Rocket Launch: My 1,000th Flight

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dell
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Rocket Launch: My 1,000th Flight

Post by dell »

So this is a drone view of the big black rocket I was working on during the last Video Bat Chat. The rocket is about 6 feet tall and I launched it on an H148 Red. The motor has a brilliant red flame which is not so obvious from this angle. It was quite cloudy and we are not allowed to launch into clouds, so I had to keep it under the 2,500 foot cloud ceiling. The rocket went to 1,210 feet.

H148 Red

I found some videos of past launches and will post links later.
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by Scott Sebring »

That was cool. Thanks for sharing that. Love to see more for sure. :)
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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Another video of my rocket club from 2 years ago. This was a low and mid power launch. The audio is quite entertaining in places.

5-5-18 Rocket Launch

Some highlights:

My Sammy-Pooh at 1:40

At 2:40 is a big rocket on a G motor.

At 3:19 you see three of my rockets waiting to be launched. All are red and black. On the left is Sheesh Kabob. The next one is Square Kabob, and the third one is Swoosh Kabob.

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Another one of my rockets at 6:08. I call this one the Indifferent Whatever.

At 6:28 a chuffing liftoff followed by a "lawn dart" landing.

Drag race at 7:00 with a second camera at 7:21 showing the chuffing

Some chuffing at 7:40

My Bluebird of Happiness at 7:58

A glider that didn't glide very much at 8:56

Three motor rocket at 10:10

My F.A.B. (named for a phrase from the Thunderbirds) at 11:26. This is a mish mash of parts slapped together with pieces of the body missing, a chewed up nose cone, no matching fins and it flies perfectly straight (notice that there is almost no rotation on the way up)

Me standing in the field at 12:27

Bad flight at 13:31

Rocket ejected the motor at 14:00 (you can hear it hit a car)

My Photon Probe at 14:13. The ejection charge didn't eject the parachute.

Bad launch at 14:41
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dell
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by dell »

Interesting Flights

2017 "Interesting Launches"

You will hear a lot of "oh no!"

One of the things we often say, "The up part is easy (usually), the down part is where you can have problems".

0:12 Motor explodes

0:24 My Sidewinder scale missile not flying very straight. But it lays out flat at the end for a great finish.

2:12 Daisy the Rocket Dog. She LOVED barking at rockets launching.

The first and only "flight" of my Estes V-2 at 4:27. Motor failure.

5:32 Good flight, but it lands in the creek.

6:32 Don't blink! (rocket on far right)
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by High C »

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing.

I've heard Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. True?

I'll show myself out now.
'I thought Siren was perfect for Joan.'--Stanley Ralph Ross, writer of 'The Wail of the Siren'

My hobbies include gazing at the Siren and doing her bidding, evil or otherwise.

'She had a devastating, hypnotic effect on all the men.'--A schoolmate describing Joan Collins at age 17
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by Scott Sebring »

dell wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:16 pm Another video of my rocket club from 2 years ago. This was a low and mid power launch. The audio is quite entertaining in places.

5-5-18 Rocket Launch

That was fun to watch. Yeah, the comments from sidelines were fun to listen to. Especially on those "Oh No" moments.
Who knew "chuffing" could be so entertaining?
That looks like a fun day out.
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by Ben Bentley »

Scott Sebring wrote: Wed Dec 09, 2020 8:54 am
dell wrote: Mon Dec 07, 2020 10:16 pm Another video of my rocket club from 2 years ago. This was a low and mid power launch. The audio is quite entertaining in places.

5-5-18 Rocket Launch

That was fun to watch. Yeah, the comments from sidelines were fun to listen to. Especially on those "Oh No" moments.
Who knew "chuffing" could be so entertaining?
That looks like a fun day out.
"Oh no!" was a personal highlight! Very cool to see after hearing your descriptions and insights on Video Bat-Chat!

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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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Here is a video of Justin's three attempts to get his level 2 certification. The third attempt was successful. The second attempt had an onboard camera and you can see that video from liftoff to parachute deployment.

Justin's Level 2 Attempts
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by dell »

I found another club video.

Peak Thrust: 1,728.68 Newtons or 389 pounds
Thrust Duration: 5.95 seconds
Total Impulse: 6645.35 Newtons or 1,494 pounds (or 665 C motors)

15 foot rocket launched to 4,067 feet
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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Loving the videos. The onboard camera was cool. The fifteen foot Merlin was insane.
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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This launch took place in 2009 in Maryland. It is a huge model rocket.

1/10 scale Saturn V model rocket
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

Post by Scott Sebring »

dell wrote: Sat Jan 16, 2021 10:33 pm This launch took place in 2009 in Maryland. It is a huge model rocket.

1/10 scale Saturn V model rocket
That was a thing of beauty. Made my morning. Wish I could have seen it in person!
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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I have no idea who took this video, but it is pretty interesting. Warning: a lot of spinning on the way down!

Four cameras capture the flight. One shows liftoff from near the pad. The second shows liftoff from further back. The third camera is mounted on the lower section of the second (sustainer) stage. It will stay pointing down most of the flight. This camera is recording an electronic voice that calls out altitude and other information during the flight. The fourth camera is mounted near the top of the rocket and will point down before apogee and then point up after apogee as the rocket will split into two parts that are tethered together. At apogee the flight computer will fire a small explosive charge to push the upper section of the sustainer off the lower section and deploy the drogue chute. Separating the two sections of the rocket creates a lot of drag as the rocket descends.

The drogue parachute main purpose is to keep the upper and lower parts of the rocket away from each other to prevent damage and keep the parachute from getting caught on part of the rocket or tangled in the tether line. The drogue slows the rocket's descent a little bit, but that isn't the purpose of the chute.

the main chute is deployed around 700 feet and reduces the speed of the rocket considerably so it can land without damage.

Two Stage High Power Rocket to 17,718 feet
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Re: Rocket Launch this past weekend

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So this guy built an electronics package for a rocket. He found someone to fly it for him and the flight was let's just say less than optimal. There are several terms we use for landings like this; lawn dart, shovel recovery, trashbag recovery... you get the idea. And as we rocketeers say, the up part is easy, the down part is hard.

High Power Rocket Flight with a Bad Landing
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Re: Rocket Launch: My 1,000th Flight

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So the club had a rocket launch on Saturday, 27 March. I made my 1,000th flight. I used the same rocket as I used on my first flight. Here is a photo of the rocket going up the launch rod. After it left the rod things went a little wonky. It flew quite erratically before hitting the ground. It was undamaged and could be around for my 2.000th flight. I used an A8-3 motor. Specifications on the motor: 3.3 grams of black powder, 2.32 Newtons of total thrust, 0.73 seconds burn time.

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My flight log.

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I also flew several big rockets. Here is my Polar Viper going up on an H123. Specifications on the motor: 129 grams of ammonium perchlorate (roughly equivalent to 300 grams of black powder or 91 times the A8 motor), 211.4 Newtons of total thrust, 1.80 seconds burn time.

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