Excelsior
High-precision rocket-launched drone for in-air data acquisition and L-1 Certification Inspired by Cortex 1 & 2 by @Foalyy, Tailspin by Project Horizon, Self-Landing Cansat by I Build Stuff, Rocket Guidance by L Shang.
Created by
carsonhindsman
Tier 1
38 views
1 follower
Ayan
gave kudos to Excelsior ago
Wow, this is such a cool idea! I always loved the self landing cansat project by I Build Stuff, but I never got the chance to build something similar.
carsonhindsman
added to the journal ago
prototyping
This should be my last post of past tense work. All of it should be caught up-to-date now and all future posts will be with proper hours versus an estimate of how many hours I spent. I finally was able to print a 3/4 scale model of my universal docking/jointing system for in between the sections, I had to use my School 3-D printer because mine is currently broken and needs parts. Both of the pieces are identically the same and mesh together. And we’ll be mounted in place with screws the one that joins the second stage with the first stage will have no screws and we’ll just rely on a friction fit and the ejection charge to release them.
carsonhindsman
added to the journal ago
initial Cad design
I say initial because I haven’t been working on this for at least a couple of months. There are many different folders containing the individual sections. This is just a rough draft of the entire thing. I might slim it down to 70 mm in diameter versus 100. I might also adjust the height of each section, like extending the thrust can and decreasing the length of the mid-recovery section. I’m also considering adding a parachute to the guidance section and having the recovery section strictly as avionics housing and ejection gas routing.
carsonhindsman
added to the journal ago
Refining design
More in-depth drawing, section by section, putting ideas on paper, and refining the concepts I want to see in the final product. Some of these design implementations made it into the CAD, and some of them 
didn't. As I am writing this, I have already started the CAD work.
carsonhindsman
added to the journal ago
Initial design
I've been working on this project for over a year now, and I recently found out about this program via Instagram. I've been updating sketches and translating them into CAD.
carsonhindsman
started Excelsior ago
12/23/2025 11 AM - Initial design
I've been working on this project for over a year now, and I recently found out about this program via Instagram. I've been updating sketches and translating them into CAD.
12/23/2025 9 PM - Refining design
More in-depth drawing, section by section, putting ideas on paper, and refining the concepts I want to see in the final product. Some of these design implementations made it into the CAD, and some of them
didn't. As I am writing this, I have already started the CAD work.
12/23/2025 10:08 PM - initial Cad design
I say initial because I haven’t been working on this for at least a couple of months. There are many different folders containing the individual sections. This is just a rough draft of the entire thing. I might slim it down to 70 mm in diameter versus 100. I might also adjust the height of each section, like extending the thrust can and decreasing the length of the mid-recovery section. I’m also considering adding a parachute to the guidance section and having the recovery section strictly as avionics housing and ejection gas routing.
12/23/2025 10:12 PM - prototyping
This should be my last post of past tense work. All of it should be caught up-to-date now and all future posts will be with proper hours versus an estimate of how many hours I spent. I finally was able to print a 3/4 scale model of my universal docking/jointing system for in between the sections, I had to use my School 3-D printer because mine is currently broken and needs parts. Both of the pieces are identically the same and mesh together. And we’ll be mounted in place with screws the one that joins the second stage with the first stage will have no screws and we’ll just rely on a friction fit and the ejection charge to release them.