Itokawa Explorer Post 1010
Lockheed Martin Exploring Program
Launch - March 29, 2015
Orion Spacecraft

Project Home

On Sunday, March 29, members from all teams traveled to Great Meadow VA for our final qualification flights. The day was clear, very cool (mid 30s f), with wind early, dropping to almost calm. We used the NOVAAR club 7ft launch rails. We were there to fly rockets!

Objectives

  • Complete all our final qualification launches (three for team 267, two for team 265, and one each for teams 266 and 406).

Here is what we submitted for qualification.

team best 2nd best total
15265 32.76 37.04 69.80
15266 47.00 69.40 116.40
15267 49.72 50.28 100.00
15406 21.88 31.04 52.92
Turquoise Rocket Red Rocket Red/Gold Rocket Blue Rocket Orange Rocket

Lessons

  • It was great seeing all the teams up with a rocket on a rail at the start of the launch day (10am).
  • We conducted many launches, all rockets returned, no broken eggs, and no tangled recovery. Most flights looked nice. We completed all our qualification flights with no disqualifications..
  • Team 15265 Red rocket had a disastrous lawn dart flight with a failed ejection charge. This is the second manufacturing issue this year. The team recovered well, put together another back up rocket and completed their qualification flight with reasonable scores. The failed motor was returned to AeroTech and they sent replacements. The altimeter was slightly damaged. We needed to wash all the egg off the altimeter. It could be used next year.
  • Team 15267 has an issue with not getting the altimeter to reset. Their first qualification flight used the altitude of the previous test flight.
  • Overall, our flights were inconsistent, but not sure why. We need to wait to see if any teams make the finals.

Finals Qualification

Unfortunately, none of our teams made the finals. The cut off for the finals was 40.00. Last year the cutoff was 54.12. We will be sitting out the finals this year. We need to do some analysis as to why the flights were inconsistent.

Launches

Rocket Engine Rail Cargo Recovery Weight Results Comments
Red 1
Team 15265
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" round, 1" spill
6x60" streamer
395g
225g
814ft,
48sec
video, nice flight
Test Score 14
Red 2
Team 15265
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" round, 1" spill
6x60" streamer
395g
222g
776ft,
51.26sec
video, wobble flight
Qualification Score 37.04
Red 3
Team 15265
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" round, 1" spill
6x60" streamer
395g
227g
855ft,
16sec
no video, lawn dart
no score
Red/Gold 4
Team 15265
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" round, 1" spill
6x60" streamer
817ft,
43sec
video, nice flight
Test Score 29
Red/Gold 5
Team 15265
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" round, 1" spill
6x60" streamer
819ft,
42.56sec
video, nice flight
Qualification Score 32.76
Orange 1
Team 15266
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 10
15" round, 2" spill
6x60" streamer
374g
190g
708ft,
47sec
video, way too low
Test Score 92
Orange 2
Team 15266
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 10
15" round, 2" spill
6x60" streamer
  822ft,
46sec
no video, nice flight
Test Score 22
Orange 3
Team 15266
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 10
15" round, 4" spill
6x60" streamer
  747ft,
41.90sec
video, too low
Qualification Score 69.40
Turquoise 1
Team 15267
E20-7W 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 4
15" round, 3" spill
12" round, 2" spill
367g
180g?
848ft,
43sec
video, too high, fast descent
Test Score 60
Turquoise 2
Team 15267
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
no alt data
15" round, 3" spill
12" round, 2" spill
  ?ft,
51.175sec
video, altimeter not reset
Qualification Score 60.68
Turquoise 3
Team 15267
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 4
15" round, 3" spill
12" round, 2" spill
  825ft,
39.82sec
no video, too high, fast descent
Qualification Score 49.72
Turquoise 4
Team 15267
E30-7T 7t ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 4
15" round, 1" spill
12" round, 2" spill
  830ft,
40.93sec
video, too high, fast descent
Qualification Score 50.28
Blue 1
Team 15406
E30-7T 7ft ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 9
15" round, 3" spill
6x60" streamer
367g
160g?
825ft,
59sec
video, nice flight, too long descent
Test Score 107
Blue 2
Team 15406
E30-7T 7ft ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 9
15" round, 3" spill
6x60" streamer
369g
160g?
790ft,
48sec
video, nice flight
Test Score 10
Blue 3
Team 15406
E30-7T 7ft ?d 1 egg,
altimeter 9
12" round, no spill
6x60" streamer
369g?
160g?
782ft,
39.41sec
video, nice flight, too short descent
Qualification Score 45.96

Altimeter Data (Excel format)
Flight Data Red Chart
Flight Chart Orange Rocket
Flight Chart Turquoise Rocket
Flight Chart Blue Rocket

Pictures

 Team 15265                                                                            Team 15406
 Team 265  Team 406 

 Team 15267                                                        Loading the Rockets
 Team 15267  Loading a Rocket

 Loading More Rockets         
 Teaml 265 Loading 

Copyright 2015 Explorer Post 1010
Updated: April 14 2015