Sal Rodriguez, a nuclear engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, is forging a rocket revolution with the help of the University of New Mexico and student Graham Monroe.
Their cutting-edge research is propelling the future of aerospace by infusing rocket science with a touch of golf ball magic.
They incorporated dimples similar to those found on golf balls, a key element in Rodriguez's fluid dynamics and heat transfer research.
The making of the rocket nose
The idea started in 2019 when Monroe was working with Rodriguez at Sandia as a student intern.
"I was always interested in aerodynamics," Monroe said. "I was working on my bachelor's in engineering degree in 2019 when I took part in the Lobo Launch at the Spaceport America Cup. Meanwhile, Sal was researching some dimpling projects. We started talking and came up with the idea of dimpling the nose cone of a rocket."
The experiment turned into Monroe's master's thesis project.
They started with the dimpling program that Rodriguez created starting in 2014 and copyrighted in 2017.
"The program includes a specific set of equations that allows the user to look at an object's geometry and add the velocity and the fluid it's traveling through," Rodriguez said. "You put that into the program, and it outputs the required dimple pattern."
Monroe then 3D printed the nose cone. UNM's Lobo Launch team, meanwhile, created the accompanying rocket and a smooth nose cone that was identical, minus the dimples.
The dimpled rocket created by Sal Rodriguez and Graham Monroe was tested in December of 2022. Credit: Sal Rodriguez
Graham Monroe, left, and Sal Rodriguez display the dimpled rocket nose they built as part of a collaboration between Sandia and the University of New Mexico. Credit: Jennifer Plante/Sandia National Labs
Sal Rodriguez, right, looks on in amazement as technologist Robin Sharpe injects dye into the dimpled model they built, showing the way dimples increase heat transfer in water. Credit: Craig Fritz/Sandia National Labs