Project Prometheus: Design and Analysis of a Modular Aerostructure for a Small Launch Vehicle

Project Prometheus is a sub-team of the Alabama Rocket Engineering System (ARES) project, which has been in development for about four years. This system is a bi-propellant pressure-fed rocket meant to prove new technology and launch to about 30,000 ft. Project Prometheus is the structural and integration sub-team of Project ARES. The team has worked since August 2020, moving from concept, through preliminary and critical design, and then onto analysis and testing validation and manufacturing. This paper walks through the main requirements, design decisions with rationale, analysis proving the validity of the design, and highlights the important features and the transferability of the concept to other small launch vehicle applications