# Project VAYUVEGA

> The seventh rocket in thrustMIT's lineage, and the flagship of my tenure as mechanical & propulsion lead. Flew to 29,432 ft on an AeroTech O5500X motor, recovered cleanly, took 4th place in category at IREC 2025.

- Role: Deputy Project Manager · Mechanical & Propulsion Lead
- Year: 2025
- Page: https://madhavsonkusare.com/work/vayuvega/

## Achievements

- 2nd Prize Worldwide in SDL Payload Design Challenge
- 4/21 in 30K COTS category
- 22/159 in Overall Standings
- Highest Barrowman Score in 30K COTS category
- 18/159 Overall in James Barrowman Award
- Top Team from India in Overall Standings

## Inside VAYUVEGA

### Nose cone

A tangent ogive, 5.6 times as long as it is wide: the ratio with the lowest drag in simulation. Carbon fibre laid up by hand in two moulds, with a machined aluminium tip.

- Profile: Tangent ogive · 5.6 : 1
- Shell: CFRP · hand lay-up
- Tip: Al 6061-T6

### Payload

Vrishabha is a 4.55 kg experiment in a cansat: a steel cube on a spring, a camera on a servo that follows it, and a Raspberry Pi 5 working out the cube’s pose in real time while the rocket pulls up to 22 g.

- Mass: 4.55 kg
- Size: Ø100 × 450 mm
- Compute: Raspberry Pi 5 + AI HAT+

Paper: [Vrishabha: Edge-AI Enabled Real-Time Visual Perception System for Extreme Rocket Flight Environments](https://doi.org/10.1201/9781042017546-56)

### Main parachute

A 72-inch parachute packed above the avionics. It stays shut until 1,500 ft above the ground, and is sized to slow the rocket to 8.9 m/s for landing.

- Canopy: 72 in Iris
- Opens: 1,500 ft AGL
- Descent: 8.93 m/s

### Avionics

Two independent sets of electronics sit on one mount between the recovery bulkheads: a flight computer designed by the team and a bought-in altimeter. Each fires its own charge at both parachute events.

- Coupler: GFRP · 390 mm
- Redundancy: SRAD + COTS
- Bulkheads: Al 6061-T6

### Drogue parachute

A small 30-inch parachute, fired out at the top of the flight by five grams of black powder. It is sized for a 27.9 m/s fall until the main opens.

- Canopy: 30 in elliptical
- Opens: Apogee
- Descent: 27.89 m/s

### Coupler and thrust plate

The joint that failed on the previous rocket, redesigned. It is machined from one piece of aluminium with the thrust plate built in, and carries the motor’s full push into the airframe.

- Material: Al 6061-T6
- Thrust path: 3/8 in eyebolt + 12 × M5
- Safety factor: 9.45

### Motor

An AeroTech O5500X: seven propellant grains in a wound-fibreglass case. It burns for four seconds and delivers 21,384 newton-seconds.

- Total impulse: 21,384 N·s
- Burn: 4.0 s
- Peak thrust: 7,552 N

### Fins and boattail

Four fins, each milled with its mounting rail from a single block. The tapered tail behind them cuts the drag of the blunt base.

- Fins: 4 × Al 6061-T6 · 5-axis CNC
- Stability: 1.65 cal on the rail
- Boattail: 126 → 106 mm

Paper: [Subsystem-level aerodynamic optimization with max-Q-based system integration and flight testing of an experimental sounding rocket](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2026.113242)

## Gallery

- We realised our carbon-fibre body tube was bent in the middle and had to redo it between exams. :[
- Tried a lot of stupid ideas to remove the damn mould.
- After hours of painstaking effort, the body tube was free.
- Lots of effort went into sanding and finishing.
- Putting it all together for the first time.
- The tallest rocket in thrustMIT’s history.
- First-ever full assembly of VAYUVEGA.
- Yeah, that was some photoshoot...
- Our table set-up during the exhibition.
- O5500X motor integration.
- Photoshoot at the podium.
- All the Indian teams at IREC 2025!
- What a beauty.
- Set up our base at the launch site.
- Passed the final safety checks before launch.
- Strapped down and ready for the launch pad.
- All set for launch.
- VAYUVEGA on its launch rail at IREC 2025, 12 June 2025.
- Successful launch after countless hours of effort put into this project.
- Recovered successfully!!
- Flying the flag on the ride back from recovery.

## Films

- [Lift-off at IREC 2025, Midland, Texas · from the ESRA broadcast.](https://madhavsonkusare.com/videos/vayuvega-irec-launch.mp4)

## Links

- [thrustMIT project page](https://www.thrustmit.in/projects/vayuvega) (thrustmit.in)
- [Technical report](https://pub-5e90a2f5e8c44905a47c1b15177024fe.r2.dev/public/technical-report/Vayuvega.pdf) (thrustMIT · PDF)
- [Paper: Vrishabha, the edge-AI payload](https://doi.org/10.1201/9781042017546-56) (CRC Press · book chapter)
- [Paper: aerodynamic optimisation and flight testing](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ast.2026.113242) (Aerospace Science and Technology · Nov 2026)
- [Official IREC 2025 results](https://www.soundingrocket.org/2025-irec.html) (ESRA · 2nd place, SDL Payload Challenge)
- [News story in The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Mangalore/manipal-institute-of-technology-students-win-award-at-international-rocket-engineering-competition/article69755449.ece) (The Hindu Bureau · 30 Jun 2025)
- [University press release](https://www.manipal.edu/mu/news-events/mit-manipal-s-thrustmit-team-achieves-outstanding-success-at-int.html) (MAHE · 27 Jun 2025)
- [News story](https://kemmannu.com/index.php?action=topstory&type=27539) (Kemmannu News Network · 30 Jun 2025)
- [Team video, IREC 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JitTxBJrcqw) (YouTube · thrustMIT · 4 min)
- [Results reel](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DLCcV7WoPLD/) (Instagram · MIT Manipal · 18 Jun 2025)
- [Results post](https://www.facebook.com/mahemanipal/photos/team-thrustmit-from-mit-manipal-showcased-their-brilliance-at-the-international-/1207851184708216/) (Facebook · MAHE Manipal)