| We again
traveled to the launch site at Old National Pike Park for some
testing and experimentation. It was a rather cold and windy
day. The wind was around 20 mi/hr and the temperature was
around freezing. The NARHAM launch site operators cancelled due to
wind, but we didn't know until we got to the site. So we rigged up a launch tower and
got off 9 flights of our four TARC rockets.
Objectives:
- How does the nose cone (round or
Ogive) affect the flight of the Fat Boy designed rocket?
- Will we stay with the rear ejection
for the Big Daddy?
- Should we use a baffle or insulation
to protect the chutes?
- Test Mark's fin design.
- Can we use the reloadable from
December?
Lessons:
- We had serious problems with the
wind and cold, but we still completed some experiments.
- We launched our Estes black powder
motors with a 6 volt lantern battery.
- The rear deployment continued to
work, but we are not convinced it should be used.
- The different nose cones worked, but
we could not see a difference in flight.
- We need to work on our technique to
remove a rocket from a tree.
- No more rubber shock cords -- use 3
foot Kevlar thread.
- Short rockets experience a lot of
wind cocking -- our rockets need to be longer.
- We need to make sure the altimeter
and egg do not rattle in the cargo unit.
- The reloadable motor did not ignite,
did it miss fire, was the battery too weak, or was it connected
wrong?
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Launches
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|
Every rocket flew with a simulated egg (60g) and a simulated altimeter (15g), except the Big Daddy flight 2 and 3.
Flight times were measured from the videos. All parachutes deployed
- no broken shock chords, not much burning of chutes. Only
Mark's rocket made it to 800 ft
|
Flight |
Load |
Results |
Comment |
Fat Boy Design
Flight 1 (Video) |
D12-5, 263g
Round Nose Cone,
18"
Chute |
15 sec |
Wind cocking, parachute deployed, but
did not open fully, dent in cargo unit due to loose simulated
altimeter |
Fat Boy Design
Flight 2 (Video) |
D12-3, 277g (est.)
Ogive Nose Cone,
18"
Chute |
27 sec |
Wind cocking, wiggle in launch |
Fat Boy Design
Flight 3 (Video) |
E9-8, 292g (est.),
Ogive Nose Cone,
18"
Chute |
35 sec,
almost 700 ft |
Wind cocking, wiggle in launch, good
chute protection, no burns in chute or shock cord |
Big Daddy
Flight 1 (Video) |
D12-5, 327g
Used
16"
Chute
|
10 sec |
Serious wind cocking, chute deployed
OK |
Big Daddy
Flight 2 (Video) |
E9-4,
Used
16"
Chute
|
20 sec |
Serious wind cocking |
Big Daddy
Flight 3 (Video) |
E9-4,
Used
16"
Chute
|
30 sec |
Wind cocking, chute is becoming
deteriorated |
Executioner
Flight 1 (Video) |
E9-6, 302g
18" X Chute
|
24 sec |
Some wind cocking, the X chute worked nice |
Executioner
Flight 2 (Video) |
E9-6, 302g
18" X Chute
|
34 sec |
Some wind cocking, somewhat
straighter, and more drift, no burns in chute, shock cord needs
to be replaced with Kevlar |
Mark's Rocket
Flight 1 (Video) |
E9-4, 280g
14" Chute
|
43 sec,
about 800 ft |
Straight, landed very far away in a
tree (but now recovered |
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