endurance

to-the-mars team's rocket launcher and probe system

Embedded controllers used

• Feather HUZZAH ESP86
  • Documentation: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-feather-huzzah-esp8266/overview
• Arduino UNO
  • Documentation: https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/ArduinoUno

Project Overview

This system is composed of multiple microcontrollers working together for real-time telemetry and autonomous launch control of a water rocket.

🗺️ Board Roles & Codenames

Codename	Hardware	Role
probe	ESP8266	Onboard the water rocket. Collects sensor data and communicates bidirectionally with gateway via ESP-NOW.
gateway	ESP8266	Relay node. Exchanges data with probe via ESP-NOW, and forwards information to horizon via I2C.
horizon	ESP8266	Central controller (master node). Connected to Wi-Fi; acts as an HTTPS client to send data to the control server. Receives Server-Sent Events (SSE)
pad	Arduino Uno	Launcher controller. Manages water/air loading and triggers the rocket launch sequence.

---

Due to resource constraints, the gateway and horizon features are splitted across two ESP8266 boards. With an ESP32, this could be done in a single board.

🔄 Communication Diagram

       [ Rocket ]
        ┌──────┐
        │probe │ ◄───► ESP-NOW ◄───►
        └──────┘               ┌────────┐
                               │gateway │
                               └────────┘
                                   │
                                  I2C
                                   │
                               ┌────────┐
                               │horizon │ ──► HTTPS API Client
                               └────────┘       (death-star-command-center)
                                   │
                                  I2C
                                   │
                               ┌─────┐
                               │ pad │ ←─── Controls pneumatics, valves, etc.
                               └─────┘

### TODO
#### Probe
- [ ] Rotate the accelerometer and gyroscope data according to the sensor orientation
- [x] Detect apogee and deploy parachute
- [x] Detect landing
- [ ] Test in the field