The Perfect Launch Weather
Today we had what had to be the absolutely perfect conditions for a rocket launch. Warm, overcast and absolutely no wind. Overcast is better because then you don't have to fend off the sun while trying to follow the rockets ascent and descent. You could see the flight perfectly.
We had a big crowd with Mary, Stewart, Carson, Mom-Mom, Uncle Rob, Nicholas, Mackenzie, Olivia, Elise, Max, Emmett and me. Moreover we drew in another spectator and eventual participant, a young boy named William who's father was playing softball. He launched the final rocket of the day. So we had perfect weather and a big crowd, but the day started off rather poorly: shortly after setting foot for the launch site, Stewart and Carson's once-repaired rocket broke again! This time the launch lug assembly came right off! The rocket was sitting on the launch rod when this happened. Once again we wouldn't be able to launch it. We were down to one rocket, the "Amazon". To make matters worse, a short distance later, the launch rod snapped in two! It didn't become separated, the metal actually snapped. Unbelievable! I think we now know definitely not to carry the launch pad by the launch rod. We sent Mary and Carson off to go home and retrieve their launch pad, which they did, and from then on things went perfectly.
While Mary & Carson were getting the launch pad, I transfered the launch altitude measuring nose cone from C&S's rocket to The Amazon. This nose cone has a little gizmo that comes back to earth separately, slowed down by a streamer. The way it works is simple: it times how long it takes from separation to impact with the ground. Since it comes back separately and it has a measured length of streamer, it can calculate how high it was, more or less. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it's fun.
Did I say all went perfectly from then on? I was forgetting... our first launch was a complete and utter failure. I forgot to remove the end-cap from the end of the launch rod. Doh! The end result was that the rocket went a few inches up the launch rod and then got stuck. It stayed there as the engine fired. The launch pad tipped over on its side, then there was the delay, and then the backfire shot the recovery wadding, parachute and nose cone out. Oops! From *then* on it went fine....
More or less. I kept forgetting to turn on the special altitude measuring nose cone, so in the end only two of our flights were measured. Every launch was pretty beautiful, with a slow-ish, easy to follow assent. The large size of the rocket and clear, but overcast sky allowed you to see it all the way up to ejection of the parachute even when flying high. Our initial flights were with a B6-4 engine, and the one we successfully measured with that engine ended up something like 230 feet - I can't remember exactly now. With two successful and easily-recovered flights with that engine, we upped the ante with a more powerful engine, a C6-5. A "C" engine is more powerful than a "B" engine. The first number in the engine type is how long the engine burns and the second number is how long it coasts unpowered after the burn, before backfiring and ejecting the parachute. The one C6-5 flight we successfully measured came up as something like 370 feet. This is a pretty big rocket, but it still looked like it went quite high up in the sky. That's the highest rated engine recommended for this rocket, so we aren't going to get much higher than that with it. In case you are wondering, "normal" rocket engines come in A, B, C, D and E flavors. E engine rockets require a thicker/stronger launch rod.
Max and Emmett also have another smaller rocket that can fly quite a bit higher, but it wasn't ready. It's rated for up to 1400 feet on the same C6-5 engine! We'll start with a "A" engine. It's still being painted, but will be ready for our next launch, whenever the weather cooperates again. I'll also once again have Stewart and Carson's rocket repaired and hopefully we'll finally give it its inaugural flight. I think everybody had a good time. Hopefully we'll have an even bigger crowd next time, and more rockets to fly!
We had a big crowd with Mary, Stewart, Carson, Mom-Mom, Uncle Rob, Nicholas, Mackenzie, Olivia, Elise, Max, Emmett and me. Moreover we drew in another spectator and eventual participant, a young boy named William who's father was playing softball. He launched the final rocket of the day. So we had perfect weather and a big crowd, but the day started off rather poorly: shortly after setting foot for the launch site, Stewart and Carson's once-repaired rocket broke again! This time the launch lug assembly came right off! The rocket was sitting on the launch rod when this happened. Once again we wouldn't be able to launch it. We were down to one rocket, the "Amazon". To make matters worse, a short distance later, the launch rod snapped in two! It didn't become separated, the metal actually snapped. Unbelievable! I think we now know definitely not to carry the launch pad by the launch rod. We sent Mary and Carson off to go home and retrieve their launch pad, which they did, and from then on things went perfectly.
While Mary & Carson were getting the launch pad, I transfered the launch altitude measuring nose cone from C&S's rocket to The Amazon. This nose cone has a little gizmo that comes back to earth separately, slowed down by a streamer. The way it works is simple: it times how long it takes from separation to impact with the ground. Since it comes back separately and it has a measured length of streamer, it can calculate how high it was, more or less. I have no idea how accurate it is, but it's fun.
Did I say all went perfectly from then on? I was forgetting... our first launch was a complete and utter failure. I forgot to remove the end-cap from the end of the launch rod. Doh! The end result was that the rocket went a few inches up the launch rod and then got stuck. It stayed there as the engine fired. The launch pad tipped over on its side, then there was the delay, and then the backfire shot the recovery wadding, parachute and nose cone out. Oops! From *then* on it went fine....
More or less. I kept forgetting to turn on the special altitude measuring nose cone, so in the end only two of our flights were measured. Every launch was pretty beautiful, with a slow-ish, easy to follow assent. The large size of the rocket and clear, but overcast sky allowed you to see it all the way up to ejection of the parachute even when flying high. Our initial flights were with a B6-4 engine, and the one we successfully measured with that engine ended up something like 230 feet - I can't remember exactly now. With two successful and easily-recovered flights with that engine, we upped the ante with a more powerful engine, a C6-5. A "C" engine is more powerful than a "B" engine. The first number in the engine type is how long the engine burns and the second number is how long it coasts unpowered after the burn, before backfiring and ejecting the parachute. The one C6-5 flight we successfully measured came up as something like 370 feet. This is a pretty big rocket, but it still looked like it went quite high up in the sky. That's the highest rated engine recommended for this rocket, so we aren't going to get much higher than that with it. In case you are wondering, "normal" rocket engines come in A, B, C, D and E flavors. E engine rockets require a thicker/stronger launch rod.
Max and Emmett also have another smaller rocket that can fly quite a bit higher, but it wasn't ready. It's rated for up to 1400 feet on the same C6-5 engine! We'll start with a "A" engine. It's still being painted, but will be ready for our next launch, whenever the weather cooperates again. I'll also once again have Stewart and Carson's rocket repaired and hopefully we'll finally give it its inaugural flight. I think everybody had a good time. Hopefully we'll have an even bigger crowd next time, and more rockets to fly!
posted by public_sjj at 9:39:00 PM
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