TALOS

Purpose

TALOS (Technology Advancement Launch Operations System) was made to act as a upper mid power launch platform to develop and test custom designed electronics many times at a reasonable price. The rocket was overbuilt for its impulse class, but that was intentional as to make sure TALOS survives suboptimal landings.

Construction

While this was not my first rocket build, it was my first time working with epoxy for rockets, specifically for the fin roots. Below is a blog post better describing my experience, but in short this taught me a lot about the different types of epoxy (in this case I used West Systems 610), the total working time and how that affects when I can apply or modify the fillets, as well as the calculations for strength based of fillet size.

Launch

To date TALOS has flown one time, it launched on the Aerotech F52-8T reload and returned with no identifiable damage. While this flight took place with no onboard electronics, it proved the airframe can launch and return in a safely.

(image is blurry as I was at a safe distance during the launch

First Payload

Early next year I plan on launching my Sentinel Data Logger board on TALOS to begin gathering data on real flights, practice gathering, filtering and saving data as well as detecting stages of flight and preparing for future more advanced systems.

Sentinel Data Logger

Posts

Sentinel: Early Dev

The Sentinel Data Logger (SDL) began as a compact avionics platform designed to capture high-resolution flight data during experimental rocket launches. Early in development, the focus was on building a robust hardware foundation capable of recording multiple synchronized sensor streams while remaining reliable in the harsh conditions of rocket flight. The board integrates an STM32-based microcontroller with several onboard sensors—including inertial measurement units and bar

TALOS Assembly

The rocket used to test the SDL board is based on a modified Mustang kit from AeroTech. The kit provides a solid baseline airframe, which makes it a good starting point for avionics testing while still leaving room for small modifications to accommodate custom payload hardware. Assembly begins with the standard kit components—airframe tube, fins, motor mount, and recovery system—laid out and prepared before construction. Using a kit like this helps keep the structural side o

Justin Michaud