Project Home Six members traveled to the Maryland launch site on Saturday, October 22. It was a nice day with almost no wind. We had five launches, easily recovered and a good experience. We used the 7ft launch rail. Objectives Practice the launch process, including egg protection and chute folding. Try different parachutes to investigate descent times. Use up the E30-7Ts from last year with the short Quest igniters. Lessons Motors - The E30-7T motors worked great and the there were no igniter issues. Chute Protection - We had some problems with the chute protection. We used wadding instead of the heavy Nomex chute protectors, which may have led to some burn holes in the chutes. On one flight, the wadding held the chute closed and the rocket came down too fast. Chutes - It looks like the hemispherical chute had the same issue as last year - floated around during descent. The flat circle chute was not big enough. The best performing chute was the X-chute. Eggs - We did great protecting the eggs. Even the high speed descent did not break an egg. We didn't break an egg until we took one out and played with it - good lesson.. Weight - The heavier rockets didn't go as high - no big surprise. It looks like about two feet per gram, which is what we have seen in past years. The weight also seems to have an effect on the descent. It looks like we need about 400g with an E30-7T to get to 800ft with the BT70s. Booster - The blue rocket had a definite wobble during powered ascent. There is some internal issue with the booster. The alarm beacon weighed about 15g and we flew on the first Blue rocket flight. When the cargo unit hit the ground hard, the beacon's battery popped out. Lesson: always tape in batteries on any electronic battery holder. We need to bring a stool to reach the top of the 7ft launch tower (or one of the taller team members).

Launches

Altimeter Data  (Excel format)