Apollo Spacecraft  Explorer Post 1010
Engineering Exploring Program
Launch - March 2, 2019		 Lunar Module

Project Home

On Saturday, March 2, a few members from all teams traveled to the Great Meadow launch site for test flights. The day was cool and cloudy, but almost no wind. We used the NOVAAR launch rails, straight up. We again got off six flights in about two hours. We learned some important lessons.

Temperature=43F, Pressure=29.44inHg, Wind=1-4mph, Elevation=587ft

Objectives

  • Fly multiple flights with F39-6 motors from same lot number and pack.
  • Fly one rocket with F39-6 from previous launch lot number.
  • Refine the chute deployment so no DQs.
  • Get apogee data points around 500g.
  • Fly new altimeter 14.
  • Get ready to qualify in March.
 Gold Rocket Multicolor Rocket Pink Rocket
Lessons
  • Five flights were relatively straight. The second Multicolor rocket had a chute ejection right after launch, most likely motor assembly issue.
  • Everyone flew F39s. The Multicolor rocket flew the third motor from one of the lot packages used in the last launch.
  • The flights with the same lot and package gave mixed results. We need to analyze this.
  • The Gold and Pink rocket had issues with descent times. We need to reduce the chute drag (14 inch with spill or choking)
  • First Multicolor rocket flight had tangled chutes. The others were OK.
  • The first flight of the Pink rocket was low. We had problems with the igniter falling out and it may have been that the igniter was not fully in. When we tape the igniter in, we need to put the table across the hole and under the motor ring. And then we need to punch a hole in the tape.
  • Altimeter 14 worked OK. We now think the issues with altimeter 11 in the gold rocket in the previous launch was caused by the lack of air holes in the new cargo unit.
  • We did an autopsy on the motors for all the motorss. We believe the motor issues were confirmed - the motor with the early ejection was assembled incorrectly and the motor with the low flight had the igniter inserted low. See the report. 

Launches

Team Rocket Flight Motor/Lot/Pack Weight Alt Recovery Altitude Time Comment
5179 Gold (video-8949) 1 F39-6 04091808 1 490g 14 2-14"/10" 864ft 49sec nice flight, slow descent
5179 Gold (video-none) 2 F39-6 04091808 1 498g 14 2-14"/10" 874ft 54sec nice flight, slow descent
5180 Multi (video-8911) 1 F39-6 04091808 487g 12 2-14"sp/12" 872ft 45sec ok flight, chutes tangled
5180 Multi (video-8948) 2 F39-6 04091808 2 504g 12 2-14"sp/12" 545ft 10sec crash, ejection immediately
5181 Pink (video-8922) 1 F39-6 04091808 3 508g 13 2-14"/10" 808ft 41sec nice flight, low, igniter issue
5181 Pink (video-8955) 2 F39-6 04091808 3 494g 13 2-14"/10" 877ft 51sec ok flight, high, slow descent

Altimeter Data(Excel format)

Flight Data Chart Gold Rocket

Flight Data Chart Multicolor Rocket

Flight Data Chart Pink Rocket

Pictures
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Copyright 2019 Explorer Post 1010
Updated: March 24, 2019