CanSat
A water-rocket-launched can carrying a Raspberry Pi camera, with a parachute deployed by an accelerometer at apogee. Cheap materials, highest altitude in the class.
The brief
The challenge for the Dynamics of Mechanical Systems course was a CanSat: a soda-can-sized payload, lifted by a water-propelled rocket, that had to record its own ascent on camera and deploy a parachute at apogee. Cheap materials, about two months of the term.
What was inside the can
We packed a Raspberry Pi with a small camera into the can to record the flight from inside. An accelerometer fed continuous readings to the Pi, and a motor released the parachute when the readings showed the rocket had reached its maximum altitude. The rocket itself was built from cheap materials and propelled by water.
Launch day
On launch day our rocket reached the highest altitude of any team's, and the parachute deployed cleanly. It was the kind of project that's easy to underestimate from the outside (it's just a soda can, after all) but where the satisfaction of getting the timing right on a one-shot launch is hard to beat.