Engineers at U.S. Water Rockets recently announced the successful test flight of their breakthrough flight control and safety computer. Based on a custom RISC microprosessor core, the new system governs all phases of water rocket launching. The system improves reliability by combining the disparate systems into one single high density circuit using the latest surface mount technology. The highly integrated system is a major advancement in safety because of the built-in redundancy and the ability to communicate to a remote operator located some distance away behind a safety barrier.

By placing all control systems on this one centralized system, the overall weight of the electronics payload can be greatly reduced, resulting in a higher peak altitude, or margin for a heavier payload such as a backup altimeter or deploy system while still meeting the WRA² rules. The addition of a remote control circuit to the system adds the required layer of safety when working with high pressure rockets.

The remotely configured controller performs all of the flight control duties incuding launch preparation, system health checks, battery monitoring, altimeter control, payload conntrol, recovery systems deployment, and even has an audible locator to assist in locating the rocket after landing. An unexpected side benefit of the system is a greatly streamlines preparation phase which helps meet the short launch window specified to qualify for new records.

U.S. Water Rockets hopes to establish a new World Record for Altitude using this system in the near future.