RocketFarmers Out In The Field!

 

10/13/2002 The RockeTV38 Level One Certification Rocket launch from the Skillet!

 

  No, Jed Clampett didn’t put a bullet hole in my skillet! That’s for the launch rod!

 

 

   

 

8/24/2002 Above are several shots from the Thunder Phoenix Launch with RockeTV camera system in the nose cone.  These are mostly still frames from video. The second photo just after the rocket cleared the launch rail is courtesy of Jacob vnom37@hotmail.com. He has excellent photographs of many rockets launched at the SARA field.

 

The Thunder Phoenix is a scratch built design loosely based on an upscaled Centuri “Thunder Roc” as shown here:

 

The camera system was launched with an F20-4W power plant. The altitude reached was about 950 to 1025 feet. With a top speed of around 130 to 140 mph.

 

 

                                                                                    8/24/2002 My son, Michael, with “Bad To The Bone”, a small 34mm diameter rocket designed

for F and G class motors. Flown with an F20-7W to about 3800 feet AGL. Top speed was around 388 mph. This is a scratch built rocket that started as remnant parts of a kit I purchased

at NARAM 22 (?) in Orlando, FL for launching with Composite Dynamite J E20’s and Flight Systems F100’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9/22/2002 The RockeTV launch with a cluser of three AeroTech F20-7W motors.

 

The launch was flawless, it was when the three ejection charges kicked in that something went terribly wrong. The upper camera payload section and parachute compartment had separated from the parachute that was to carry the booster and payload safely home. The booster floated under the parachute for about ½ mile or more from the pads. The camera pod crunched in nose first several hundred yards from the pads out in the desert. A close inspection at home later in the day revealed that the eye hook that I was worried about failing was still securely epoxied in place. It was the snap swivel that had failed. I guess the kick from all three ejection charges was just a bit too much force!

 

The camera and electronics seem to be fine, but must be re-wired since the camera’s power and video cable sheared off cleanly.

                       

 

                                                                                                                                    Top Speed               ~ 359Mph

                                                                                                                                    Max Altitude                      ~ 2524 feet AGL

                                                                                                                                    Average Thrust:     60N

                                                                                                                                    Total Impulse:         195Ns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Damaged Nose Cone with Camera Removed         Entire Rocket After Recovery   The Snap Swivel Which Failed

 

9/26/2002 The camera is now removed from the plastic casing and rewired with Dean’s connectors. The transmitter and camera still work fine, but the 5v to 12v DC to DC power converter is DEAD. Hmm… back to the electronics parts bin…

 

 

9/22/2002 Centuri Saturn 1B built 21 or 22 years ago by yours truly.

 

Yeah… I really did know how much it was worth before launching it! J But, I built it to fly, so… It was set on the pad with a cluster of two Estes C6-3 motors. Unfortunately, one of the igniters shorted due to leads touching and only one engine fired. Oops… some repair work is in order! Take a look at the photos after the impact. Luckily it landed mostly on it’s side rather than straight in! Those plaster molds of the original plastic parts of an unbuilt Estes re-release of this kit are sure going to come in handy. Anyone in the Tucson area good with making vacuum formed plastic parts given a plaster form? My efforts at vacuum forming haven’t been that successful. Either the plastic cooled too soon, or not enough vacuum was pulled by my shop vac...