Another Saturday and another launch.  We traveled to the launch site at Old National Pike Park for some testing and experimentation.  The wind was well under 10 mi/hr and the temperature was around 45 degrees. The NARHAM launch site operators showed up and gave us some help in our launch techniques.

Objectives:

• Develop experience with the Aerotech reloadable engines.
• Get some altitude readings with the altimeters.
• Use real eggs to check the padding techniques and impact issues.
• Test the aerodynamics of the long air brake rocket.
• Drive the Fat Boy design to 1000 feet and check out the wobble.

Lessons:

• We were disappointed with the rear ejection Big Daddy.  The chute did not deploy and we experienced a serious lawn dart.  We lost the rocket and the altimeter, but we got a little data.
• The Aerotech composite motors are more powerful than the Estes black powder and produce better flights.  We were all over 800, 900, even 1000 feet high. There is less wind cocking with the Aerotech motors.
• We have to learn to clean out the reloadable hardware immediately after launch.
• We had no problems with shock cords or parachutes burning.  The three foot Kevlar cords work great and we are protecting the chutes with insulation and Nomex chute protectors.
• We had some problems getting the igniters set and attached correctly -- both Aerotech and Estes.  We need to be more careful and inspect closely before we leave the launch tower.
• The new stainless steel launch rod worked fine.
• We left some important items back at Lockheed Martin. We may want to use a check list before we leave the building.
• After losing one altimeter, we couldn't find the other altimeter, so we used the altimeter from 3 years ago.  It didn't recorded altitude on the two flights we tried. We need more altimeters.
• We need to get back to weighting our rockets.

Next on the launch rod

Attaching the igniter clips