Quest Cobalt - Build

Cool decals.... A necessity!

All There! Ready for glue!

Up from a nap....>Dad is busted

Pretty much completed. Just some final touches.

Short - Fat - Fun..... Quest Cobalt! Perfect for yard launching! (our yard anyway!)

So today, I did a little rocket building.... Hey, maybe not 12,000ns capable, but it's just as fun. maybe next week we will have it completely painted! I cant wait.  Fall Calm is here.....

AirFest 18

Wayside White Improved, L780

9-1-2012 "Don't You Dare".

This was the 2nd and 3rd flights of this rocket over the labor day weekend. This rocket lifted off slow at 5g pace... The flight were both perfect, and landed very close due to the "COMPLETE" lack of wind.

Loki Research J396 

9-1-2012 "Dr. Doofensmirtz".

This was the first and only of 2 planned flights.  Unfortunate electronics problems prevented a second flight.  Failed main deployment meant the rocket came in too fast.... nothing hurt. 

L780 under max boost.  About 165lbs thrust.
around 500mph.

KIDS LOVE SPARKIES

Prepping Electronics, and Assembling Motor + hanging out enjoying the AMAZING Kansas weather.

The moon... It's just not the same anymore!

Security Forces, Routine Perimeter Control

Note To Self: Forward Pistol Grip = Control of Barrel Rise

Hard Days Rockin'.... we stink, were tired, Going home...

This AIRFest sure was fun.... PERFECT weather, and saw some UUBER cool rockets, and SPLOSIONs.......

Here's some PDF' from the two flights of "don't you dare.

Acceleration Vs. Time

Flight Data: Altitude AGL, velocity (x10), Axial Acceleration.  (Flight 8-31-2012)

Flight Data: Altitude AGL, velocity (x10), Axial Acceleration.  (Flight 9-1-2012)

Kloudbuster Fun Fly 8-4-2012

First, This was a very trying day for me. On the night before the launch (Friday 8/3/2012), I spent all night loading motors, and prepping 2 rockets.  One of the rockets involving some rework due to new components.  Long story short, about delirious, 2am Saturday morning I had the car loaded.  (the rocket which flew) On a Loki Research motor J320. (the rocket which did not fly) on a Clay Research L767.

So, about 2:30, I get scorned by the boss for still being awake. I reply " well, I think I will go ahead and make the drive..." get there early and sleep in the car till people show up".   

"That is the stupidest idea ever"- My Wife

So, I go to bed, and get up at 5:15 am.  Good amount of sleep  RIGHT?  As I scurry off to not wake anyone.  I walk outside feeling great.  There is Orion, and a few other constellations as bright as all get out! Sure did make me smile!!!  Plus the milky way was in full force.  Pretty bright at my house. Off to the gas station for some bad-for-you food, and a full tank of gas!  Off we go.

About 1 hour later, my morning sunrise was GLORIOUS.





Flight of "DR. Doofenschmirtz", this is my son's rocket. He built it, and painted it.  Normally we fly it together, but today, he stayed home. 

 Specs:  This rocket is about 2 1/8" in diameter x 60" tall +/-, and weighs about 6lbs fully loaded.  It contains:

• (1) Telemetrum - Gps Altimeter for data logging and tracking.
• 38mm x 740ns Loki Red J320 rocket motor.
• 38" main parachute, with a 24" drogue (choked down)
• Beacon Transmitter, for RDF tracking.

First, motor ignition.  Generally this is the easy part.  You put the ignitor in, push the button, and whooosh! Not so here....
This particular motor was parted out for making other motors, the liner, and o-rings were used last minuet in another motor. So the propellant grains, were stored in the bottom a my motor storage for about 2 years.  During which they became badly oxidized. Long story short, it took 5 igniters to get this thing to burn correctly.  Meanwhile, other problems are afoot.

MOTOR IGNITION

Second, GPS....  This is the shakeout flight for the newly installed Telemetrum.  Ground tested, ready for the put up or shut up moment. (really the altimeter works for a lot of other people... so the moment of truth is on my skills)
The first problem I encountered was that the launch pad "teeter tottered".  No big deal normally, however the Telemetrum's accelerometer was detecting this movement, and would shut itself down. During the many igniter issues, I would run back and fourth un-arming and arming the altimeter.  Finally, I unloaded the rocket, and moved it to a secure pad, this seemed to be the ticket.

Green lights across the board for the telemetrum, clear skies, and the LCO and I gave our GO' for launch.  The rocket motor came to pressure, and took of like a rocket!

Then the skills or lack there of came to play, my yagi antenna used to maintain the link with the telemetrum and ground station, was not pointed in a precise enough manner and lost contact at about 45 seconds. The inherent problem, is that this is in the general area of "moment of truth" when your drogue parachutes slow the rockets decent from that of a more ballistic "up and down" flight path that is generally devastating.  The software then notifies me, "rocket may have crashed". (little did I know, its only about 3/4 of a mile up, and about 500 feet to my north. - very close in rocket terms)

 9:30 am Being that I had the GPS last known location, and GPS of where apogee was, I elected to begin my search visually where the CEP of a ballistic re-entry would have occurred.  This yielded nothing.  A fellow flyer loaned me his handheld, and I walked about a 500' radius of that marker. NO LUCK.  I then got my scanner, and yagi, and began driving the 1 mile square looking in one corner for fins sticking out of the ground, and the rest a general RF sweep with the antenna on the two frequencies I was broadcasting on.
NO LUCK.  About Noon at this point I have returned to re-evaluate what I am doing, and see if there is any advice.  Drank tons of water! I decided to look at the data some more.  I find there are 2 packets of data that prove the rocket was under safe drogue decent. This meant, it may have crashed without the main parachute, or functioned properly.  So I can rule my search off of the Ballistic CEP zone, and focus on the known drift patterns.  Another flyer just happened to  fly a gps telemetrum after this was found out, and I watched his rocket return noting the drift patterns. The wind had changed between his and my flights, but still gave a great starting point.

At about 1:00 I get back in the car and continue a general sweep.  This seems best form me, as I can almost always get 1/2 mile signal, which means driving around the section, 98% of the time I can get a signal.  this was the 2% that got me! It was the first time I was unable to get signal from the road, Usually this is the best way to rule out the 75% of the 2 mile radius your rocket could be.  Most of the time, its a precise heading, that walks you to within 50' of your rocket.

By about 2:00 I had started at one end of this half section that was planted with Milo and soybean. I climbed this huge hay bail stack, (about 20' tall) this should give me supreme reception.  NOT SO. Not a blip.
So I went elsewhere looking, and kept coming back to this one section. My rocket had landed in this section more times than I can count, and all bets were on this 1/2 mile x 1/2 mile area. So I start at one end, and walk a 250'-0 snake, looking for anything rocket, and listening for anything tracker!   about 1/4 of the way through I hear a "tssss tssss tssss" pause amongst static.  Oh my... this heat is getting to me, I hear my heartbeat in this static. My arm moved and it went away,CRAP, that was the signal! So I find the signal again and start searching slowly.  I walk about 1/2 mile and still signal never gets strong enough to squelch the static out.  So, I think this may be a reflection focusing enough RF that I can pic it up, so I get in the car and walk a 1/2 mile in and back around to where the signal was found. NO LUCK.  At this time everyone is leaving.  Waiver is closed and I have found no rocket.  The prefect meets me in the field and hands off some Gatorade and we discuss probability of where it may be. After they leave, i get back in the car and try 3 positions i think the RF could be coming from "reflected" into where i have received the signal.

NO LUCK.

So I return to where the faint signal is, determined to find this rocket. (my sons rocket who will be very upset with me), and my wife who wants to see me make it home with all that I have invested.
About a 1/2 hour, and slow easy walking, looking down the rows of Milo, I just gasped when I saw the chute...  It took me 10 to 15 seconds, and some double takes on the rocket stuff to "acknowledge" that it was INDEED my rocket, and not some apparition of shadows in the Milo. (throw the black parachute away, and get pink).  so its about 3:30 to 3:45, and I am off to the car, OOOOOPSSS.... the deck lid is open, the keys are in the ignition and its ON.... I just know my battery is dead. I am MILES form nowhere, and its a few miles from there to anywhere.  So i jumped in, and started it!... whew.... that is a relief.

Time to pack up and go home!

Notes of things to correct:

• find out why RF reception was severely hampered.
• get a pink parachute
• have a friend double track Telemetrum link for a while.

 That said, I am glad my son was at home while I walked 20 miles in the Kansas heat. It would have sucked to spend the night in a field in Kansas.

Drogue Deployment Screenshots





love the shadow in the smoke



Wife says I'm a Litter Bug /  I say awesome explosion...

 By the way, this is flame retardant -  biodegradable - non toxic - cellulose insulation (not fiberglass)...  (we do not harm the fields of the farmers that let us fly!!!)



RED = Launch, BLACK=Landing





GPS path, downloaded after rocket found.



Click to view Flight in Earth (download the Google earth KML file.)

Space - It's Industiral Revolution

Right now is especially fun with space.  Pretty much turn of the century stuff, civilians are punching past the Kármán  line.  Large corporations that have supported NASA are able to maintain a commercial support of satellites etc. But, I am focusing on non-Ratheon, ATK, SPaceX sized companies.  Although, I am seriously dis-heartened with the decay of the United States "non-military" space program.  Seems to be the military are the only ones in the papers making headlines with spaceflights (aside from the SPaceX and LARGE commercial presence.

Although I don't know much about UP Aerospace, from what I do know, I would come to the conclusion they are not the large corporate presence of Boeing and Sea Launch.  But, a group if individuals who financed a company that is now in position to support flights into space, and hopefully see them evolve to full fledged LEO and beyond. Their current series of rockets, are based on solid rocket fuel, and fly a "ballistic" sounding rocket style trajectory, albeit, into space.  While it appears the Solid rocket motor, is the entire lower-half of the vehicle, the upper-half is recoverable, and probably the payload bays, re-usable. I would infer this vehicle hits around mach 5. Also, believe the impulse is around an "S" sized rocket motor, which has an impulse of between 327,680.01-655,360.00 N-s.  (that is a big range, but gives you a good minimum... for the huge amount of power)

This last SL-6 Mission, provided a unique opportunity.  The rocketry association my family are members of, flew membership cards into space.  I am quite jealous that I did not get one for my self, I on the other hand wanted my son to feel like he had something truly special, and that others don't get.  So not to cheapen his experience, I elected to not participate.  However, I will show it off... Here is his "card that has been in space"

Junk Punch

Sometimes something small hits you... it sucks.... But, when lots of small things hit, it feels bigger than it is.  I am pretty good at remembering although it feels like I've been kicked in the nuts.  Its really a bunch of small shit that won't matter tomorrow. So on days, where your float valve breaks which floods your mower, your dryer gets a screw down the lint trap, and you screw up the dryer removing it, and the stove controller explodes, and A/C compressor seizes. Meanwhile, your so busy, you forget your cars need transmission fluids, oil changes, air filter changes, breaks, fuel pumps, tires, tags, windshields, break lights, tag light bulbs, headlight bulbs, rear window wiper housings.....all need your attentions.(lets not mention the house that needs help)

You kind of feel like there's something just lurking, and waiting. (see vulture beside my house here!)

On a side note, I got Debian loaded onto my rocket laptop.  Trying to learn some new computing style, and move forward in personal knowledge. (it's hard stuff- both things) This laptop will facilitate my Telemetrum link. Now, I am fighting the ghosts I can't (so to speak) on how to get Java installed.

126.32 Volume 1.00000000001 Rocket stuff

Ok, as a kid, I built a science procject.  Spent some time on it where I was really dang proud of what I had done. It was not based on my sole invention, but others ideas I had culminated on and "gotten to work" READS... (dad showed me the idea based on popular science mag, helped me get a prototype, and was then hands off. The "coil gun" at that point didnt work, and quickly melted the prototype.  I had been thus far, given the things necessary to move to V1.2 and make someting that eventually did work.  By the time I hit V3.0, I was using 110v ac and hurling 1/2 armatures at "slow" bullet speed.) Never the less, my science project around Version 2.4 was too "Dangerous" for school. So I was unplugged from the car battery, and handed a trophy, but not given a chance at the "next round" of regional school competition. My life in education went that way most of my life.  If most people are in or out of a box, I am usualy wearing swimming trunks and goggles.

Onto this science fair.. As you will find as this progresses, I am big into rockets.  (maybe one day launch one with a coil gun.) But, here I have  a Telemetrum, and a companion board called a TeleScience. Both are manufactured by a company named Altusmetrum. Don't look now, but the board below, is the same one photo'd on thier site.  Due to the high ammount of "tedium and difficulty" to use and adapt, the board really isn't a sale product yet. I hope I can "add" something to the pool now that I have my flippers on.
What Bdale has set out with this "getup" is to record temperatures of high-energy rocket flights. (reads mach 1.5 plus as a minimum) Likewise, he gave me a few thermistors, so I can obtain these "skin" temperatures in flight.

 Right now, I am planning on 6 points of skin temperature. 1 point of atmospheric temperature, 1 point of humitity, 1 point of motor case pressure, and 3 points of motor case temperature. Since I state Planning, I wont post plans for the vehicle yet since my ultimate goal is 12 points of data, I may cut my teeth on somthing as simple as 3 points in a fin first, and get used to the "programming" side of this equipment. Then integrate other items 1 by 1. Since I make research solid propellant motors, chamber pressure monitoring is high on the list of integrations.

Teeny, Thermistor. (now the FBI can scan for my background)

Another Closup

Science, man that thing grows quick.

Telemetrum, hooked to Telescience

All the goodies. Note the teeny Thermistor on the paper.



could you imagine making this thing???