Xenia-2 was the second rocket in UVic Rocketry's Xenia class, iterating on the airframe and systems proven out by Xenia-1. I worked primarily on the structures and composites team, doing hands-on carbon fiber layups for the fuselage and researching layup technique to improve consistency in the finished sections. Composite work rewards process discipline more than anything else, since a layup flaw is invisible until it is a failure.

Beyond the airframe, I built a static test stand to characterize motor thrust before flight, helped fabricate and sew the recovery parachute, and moved briefly to the fuel and combustion team to contribute to nozzle design and propellant composition research. Working across structures, recovery, and propulsion meant seeing how a mass budget on one team becomes a constraint on another.

Result: Successful, near-nominal flight at Launch Canada 2023. Apogee came in at 9,340 ft against a predicted 9,593 ft, within 2.6 percent of simulation, and the team took an honorable mention for fastest recovery.

Specifactions:
Length: 2.5 m (8 ft 2.4 in)
Diameter: 13.9 cm (5.5 in)
Lift-off mass: 21.0 kg (46.3 lbs).
Propulsion Motor: Cesaroni Technologies M2505
Max thrust: 2953 N (664 lbs)
Max speed: 1148.4 km/h (Mach 0.93).
Predicted Apogee: 9,593 ft
Actual Apogee: 9,340 ft