Glider Design for the 2024-2025 AIAA Design Build Fly Competition

SPAROW is a student-led project in the Space Hardware Club at the University of Alabama in Huntsville that plans to compete in the 2025 AIAA Design Build Fly competition. AIAA released challenge requirements that specified the missions each team’s aircraft must complete in competition. One unique aspect of the 2025 challenge is the need for a fully autonomous glider that can be released from a carrier plane mid-flight. The glider must be passively stable and light enough so that the speed of the carrier plane is not significantly impacted. The need for a lightweight glider, and the limited manufacturing experience within SPAROW, drove the decision to create a simplistic design. The SPAROW airframe division chose a delta wing design with downward wingtips in order to provide high stability while maintaining a low weight. The wing span of the glider must be less than fourteen inches, so the glider can fit underneath the carrier plane without affecting its flight. The material of the glider must be durable enough to withstand landing but have ease of manufacturability and a low cost. The airframe division is currently performing trade studies on multiple materials to see what best fits the glider’s needs. Overall, the glider must perform well in competition while adhering to the constraints set both by the AIAA requirements and SPAROW’s internal limitations.