Purdue Space Program | Active Controls: TOAD

TOAD is Purdue Space Program’s autonomous liquid rocket lander for the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge.

Purdue Space Program Active Controls was founded in the summer of 2021 with the goal of developing the technology required to propulsively land rockets. The team first developed ASTRA, an electric-powered test vehicle used to learn and validate active controls, and TADPOLE, a throttleable liquid rocket engine. Active Controls is now bringing these systems together through TOAD, an autonomous liquid-propelled lander being developed for the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge. TOAD is designed to launch to 50 meters, hover within a defined target region, and land autonomously. We joined the CPLC in 2023.

Your support helps us build, test, and fly TOAD for the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge.

Donations will directly support the development and testing of TOAD. Funding will be used to purchase propulsion and flight hardware, avionics, sensors, actuators, raw materials, and other components needed to manufacture and integrate the vehicle. It will also support engine and vehicle testing as we validate the guidance, navigation, and control systems before flight. Our goal is to turn the work developed through simulation and previous test vehicles into a reliable liquid-propelled lander capable of competing in the Collegiate Propulsive Lander Challenge. TOAD’s GNC architecture is already being developed and validated through simulation, sensor modeling, and Monte Carlo testing.

Without sufficient funding, hardware purchases, manufacturing, and testing would need to be delayed or reduced. This would limit the number of design and testing iterations we can complete before flight and slow our progress toward a competition-ready TOAD vehicle. Because a project like TOAD depends on repeated testing of propulsion, avionics, and control systems, funding directly affects how much real hardware validation students can complete before competing.