Devlog 7 - FlightCore CAD + Testing

Hi again! Since the last devlog, I’ve been working a lot on getting CAD finalized so that printing and assembly can start. With the Flight Computer Tentatively Complete in CAD and more external testing done, FlightScope as a whole is progressing great! FlightCore is shown in the image below.

Thanks for making it this far!

If you’d like to follow along, check out the projects on GitHub or give me a follow!

FlightCore Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope_FlightComputer

FlightScope Dashboard Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

Devlog 6 - IT WORKS! Flight computer v1 built

I put together real hardware, deployed my code, and waved it around in the air for a little while, and we recorded real data that proves this thing will work. Take a look at the pictures!

New Since Last Time

The first order of supplies came in, including a lot of flight computer hardware. After a little research and planning, I got the hardware all soldered up. Wrestling with the software program was a blast, and I’m proud to say that Flightscope Flightcore has recorded its first “flight”.

What’s next

I’m going to be researching for part 2 of the flight computer, aka the ejection charge handler. Hopefully in my next devlog, I don’t have to report any explosions…

Conclusion

Thanks for making it this far!

If you’d like to follow along, check out the projects on GitHub or give me a follow!

FlightCore Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope_FlightComputer

FlightScope Dashboard Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

Take a look at the “flight” below (Aka me swinging the flight computer around in the air, then setting it down)!

Devlog 5 - Giving My Avionics Bay The Love it Deserves & FUNDING

It’s been a while, but I’m back at it! I put in a lot more work on the avionics bay, and it’s starting to look like something that would actually work. Always a good sign.
AND THERE’S MORE - I notice a new devlog feature, Read more to find out…

FlightScope

If you’re new here, this is the hardware side of my big summer project, FlightScope. You can find my work on the software side of FlightScope here: https://stardance.hackclub.com/projects/13462

What’s Next

There is more time to spend on this CAD before the rocket is complete! In parallel, FlightCore Is Officially Funded! Expect some IRL devlogs soon :)

Conclusion

Thanks for making it this far!

If you’d like to follow along, check out the projects on GitHub or give me a follow!

FlightCore Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope_FlightComputer

FlightScope Dashboard Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

Devlog 4: If I built my rocket using my CAD, it would nosedive straight into the ground…

Overview

Hey everybody! Rocket CAD is closing in on completion! I’m still missing some pretty important aerodynamic pieces, but I’ve been able to get some good work done that I’m here to tell you all about!

FlightScope

If you’re new here, this is the hardware side of my big summer project, FlightScope. You can find my work on the software side of FlightScope here: https://stardance.hackclub.com/projects/13462

What’s New

This week I made major progress on the rocket CAD.

The biggest improvement was on the FlightCore Avionics bay. The layout is much more finalized, as I’ve designed in for more stability and even added the power switch! Now I can actually turn this thing on, which is a nice step in the right direction

Beyond that, I’ve started fitting subassemblies together, getting a sense for packaging on the rocket. See some pictures of it at the bottom of the devlog :)

What’s Next

The biggest remaining task is designing the fins. Before I commit to a final shape, I’ll be running some simulations to find what allows for the best stability.

Conclusion

Thanks for making it this far!

If you’d like to follow along, check out the projects on GitHub or give me a follow!

FlightCore Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope_FlightComputer

FlightScope Dashboard Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

Almost Done The Back Of My Rocket!

I Can’t Believe How Close I Really Am From Completing This Project. This Is All I Need To Do Before I Am Done:

• A quick fix to the wings of the space shuttle (this will probably take 10 minutes and then I will be done with the back of my rocket!

• Connect the fuel tanks to the rest of the build (They are hidden in this picture)

• Possibly fix one area on the front of my rocket (This Is Optional But Would Make The Rocket Look Much Better)

What I Did Since Last Devlog:

• I completely remade the vertical stabilizer (also called the tail fin) of the space shuttle

• Remade and angled the oms pods since they were completely wrong before

• Moved up the oms engine nozzles (The bell looking component on the rocket)

• Redesigned the RCS thruster ports (They are beside the OMS engine nozzles)

If you have any improvements that i could make to the space shuttle, please mention them in the comments!

Devlog 3 - Avionics Bay V2

Overview

Hey everybody! This cycle, I’ve shifted my focus from software to hardware. After getting FlightCore’s subsystem code into a good place, it was time to redesign the avionics bay around the actual components that will be flying.

FlightScope

If you’re new here, this is the hardware side of my big summer project, FlightScope. You can find my work on the software side of FlightScope here: https://stardance.hackclub.com/projects/13462

What’s New

This week I designed the second revision of the FlightCore avionics bay in Onshape. See it in the video at the bottom of the devlog!

The redesign includes:

• A much cleaner component layout.
• Mounting locations for every PCB.
• Better spacing for wiring and connectors.
• A compact sled that fits inside the avionics coupler while keeping everything accessible.

What’s Next

Now that the avionics bay design is mostly complete, the next step is to finish up the rest of the rocket CAD. Hopefully, I’ll also be ordering FlightCore avionics very soon so test-fit everything and begin validating the software on the actual hardware.

Conclusion

Thanks for making it this far! If you like what you see, check out the projects on GitHub or give me a follow!
FlightCore Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope_FlightComputer
FlightScope Dashboard Repo: https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

Devlog 2 - Software Progress

Overview

Hey everybody, I’ve been on vacation and haven’t been fully locked on Stardance, but I’ve still been able to get some work in that I would love to share with you all.

Flightscope

If you’re new here, this is the hardware side of my big summer project, Flightscope. Find my other work in this project.

What’s New

In this chunk of work. I have (for now) completed the subsystem code for FlightCore (my flight computer, powered by an RPi Pico 2). Here is a map of how the program works:

      ┌────────┐
      │ LiPo Battery │
      └────┬───┘
                      │
                     ▼
    ┌───── ───────┐
    │ Raspberry Pi Pico 2│
    └──────┬── ───┘
                          │
       ┌─────┼──────┐
      ▼              ▼                  ▼
┌───┐ ┌────┐ ┌─── ──┐
│ IMU  │ │ BMP  │ │ microSD│
│Accel│ │Altim. │ │ Logger   │
└─┬─┘ └─┬──┘ └──┬── ┘
      └── ──┼ ──────┘
                      ▼
     Sample Sensors (200 Hz)
                       │
                      ▼
     Pre-launch Ring Buffer
                       │
                      ▼
     Launch Detection Logic
                       │
                      ▼
      Flight State Machine
                       │
     Boost → Coast → Descent
                       │
                      ▼
       Write Flight CSV
                       │
                      ▼
      FlightScope Dashboard
                       │
                      ▼
  Graphs • 3D Replay • Analysis

Conclusion

Flightcore is making some great progress on the software side, and here’s a picture of the fun I’m having in Onshape designing the avionics sled! Look out for that in the next devlog. Thanks for getting this far! I would love to see what cool things you guys are working on too. Leave a comment, and I would love to check out your projects!

Edit: I apologize for the attachment spam, I can’t find the option to delete them.

Vega Devlog 4! I am done with designing the gimbal system with two rotational axis and next time will work on the base for this time I made inner cylinder with two tabs sticking out, its also the part that contains the rocket motor its diameter is 24.250 mm and the wall thickness is 2mm same thickness for outer cylinder it is 17 mm bigger in diameter than the inner cylinder it holds the inner cylinder allows it to rotate it also has two tabs for left and right motion! thats all for today up next is building up the base to attatch this to

Almost done the front of my rocket!

‎
After 3 Hours, I Was Able To Troubleshoot Many Errors and Finally I Was Able to Make The Front Of My Rocket Much More Realistic.

‎
I was finally able to add:
‎
‎

• A realistic, smooth shape of the rocket that resulted in boosted realism
  ‎
• A more round shape to the body of the rocket- Realistic features of the rocket’s nose
  ‎

‎
I also removed the sharp edges on the front of the rocket that ruined the rocket’s overall image.
‎

My next goals:
‎
‎

• Working on the bottom of the rocket to add realistic color for AMS printing
  ‎
• Smoothing out the transition between the body and the engines (Right now they are really messed up and look terrible)
  ‎
• Adding realistic connections where the rocket attaches to the external tank (The tank is hidden in this image)

I was able to make the rocket look so much more realistic (Look at my other devlogs to see the before and after) and I’m so happy about how it turned out so far!
‎

‎
So far, I have made amazing progress on this ambitious project and I can’t wait to finish this off.

Finished the CAD model today!!! (for the most part)

• Corrected OpenRocket Model to include actual, in-stock components (which reminds me I need to start on a BOM)
• Translated OpenRocket Model into an OnShape Model ready for 3D Printing, although I need to buy PETG for the centering rings

I do feel as though the rocket is super long though, but I can’t find shorter Polycarbonate tubes at a reasonable price and good diameter! Also, I have to work on the recovery system tomorrow, as well as figuring out how I’m going to mount the fins (right now I have tabs but am not sure if that’s best practice for literal cardboard).

Devlog 1 - Welcome To FlightCore

Overview

What’s up, guys! If you have been following my other project, FlightScope, the name of this project will ring a bell. This is the hardware extension for FlightScope, so I can get real data and actually test the app.

What am I actually building?

FlightCore has 2 main parts:

• The Flight Computer, which is what is going to collect the flight data and will be housed inside number 2….
• A Rocket! I’ll be building a (most likely) low-power rocket that will bring FlightCore up into the sky.

With all that out of the way, I’ll tell you what I’ve got done in this first chunk of time.

What’s New

• Began modeling the electronics sled and other rocket parts with Onshape
• Initialized FlightCores codebase with sensor initialization. P.S. - The GitHub is public! I’ll be storing everything about this project right here.

Challenges

This project is full of challenges! To name a few:

• This is my first hardware project, and putting all the electronics I plan to use together is going to be a big one in itself.
• I haven’t ever used CAD software before (I apologize if my CAD is horrendous. I’m trying, I promise), so modeling everything in Onshape is fun!
• I’m programming the flight computer with new libraries that are brand new to me, not to mention using C++, which is also something I haven’t used yet.

I’m basically jumping off a helicopter into an ocean without knowing how to swim, but the great part about it is I sure will learn a lot and fast!

Next Steps

• Program up the other sensors in the flight computer
• Figure out how I’m actually going to log the data that these sensors are giving me
• Continue modeling the rocket and electronics sled in CAD

And that’s a wrap for devlog 1! As I’ve said, this project really does have me learning along the way. Any advice would be much appreciated! With that said, I’ll see you all in the next one.

See progress on the electronics sled:

Devlog 6 - Flight Comparison Dashboard!

Overview

In this cycle, I expanded FlightScope’s analysis capabilities with a new Flight Comparison Dashboard! Now, users can load in two flights at the same time, comparing trajectories and detected flight events side-by-side. These additions make it endlessly easier to analyze design changes, motor selections, and overall flight performance across multiple launches.

What’s New

• Added a dedicated Flight Comparison Dashboard.

• Implemented dual-flight visualization for altitude, velocity, and orientation telemetry.

• Added automatic launch detection and time normalization so flights can be compared from liftoff.

• Implemented automatic event detection for:

  • Motor burnout
  • Apogee
  • Parachute deployment
  • Landing

• Added event markers directly onto comparison graphs.

• Added a Comparison Summary table displaying key event timestamps for both flights side-by-side.

• Improved dashboard responsiveness by moving admin sidebar initialization outside of rendering bottlenecks.

• Updated docs and README! By the way, FlightScope is fully public on GitHub, go check it out :)

Challenges

The challenge this time around was making sure the flight comparison dashboard was actually useful, so I spent some time designing features such as time normalization and side-by-side data viewing to make it very clear to the user where flight differences were present.

Next Steps

• Improve flight render with trajectory path
• Expand visualization tools with synchronized playback and side-by-side flight rendering.

So much progress is being made on this funny little program, I’m so very pleased with how FlightScope is coming along! That’s all for now, folks. See you in #7!

Devlog 5 - Zenith, Azimuth, and Flight Rendering!

Overview

This development cycle focused on major new steps to improve the dashboard. The biggest addition was a complete 3D flight reconstruction pipeline capable of calculating rocket orientation from telemetry data and rendering the flight path frame-by-frame.

What’s New

• Implemented zenith and azimuth telemetry support to determine rocket orientation throughout flight.
• Added a 3D rendering engine capable of visualizing rocket orientation and position over time.
• Created frame-by-frame flight playback controls directly within the dashboard.
• Added automatic rendering of flight paths using telemetry stored in the FlightScope database.
• Combined flight frame renders into video playback, adding an additional layer of visualization to flight analysis.
• Optimized rendering performance through image caching and improved frame loading behavior.

Challenges

This chunk of progress was heavy on debugging.

The first challenge was reconstructing a realistic rocket orientation from flight data. Position alone wasn’t satisfying in replay, so I implemented zenith and azimuth calculations that adds rotational orientation to the flight replay

The biggest issue I had, however, was actually combining flight frames into a video and implementing it on the dashboard. Video formats didn’t treat me well, but I figured out the correct pipeline with lots of trial and error and checks of every step of the system.

Next Steps

• Continue improving rendering performance for larger flights.
• Expand the visualization system with additional flight annotations and overlays.
• Improve playback controls and timeline navigation.

FlightScope has evolved from plotting telemetry to actually visualizing the flight itself. Seeing a rocket fly through a reconstructed 3D trajectory using real telemetry data is a huge milestone for the project, and I’m excited to keep pushing the visualization tools further.

Devlog 4 - UI Overhaul, Resilient Data Importing, and OpenRocket Export Compatibility!

Overview

I’ve spent more time improving FlightScope’s usability and flexibility, focusing on a cleaner code structure, a more resilient data importing pipeline, and compatibility with OpenRocket simulation exports.

What’s New

• Refactored the backend by separating dashboard, database, and data importing logic into dedicated modules.
• Improved the CSV upload flow to handle more file formats and clean incoming telemetry automatically.
• Added compatibility with OpenRocket CSV exports, including automatic unit detection and conversion for feet, meters, and Gs.
• Added safeguards to flight event detection to make analysis more reliable.
• Created a GitHub README! Go check it out, it’s linked at the bottom of the devlog :)

Challenges

Getting OpenRocket compatibility working was more difficult than expected due to differences in column names, units, and CSV formatting. I redesigned the import pipeline to standardize telemetry data before it reaches the database, making FlightScope much more flexible.

Next Steps

• Continue refining the FlightScope UI and overall user experience.
• Add support for more telemetry formats.
• Expand flight analysis and visualization tools.
• Make an online demo for you all to try out! (I could have written another 3 devlogs just about my challenges with this… we will save it for next time.)

FlightScope is now fully documented on GitHub:
https://github.com/zombieking1555/FlightScope

devlog 4 in the bag, now that’s some type stuff. And check this demo:

Devlog 3 - Flight Simulation Overhaul, Data Trimming, and Flight Event Detection!

Overview

Spent more time improving FlightScope’s flight data pipeline, with a focus on making the test flights more realistic, trimming extra idle data, and detecting key flight events more reliably.

What’s New

• Reworked the flight simulator to generate more realistic telemetry, including pre-launch idle, boost, coast, parachute descent, and post-landing idle.
• Added acceleration support throughout the database and telemetry pipeline.
• Implemented automatic detection and annotation for launch, burnout, apogee, parachute deployment, and landing.
• Trimmed pre-launch and post-landing idle data so plots focus on the active flight window.
• Regenerated test flights with updated simulation parameters.

Challenges

Getting event detection to work reliably took some tuning, especially with noisy acceleration data. Landing detection also needed a little extra care so the plots would stop cleanly at touchdown instead of including a lot of extra idle data.

Next Steps

• Tune detection thresholds more easily from the UI.
• Add tests for the event detection logic.
• Continue improving the database and telemetry handling.

FlightScope is really coming along! I’m excited to see where this project takes me until the next devlog.

Devlog 2 - Database Initialization, Dashboard Pages, and More!

Overview

Spent more time developing FlightScope, focusing on improving the local flight database structure and making smaller quality-of-life changes to keep the app scalable and easier to maintain.

What’s New

• Added automatic database initialization so flights.db is created locally instead of being stored in GitHub.
• Added a Database Manager page to view, manage, and delete individual flight records after upload.
• Refactored several backend functions to improve consistency and prepare the app for future features.

Challenges

Removing flights.db from GitHub was more challenging than expected (thanks, .gitignore). This led to the creation of create_db.py, which removes the dependency on a tracked database file and allows FlightScope to generate a local database automatically on startup.

Next Steps

• Expand the FlightScope dashboard with richer flight analysis and visualization tools.
• Support additional CSV data fields for more detailed and comprehensive flight reviews.

It’s been real, see you next devlog.

Devlog 1 - Streamlit uploader + SQLite storage + basic flight plotting

Overview

Added a Streamlit app that lets me upload flight CSVs, stores telemetry in a local SQLite database, and plots Altitude vs Time. I also added a small test data script that generates synthetic 200 Hz flight logs so I can quickly test the interface without real rocket data.

What’s new

• Streamlit CSV uploader for flight data
• SQLite database for storing flight metadata and telemetry
• Altitude vs Time interactive plot using Plotly
• Synthetic flight generator (test_data_writer) producing 200 Hz test flights

Data pipeline

• Upload CSV → validate → parse numeric values
• Store flight metadata in flights table
• Store time-series data in telemetry table
• Query SQLite → render plots in Streamlit

Challenges / friction

• CSV validation required enforcing numeric types for altitude and velocity
• Handled missing or invalid data during import
• Added duplicate filename detection to prevent overwriting flights
• Admin “Clear Database” flow required Streamlit session_state + rerun handling due to UI reset behavior

Design decisions

• Chose SQLite + pandas for simplicity and local-only operation
• Avoided external database dependencies to keep setup lightweight
• Kept CSV import as the ingestion layer for flexibility
• Added synthetic test data generator to speed up UI development and debugging

Next Steps

• Improve the upload UX (showing row counts and import status)
• Add per-flight summary stats
• Allowing CSV export from the database.

Having a lot of fun with this project, see you in the next devlog!

First devlog for a project I’m working on - likely last for this project.
I wanted to create this project to learn the flow of creating and shipping for the Stardance challenge. Almost everything I did here was entirely new to me: coding in JS, using API keys and tokens, and SSHing to host my bot on Nest. Luckily, I was able to figure out how to have my coding time properly logged to have enough to devlog. My 37 minutes reflect the time I spent tidying the project for shipment, not the 2 and a half hours spent figuring out how to parse a command into API parameters. This Slack bot was a lot of fun, looking forward to devlogging again on my next project.