during descent.