Nine members of the rocketry project traveled to the Maryland launch site on Monday afternoon, January 24. Nick from robotics came along to see the excitement. We loaded the rockets at Lockheed Martin in a conference room to avoid doing it in the cold field.

All four teams flight tested their TARC rockets, The weather was cold (25f) and light wind (5mph to calm). We used the short launch rail for all flights. The launch tower was angled about 5 degree with the wind. We conducted four launches, one for each team. Team 9214 had a perfect flight with a TARC score of 1.

Objectives

• Correct issues from the December launches
• Try an F24-7W on team 9212's 450g rocket.
• Get another flight of the E30-7T for teams 9213, 9214, and 9215.
• Try the AeroTech igniter clip to reduce the failures with the copperhead igniters.

Lessons and Actions

• The flights with the E30-7T were all very successful. We are ready for qualification attempts in February.
• Team 9215's Maroon rocket was a little unstable during assent. This needs more investigation.
• There was a big spike at ejection in the Maroon rocket's data. The altimeter holder broke during the flight and this may have caused the spike. We also need to look at the cord between the booster and the cargo unit. It may need an elastic strip. In December, team 9212's Red rocket had a spike in the data. They added an elastic strip which seemed to correct the spike.
• Team 9215's Maroon rocket also broke off the tip of one fin when it landed. They will need to cut all four fins the same.
• Team 9212 tried an F24-7W in their heavier Red rocket flight. It took off slower and cocked into the wind. It went way too high. They need to look at alternatives, such as adding weight, using the longer launch rail, trying other motors, or building a lighter booster.
• The launch tower was angled about 5 degree with the wind. This seemed to correct cocking into the wind that we had during the December launch. The wind was about the same as in December. See how we created the angle in the pictures below.
• The descent of the Red rocket may have encountered a thermal which caused it to float. This also happened in December. This needs more research.
• None of the eggs cracked, but one did have some hairlines in the bottom. Again, they may have been there before, but we need to keep focused on the eggs.
• The AeroTech igniter clip work great. We need more.

Launches

Team	Rocket	Engine	Cargo	Cargo Recovery	Booster Recovery	Weight	Results	Comments
9214	Purple test 1	E30-7T	egg, altimeter F	15in hemi-chute	attached	383g	751ft, 44sec (video)	Perfect flight, Score 1
9215	Maroon test 1	E30-7T	egg, altimeter H	15in hemi-chute	attached	386g	729ft, 41sec (video)	Some twist in assent, altimeter spike, broken holder, Score 21
9212	Red test 1	F24-7W	egg, altimeter J	15in hemi-chute	7x70 streamer	460g	926ft, 62sec (video)	Turned into wind
9213	Gold test 1	E30-7T	egg, altimeter I	15in hemi-chute	10' Xchute	394g	738ft, 43sec (video)	Nice straight flight, Score 12

Altimeter Data (Excel format)

Pictures

Purple Rocket                           Red Rocket                               Maroon Rocket                         Gold Rocket
Waiting for the launch	Loading the rocket