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.
- 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.
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| 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:
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
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| love the shadow in the smoke |
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| 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!!!)
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| RED = Launch, BLACK=Landing |
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| GPS path, downloaded after rocket found. |
Click to view Flight in Earth
(download the Google earth KML file.)
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