The Honeywell Rocket Team is a team within Rocket Shop whose primary objective is to fulfill an acquired contract with Honeywell to design and manufacture two rockets launching their payloads. This rocket will fulfill a set of Honeywell-provided requirements, launch the payloads within a given flight performance envelope, and subject the payload to real-world launch loads.
The rocket design follows common HPR practices and consists of mainly COTS components to reduce cost, decrease manufacturing time, and mitigate risk. These twin rockets, dubbed “Thunder” and “Lightning,” were each launched twice in the summer of 2021. Each flight was nominal, returning Honeywell’s payload safely and providing them the requested data. A new contract is currently underway for the refurbish and relaunching of Thunder and Lightning in Summer 2022, along with a serious upgrade to the data acquisition currently on board.