Post 1010 Rocketry Project 2014: Launch

Project Home

On Saturday, October 19, twelve members from all four teams traveled to the Maryland launch site to practice launches. It was a cloudy day, about 60f, and wind below 8mph. We used the 6ft and 7ft launch rails to speed up the launches. We did not try to compensate for the wind.

We completed five launches during the 2 hour launch window. We had to wait for the kids soccer teams to complete their games. We recovered all the rockets.

Objectives

Try several different ways to deploy two parachutes.
- Cargo unit separates chutes
- One chute on cargo, other one on booster
- Rear ejection
Get data on E and F motors (E20, F24, F39, F32)
Help the new members develop their skills in launching and recovery of model rockets

(no picture of the Purple rocket)

Lessons

All the launches were relatively straight, all rockets were recovered, no eggs were broken, all ejections worked as planned, and the teams worked well together. Good job.
We tried three chute configurations. Some were successful, and some had problems. This is the major engineering question in this year's challenge. It is clear we need at least 15inch chutes.
All the motors seemed to work OK, even the ones that were assembled in 2009 and 2010. The ratios of power to weight will require more work, but all the altitudes were over the 825ft target.
We had several failures of igniters. We need to put stoppers in the nozzle to increase the ignition rates.
We had one failure of an altimeter. It might have been blocked by egg padding. We need another test to determine if the altimeter is bad. We will order more altimeters as soon as we are registered.
The videos could have been better. Anyone want to take this on as a project?

Launches

Rocket	Engine	Rail	Cargo	Recovery	Weight	Results	Comments
Red flight 1 Team 4	E20-7W	6ft 0d	2 eggs, altimeter 3	2-15" Round	346g	863ft, 39ec	video, Flew straight, chutes were tangled
Yellow flight 1 Team 3	F32-6T	7ft 0d	2 eggs, altimeter 1	2-15" Round	554g	920ft, 48sec	video, Flew straight, igniter issues, good deploy
Purple flight 1 Team 2	F24-4W	6ft 0d	2 eggs, altimeter F	2-15" Round	440g	881ft, 53sec	video, Flew straight, igniter issues, good deploy
Gold flight 1 Team 1	F32-6T	7ft 0d	2 eggs, no data	2-12" Round	502g	980ft, 44ec	video, Flew straight, igniter issues, altimeter failed
Orange flight 1 Team 4	F39-6T	6ft 0d	2 eggs, altimeter J	2-15" Round, 2" spills	452g	900ft, 48sec	video, Flew straight, one chute deployed late

Altimeter Data (new electronics) (Excel format)

Altimeter Data (old electronics) (Excel format)

Pictures

Team 1                                                                                      Team 2


Team 3                                                                                      Team 4