I wanted a shot of the rocket without me in it but it does not stand up on its own. Here are two slightly different shots of the same thing:
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Finished Camera Bay
The camera bay for Positive Ascent is painted black and sits at the top of the forward airframe tube below the nose cone. I was very impressed with how much larger the rocket looks than it did. It now stands just under 10.5 feet tall.
I wanted a shot of the rocket without me in it but it does not stand up on its own. Here are two slightly different shots of the same thing:
I wanted a shot of the rocket without me in it but it does not stand up on its own. Here are two slightly different shots of the same thing:
Monday, August 22, 2011
Getting the Super Weasel Ready for 10,000 feet
I bought an Aerotech I161W to fly in the Super Weasel over PYRO's Labor Day weekend launch in Potter NY. Now that I have the AT-2B tracker in the rocket I am fairly confident that I will be able to recover it from around 6500 feet.
If that flight goes well, I also have an Aerotech I59WN-P to put into it. This motor sims to about 10,000 feet, the highest of any motor that fits into the rocket. This is a very unique motor. It is a boost-sustain motor, meaning the thrust curve looks like this:
The motor creates strong thrust for 1.5 seconds to get the rocket moving quickly, then transitions to the sustain phase with very little thrust for another 7 seconds or so. To get this burn profile, they use a conventional cored white lighting grain on the bottom of the motor, with a solid end burning grain of Warp-9 propellant on the top of the motor. The pictures show how the motor goes together.
If that flight goes well, I also have an Aerotech I59WN-P to put into it. This motor sims to about 10,000 feet, the highest of any motor that fits into the rocket. This is a very unique motor. It is a boost-sustain motor, meaning the thrust curve looks like this:
The motor creates strong thrust for 1.5 seconds to get the rocket moving quickly, then transitions to the sustain phase with very little thrust for another 7 seconds or so. To get this burn profile, they use a conventional cored white lighting grain on the bottom of the motor, with a solid end burning grain of Warp-9 propellant on the top of the motor. The pictures show how the motor goes together.
I also tested the main and drogue ejection charges to make sure they are sized properly for the flights. Videos are found below:
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Camera Bay for Positive Ascent
After the frustration with the $1 ebay camera failure from the 2 mile high flight of Positive Ascent, I decided it was time to build a proper camera bay for the rocket. I ordered a generic payload bay kit from Loc-Precision which consists of a 17" payload tube and a bulkhead assembly. The payload bay will go on top of the rocket below the nose cone, extending the rocket from 9 feet to 10.5 feet in length.
I custom built the payload bay kit with the ability to mount my Panasonic LZ8 digital camera. There is certainly plenty of space in the tube to allow for a variety of other cameras. My goal is to fly Positive Ascent with an HD camcorder in it to 10,000 feet someday. For now, the video from the LZ8 will still be far better and much more reliable than the ebay camera.
As it's built, the camera will face outward. To get a downward view I will have to build a shrouded mirror on the outside of the hole. I designed the bulkhead and mounting assembly such that the camera bay can be fully disassembled quickly and easily for removing the camera and mounting other payloads in the future.
I custom built the payload bay kit with the ability to mount my Panasonic LZ8 digital camera. There is certainly plenty of space in the tube to allow for a variety of other cameras. My goal is to fly Positive Ascent with an HD camcorder in it to 10,000 feet someday. For now, the video from the LZ8 will still be far better and much more reliable than the ebay camera.
As it's built, the camera will face outward. To get a downward view I will have to build a shrouded mirror on the outside of the hole. I designed the bulkhead and mounting assembly such that the camera bay can be fully disassembled quickly and easily for removing the camera and mounting other payloads in the future.
The payload tube and coupler
Everything that goes inside the coupler
The aft side of the bulkplate. The eye bolt is where the shock cord will attach. One of the 1" angle brackets had to be JB welded in place to avoid using a nut that interfered with the camera on the opposite side.
The other 3 1" brackets and the 8-32 by 1/2" bolts. The 8-32 nuts are JB welded to the brackets for easy assembly into the coupler.
This is the hold-down plate for the LZ8 camera. It's 1/8" plywood reinforced on with 6 layers of fiberglass.
The camera mounts with a 1/4-20 bolt through the bottom of the bulkplate (into the camera's tripod mount). Then the hold-down plate slides over 2 1/4-20 rods with washers and nuts to capture it securely.
The bulkplate sets into the coupler and is then slid into the payload tube.
This is the aft side of the assembly, as it would be in the rocket. All 4 1" brackets are screwed into place, retaining both the bulkplate assembly and coupler into the payload tube.
Mounted and recording.
Assembled camera bay.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Positive Ascent Hits 2 Miles in Altitude
The weather broke up enough to finally launch Positive Ascent on the M1540. The recorded altitudes by the Co-PilotV2.0 altimeter and the Perfectflite HA45K respectively were 10557 feet and 10560 feet (exactly 2 miles above ground level). This is the highest I've ever flown a rocket by nearly half a mile. Thanks to all who helped prepare, recover, and document the launch.
BOOST VIDEO HERE
PAD VIDEO HERE
The rocket accelerated hard for the duration of the 4.4 second burn reaching a top speed of 730 mph. A few seconds after motor burnout it disappeared into clouds for the rest of the flight. It wasn't until 3 minutes later when we heard the main chute pop at 1000 feet that we saw it descending perfectly under the main parachute way towards the east edge of the field. We watched nervously as the rocket disappeared from site either in the woods or in a field behind a woods.
It was very fortunate that I had a tracker in it for this flight. The tracking transmitter on board the rocket just sends a pulsing signal that the hand-held unit receives. The louder the pulse, the more directly you're pointing at the lost rocket. After getting permission from the farmer to go onto his land to look for the rocket, it took an hour of trekking through woods and fields before I narrowed down the landing spot to a narrow corn field. The tracker led me straight to the rocket, even in the 9 foot corn. The picture below shows where it landed.
BOOST VIDEO HERE
PAD VIDEO HERE
The rocket accelerated hard for the duration of the 4.4 second burn reaching a top speed of 730 mph. A few seconds after motor burnout it disappeared into clouds for the rest of the flight. It wasn't until 3 minutes later when we heard the main chute pop at 1000 feet that we saw it descending perfectly under the main parachute way towards the east edge of the field. We watched nervously as the rocket disappeared from site either in the woods or in a field behind a woods.
It was very fortunate that I had a tracker in it for this flight. The tracking transmitter on board the rocket just sends a pulsing signal that the hand-held unit receives. The louder the pulse, the more directly you're pointing at the lost rocket. After getting permission from the farmer to go onto his land to look for the rocket, it took an hour of trekking through woods and fields before I narrowed down the landing spot to a narrow corn field. The tracker led me straight to the rocket, even in the 9 foot corn. The picture below shows where it landed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)