Nakuja Project Blog

Let me begin with some background information 😅 Rockets come in various sizes, ranging from the tiny hobbyist ones to the large ones built by organizations like NASA and SpaceX.  To propel the rockets, we need a fuel that will generate enough thrust to get our rocket off the ground. In order to achieve this, we have a couple of ways but two of the most common include using a Solid Rocket Motor (SRM - where your fuel is in solid state) or a liquid propelled engine. (Using liquid fuels) As Nakuja Project, our goal is to fabricate a liquid propelled engine that will take a cubesat to space.  The liquid propelled engines are better compared to the SRM in several ways, but they are tough and complex to design and build. The SRM is a simpler alternative due to it's simple structure. With our goal being to learn and to build a liquid propelled engine, we decided to first build a rocket propelled using the SRM then later build the liquid propelled engine at a point in time when we wi...

 Nakuja project is a student based technological project, with the aim of building and taking a liquid fuel rocket to space. The project begun in June 2019, where it was divided into two; Control group (headed by Willy) and Mechanical group (headed by Dr. Shohei Aoki). Also, Dr. Shohei Aoki is the project leader and coordinator. At the beginning of the year 2020, Dr. Shohei Aoki went to the Portrand State University to benchmark on what they are doing in the field of rocketry and upon coming back, the whole team was restructured into four teams; Propulsion, Avionics, Telemetry and Airframe. The Airframe team is tasked with making the body of the rocket and designing its aerodynamic structures. Avionics deals with the flight controller, Telemetry deals with the communication between the rocket and the ground station while Porpulsion focuses on the rocket engine. Avionics is headed by Willy Stephen Tounsi from PAUSTI, Telemetry by Smith Jilks from JKUAT, Propulsion by Washington K...