The Mythbusters liked my little duct tape rocket :)

Awesome!  The Mythbusters liked my Nuttin' But Tape rocket and added it to their Duct Tape Projects photo album (FB membership req'd, sorry)!  I knew I shoulda added a link to The Dungeon.

Follow the bouncing launch pad

Here's a video of a 2.6" 'throw-away' rocket made from unreinforced Blue Tube and flying on a 54mm Aerotech J1999 Warp 9 motor. As if the break-neck lift-off wasn't enough, wait for the slow motion replay and watch the pad.  Yowzers!  Six pounds of rocket and 491 lbs of thrust for half a second yields an estimated 80 G's of acceleration.  Altitude and location were unknown even with a tracking transmitter. Rocket by Robert Synoski, video via Randy Ejma.

Balloon launch CATO

Space.com reports on the spectacular crash of a 400' NASA balloon carrying the Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT). The NCT was a gamma-ray telescope built by the University of California, Berkeley. The 'launch' occurred at the Alice Springs Balloon Launching Centre in the northern territory of Australia.

EMRR updated, includes one of mine

See the latest here, including my HotRod Rockets Discovery.  While there, make sure you check out the great entries in the Two at Once Photo Contest, which is ending in a couple of days.

Big a$$ (concept) rockets of the day

Scott Lowther has a hat trick of cool articles for sale:

• Boeing Advanced Multipurpose Large Launch Vehicle (AMLLV), "perhaps the most powerful {conventional?} booster ever envisioned… in it’s most powerful configuration, nearly four million pounds of payload could be carried by a vehicle with a launch thrust of 108 million pounds."
• Aerojet “Sea Dragon”, an extremely large rocket that would be built out of "conventional aluminum, built in a shipyard to shipyard standards."
• British “MUSTARD” concept for a “triamese” space shuttle from the 1960’s.

Big a$$ rocket of the day

Not big by HPR standards, but huge for it's class.  George Katz points to an album with some great shots of the recent flights of his Acceleron V.  Here is a composite image of the staging action.  Source photos by Andrew Eltobaji.  Click to see a big copy.

Comments SNAFU

FIXED!

BTW, I'm seeing the comments you make but they aren't making it onto the blog.  Even my comments.  Maybe they will eventually work their way through the Blogger database....

A rocket in a non-rocket contest

Entered in the Mythbusters' weekly duct tape contest on Facebook.  Winners selected each week.  Maybe Nuttin' But Tape will win me nuttin' but bragging rights?

MiniSShot launch report

Sugar Shot to Space reports that they launched their MiniSShot test rocket earlier today. The rocket employed a 2-phase sugar motor with an initial burn, followed by a delay/coast period and then a 2nd burn phase. As seen in the attached video, phase one apparently worked nicely but there was an anomaly when the 2nd phase began.  The flight computer/electronics package was recovered so hopefully they will be able to learn more about what went wrong.  It was noted that the 2nd phase began at 12k'.  Not bad for roughly half of a 'small' sub-scale motor. 

 

Rocket Racer video

Jeff Foust posted this video; found via the RLV and Space Transportation blog.

Rocket Racers in Tulsa

A1246556_fhdr_filtered, originally uploaded by thefixer.

Follow the links for a few more shots.  Clark Lindsey recaps the event.

ROCKETS Magazine, April 2010

Starts good with a Darth Vader oddroc as the background image on the index page (from Hellfire 14); how to use the Big Red Bee GPS system; part III of the Black Magic Missile works how-to sales article; Curt Newport's Proteus 6 at Balls-17 (85K and Mach 3, not bad); Hellfire on the Salt Flats (includes more of Randell Redd's oddrocs); photos from Alabama; a 14.5" Redstone build article; cutting snap ring grooves yourself; a 5+ week, ~12k mile rocket trip (wow, I think I'd OD and my wife would become catatonic); Dr. Zooch describes his camera boom system for LPR (perfect for monitoring the activities of your ant-stronauts).

Smartass forum responses

Often when I see a forum post title, some wisecrack pops to mind.  I sure making such responses will just cause unnecessary turmoil so I generally keep them to myself. 

Post:  "Cheapest was to get a shoot out?"

Ignoring the first typo, which I read as 'way', I wanted to answer:  "Cross Billy the Kid?"

(I bet you're glad you wasted 30 seconds of your life that you'll never get back.)

Got rocketbelt? DRB does

Dark Roasted Blend features a compendium of rocketbelts, real and imagined, functional and props. Not an exhaustive list, but still cool.

(photo via The Rocketman)

Falcon HTV-2 (partial) results

Spaceflight Now reports that the Minotaur-4 'Lite' deployed the HTV-2 at more than 20 times the speed of sound.  However, contact was lost around 9 minutes after liftoff.  After deployment, the HTV-2 was to perform a series of sweeping turns to bleed off excess energy and demonstrate its cross-range capabilities.There is no word on how much, if any of these maneuvers were completed before communications were lost.

Steve Eves' 1:9 scale Saturn 1B @ RG-8

Here is Steve's Saturn 1B.  The white panels in the middle (above the trailer's front tire) are the retractable upper stage fins.  They will be deployed via a CO₂ charge at stage separation.

Starry-Eyed Hubble Celebrates 20 Years of Awe and Discovery

Starry-Eyed Hubble Celebrates 20 Years of Awe and Discovery, originally uploaded by NASA Goddard Photo and Video.

Can't believe it's been 20 years. Closer to 30 years since I first worked on the development of its ground system. Click through if you want to know what you're looking at. :)

A Thursday twofer - the Falcon HTV-2 also launched yesterday

The first Minotaur IV Lite launch vehicle roars into the skies above California carrying DARPA's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 on April 22, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Andrew Lee)

More on the Parabolic Arc. Unfortunately, no reports on the payload :(

X37-B launch

I never said I wouldn't watch it, I said I wasn't excited enough to sit by the computer and watch in real-time...

Fox News evidently didn't like people looking at their newscast on YouTube. I guess ya' gotta find the video on your own. Sorry.

The X37-B is up there somewhere...

Or, at least that is what Spaceflight Now is reporting.

T+plus 19 minutes, 58 seconds. SPACECRAFT SEPARATION! The Centaur upper stage has deployed the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle following today's launch from Cape Canaveral. 

Besides the fact that I was otherwise occupied, I had no great interest in following this in real-time.  All  the best stuff should occur after the flight status reports stopped.  As for a video of a mere Atlas launch, I'd rather watch/re-watch videos from Red Glare 8.  Jaded, am I?

All that's left is to 'listen' for reports from amateur sat-watchers.

X37-B appears to be on schedule for launch

As noted by Clark Lindsey this AM.  He also found the ULA webcam link. The live webcast will be provided here starting at 7:32 p.m. EDT.

SDO first light

This is a truly amazing view of an expanding solar prominence, taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).  Look almost like CGI special effects.  (Photo by NASA, as seen on Discovery News.)

X37-B timeline

T-0:00:02.7 Engine Start
The Russian-designed RD-180 main engine is ignited and undergoes checkout prior to launch.

...see the whole timeline on Spaceflight Now...

T+0:17:18 Centaur Cutoff 1
The Centaur engine shuts down following its first burn. The launch will enter a news blackout following this milestone. Any subsequent Centaur burns, along with spacecraft separation, will occur in secret.

BTW, 'T' = 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT)tomorrow with a short 9 minute window. I didn't immediately see the link, but they should have a live feed of the launch.

MDRA's RG 8 album is UP

Check out the initial update of photos and video.  I see that Pete Abresch posted the flight of my Landshark 2.0 (labeled as 'Black Rocket')...all the way until it disappeared into the stream. His videos are always excellent so check them all out.  Thanks Pete!

360 degrees of Texas Stadium imploding

Video from inside the stadium as it came down.

Space, explained

Daily Kos has a nice article on space - Explaining Space to the Layman (FAQ + Pics!).  Some facts, some opinion, compiles some nice basic concepts and several interesting diagrams.  I read half before my mind stated hearing "la, la, la, la."

Landshark 3.0 progress and decisions

Which nose shape?

Tube slotted.  Mailing tube is pretty flimsy.  Use it or buy a tube?  Probably will use it.

The nose doesn't look like a Landshark.  Need a new name too.

Spaceport America update

UP Aerospace preparing for their next launch on May 4th.  The video also has some nice shots of the Spaceport under construction. 

When rocket designers didn't think small - the ROMBUS Family

Scott Lowther presents a cool diagram (to the right) showing the relative scale of the ICARUS, Ithacus, ROMBUS, ROMBUS F, ROMBUS III, Pegasus, Icarus Jr. to subjects such as the Space Shuttle.  Details coming in his Aerospace Projects Review V2N6.

While I'm at it, I thought I'd repeat another one, comparing the defunct (probably) Ares I and V to the Saturn V and Shuttle:

Your morning RG 8 fix

Here's a small but nice album.

More RG 8 coverage

Rocketman248 has a nice album.  And it supports embedding!  Here's Burl Finkelstein's 'Big V2' on an N and 2 O's.  One O lit a tad late, which caused a slightly arced trajectory.  Awesome flight!

Misc. Links

I haven't instituted posts dedicated to random/interesting links, but maybe I should. I probably won't, but these two are what made me consider it.

• 15 Bizarre Buildings Around the World - WebUrbanist
• Never Before Seen Pictures of Albert Einstein's Desk, On the Day He Died - io9 (previously unpublished, by LIFE Magazine)

Air-Launch Sortie Vehicle, part 4

The Space Review eatures the 4th and final part of Dwayne Day's series on the AFRL's “Space Sortie System.” (See: “Fire in the sky,” part 1, part 2, and part 3, in previous issues of The Space Review.) This quote says it all:

Imagine a 747 in a 60 degree climb, with a cluster of rocket engines in its tail, passing through 11,300 meters and then pushing over into a shallow dive as a rocketplane and its large external tank separated from its back.

Boeing’s proposed Sortie Vehicle and drop tank mounted on top of a 747, which sports a rocket engine on the end of its fuselage. (Credit: © Giuseppe de Chiara)

Fantastic Eyjafjallajokull photo album

The Big Picture has a big album of fantastic photos of the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano.  Some of the best are the series showing lightning in the ash plume.  The attached is small version of one of the shots by Olivier Vandeginste.

Landshark 3.0 (quick update)

After the drowning of version 2.0, I have plans for the next-gen Landshark. I'll post photos of the major components later. But they will be:

• The fin can is intact and will be reused. I managed to beat out the stuck motor.  Paper labels suck.  Once I got it out, I inserted a RMS case to make sure the mount stated round while it dried. I reinforced the out-of-round decorative tubes with piece of Semroc dummy 18mm motors and dowels.
• Another 3" mailing tube ~40" long.  With the fins on the motor mount, I'll have to slot the tube to the end.  
• I'm changing the nose to give it a new look.  I have a stubby 3" cone that I made with a found plastic doohickey. I guess you'd call it a truncated oval.  I'm going to drill the tip out for a piece of 29mm tube and add a conical PML resin cone.  This should give it a sorta ram-jet look.  I may add a payload section to lengthen the rocket but will wait to see what it looks like with the short nose.  This may also be needed for stability.

I don't know if I'll take a photo now.  Here's what it should basically look like:

Red Glare 8 videos

The official and ROCKETS Magazine albums aren't up yet but this TRF thread (starting around post #103) is being populated with photographic evidence of the event.  I won't steal the photos, but once embed code is offered...

New X-37B OTV details and graphic

Clark Lindsey gives latest scoop on the upcoming X-37B flight.  The update is short so I quoted the whole thing.  And swiped the new NASA/ULA graphic.

Leonard David reports again on the X-37B/OTV vehicle: Some Details of Secretive X-37B Space Plane Revealed - SPACE.com. See the also the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle - Graphic.

The OTV launch is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 21st. However, there is currently a 40% chance that clouds will delay the flight: Atlas Launch Report | Mission Status Center - Spaceflight Now.

Clark's post also links to info on the Falcon HTV-2.

DARPA's Falcon HTV-2 to go hypersonic on April 20th

Parabolic Arc reports that the Falcon HTV-2 will launch from Vandenburg atop a Minotaur Lite rocket. If successful, it will transverse about 4,100 nautical miles of the Pacific in less than 30 minutes before splashdown. The vehicle is expected to break Mach-20!

Launch Report 2010-4 (Red Glare 8)

Location: Higgs Farm, Price, MD (MDRA)
Weather:  high 50's; partly cloudy; very windy and chilly
Total flights: Today - 2; YTD - 21
Total motors: Today - 2; YTD - 21

As usual, I planned to only attend one of the three launch days.  As it turned out, fate picked Saturday for me.  I'll first point out that a bad day on the field is better than a good day doing yard work! That being said, it was a pretty crappy day, starting with the big pile of manure in the parking area:

The winds were pretty bad and they got stronger as the day progressed.  By 4 PM I was glad that I'd brought ear muffs.  As you read my flight reports, you'll see I only had 2 unsuccessful flights :(    The good news is saw a bunch of cool flights and some awesome rockets.  Here are the three highlights:

1. Burl Finkelstein's "Big V2" on a central N and 2 O's.  This alone made the trip worth it.  You can find a few photos here and a (poor) video here.
2. Neil Brown's "Dinosaurs Rocket-et Extreme" - 20' tall and weighing in at 385 lbs - flew on an N4000 and 3 outboard K830, Spitfires.  You can find a photo here and a video here.
3. Steve Eves had his 1/9-scale Saturn 1B on display.  It should fly later this year along with another 1/10-scale version.  See the four photos here.

My Flights:

1. Hat of Death on a Vulcan G motor of unknown designation - It chuffed its way off the rod and, once the motor came up to pressure, spun wildly.  It has a few additional battle scars.
2. Landshark 2.0 on a G75-7 Metalstorm - Nice boost although the sparks weren't as noticeable as on the promo videos.  Maybe that was due to the wind?  Ejection was a second or two late, but that was expected.  Unfortunately, the Landshark decided to try to return to the sea.  It was too water logged and didn't survive.  I'll reuse the fins and maybe then entire motor mount if I can ever get the paper label-wrapped motor out..  Before and after photos photos here. And a bad video.

Balsa X-37B in the (roach) works

It looks like sandman, owner, operator and head wood turner over at Roachwerks/Excelsior Rocketry is working on a balsa X-37B 'nosecone'.  Attached is a photo of an early prototype.

FanWing UAV

Clark Lindsey reports on the novel FanWing flight technology.  Although they have been mostly focusing on UAV's, Clark notes that they have some concepts for manned vehicles on their news page.

Much more discussion about our new space policy

Res Communis has another lengthy list of Resources on the President's Space Exploration Strategy.

X-37B new post

Here's a shot of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle being loaded into a 5-meter fairing in preparation for its launch later this month. (hat tip to the Bayourat)

X-37B repost

Journeys to the ISS

That's the theme of this issue of Boston.com's The Big Picture. TBP is always worth look. I snatched a copy of of my fav.

"Space Shuttle Discovery is seen streaking into space (to the left) as a plume of smoke floats through the air after it blasted off from launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center on April 5, 2010, in Cape Canaveral, Florida." (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The quest for 300 psi

George Katz updates us on his experiments with fiberglass-reinforced PET bottles.  It will be cool to see what his big and complex water rockets can do when pressurized to 300 psi. He recently reported a personal record of 810' on his clustered and staged Acceleron V at a mere 120 psi.  He estimates that 30 of the extra psi is needed just to compensate for the weight of the reinforcement.  As usual, he provides data and photos.  And warnings about testing at those pressures - he tests inside an old scuba tank (see attached photo)!

On another note, he has acquired a LOC/Precision Weasel 'pyro rocket'....

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will. -- Yoda

The new 'vision'

There's lotsa talk on-line about Obama's new space policy, which was formally unveiled in a speech today at KSC.  Here are a few of many stories:

• Obama vows commitment to manned space exploration - Spaceflight Now
• President Obama's space policy address - Clark Lindsey's RLV and Space Transport News (includes more links)
• A Bold Approach for Space Exploration and Discovery - Fact Sheet on the President’s April 15th Address in Florida (.pdf)
• Obama lays out bold and visionary revised space policy - Bad Astronomy
  

Free-range rocket cars = guaranteed landsharks

On-board video shows that, at Rocket Car Day, ya' better know how to dance! I hope the person that got burned is not too bad off. IMO, tethers/guideline would eliminate the dancing but would make for better racing.


Rocket car point of view camera from kazumichi on Vimeo.

Bam! Another Update to EMRR

Nick did a nearly back-to-back update, which includes my slightly modified Semroc Tau Zero.

Paper rocket launch in Baltimore/fire and smoke at Price, MD

Paper Rocket Launcher, originally uploaded by jonlesser.

The Baltimore Node, a collaborative DIY group, will be launching paper rockets at the Mid-Atlantic Mini Maker Faire at Robotfest on April 24th. The public is invited to drop by and launch their own paper missiles. The launcher will be as featured in MAKE Volume 15.

The public an also drop by Red Glare 8 this coming weekend. There is no organized building, but if ya bring 'em, MDRA will launch 'em.

STS-1, April 12, 1981, do you remember where you were?

29 years, I can hardly believe it.  I was in the MCC babysitting some new equipment.  Although it was just shadowing the ops systems, we staffed it before, during, and a short time afterward. That was SOP for ops systems and I suppose if it had hiccuped it would have been useful to see how long it took to resolve the issue.  It didn't hiccup and afterward the powers-that-be filed through to take a peek for themselves. 

X-37B speculation

 

I'm fascinated by the possibilities raised by the X-37B. Space.com has another article reviewing what may be going on with the "Flying Twinkie."  Reusable, hypersonic, launch on demand, insertion to almost any orbit, unpredictable until ground tracks can determine the orbit, flexible mission set, up to 270 days on-orbit.  Sounds cool, hope it works better than expected.

Steamroller, lightsaber, tube and corn cob

Steamroller, lightsaber, tube and corn cob, originally uploaded by Penguin Unearthed.

A nice fleet of odd-roc cars from RCD12. Click through, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Rocket Car Day 12 - "High Doom"

savaged, originally uploaded by agentdeclan.

Every year Australian rocket car enthusiasts meet in the dusty back streets of Sydney for a day of racin', duckin' and dodgin'. This year's race was held today. Or is that yesterday down there? Anyway, you can click through the attached photo to find more. I'll be watching their blog feed and will report interesting videos, photos, and rocket car girls.

Mini-flood of reviews

EMRR's latest update includes three of my reviews:  Hostile Projectiles Delta X-15, Nike Smoker, and the BMS Astron Invader.  That leaves 2 more on the pile.  I'm still never going to catch Chan.

Project Farside reference

R2K dug up an August 1957 Time Magazine article about the project Farside balloon-launched sounding rocket.  Customer: USAF.  Balloon by General Mills.  Rocket by Ford Aeronutronic. Motors by Thiokol.  Launch altitude ~100,000'. Target altitude ~4,000 miles. Ain't the Interweb cool?

More on the Douglas Orion

Scott Lowther provides more details on the Douglas Orion vehicle.  A few quick points:

1. It has a small, curved pusher plate.
2. Fuel is a thick layer of ablative material on the plate vs. an external 'propellant' that is vaporized and impacts the plate.
3. Bombs are not ejected through the plate but rather in radial mechanisms.  Since these can not be in line of sight of the explosions, the bombs need active guidance.

I'm not a nuclear physicist or a real rocket scientist, but I agree with Scott that this does not sound like a good design.  That assumes nuclear pulse propulsion could ever have been feasible.

A magical Space Shuttle launch over the Disney Castle

Physics Fairies, originally uploaded by jurvetson.

Early morning photo by Tinkerbell (a Disneyworld employee), posted by Juvetson with permission. Shared from Flickr based on the indicated CC license.

(previously untitled {original} Project Orion post)

Scott Lowther has come up with another gem - a Douglas Aircraft concept that would use a conventional biprop first stage and an Orion nuclear pulse upper stage.  Attached drawing borrowed from Scott's blog.  I'm sure he'll have a higher res version available at some point.

Comments seem to be working, AM issues not resolved

The comments I referred to earlier are still mucked up.  Snippets appeared in the sidebar widget but those few comments are still are not showing on the posts.  As far as I know, these are not from my regular readers so I guess I shouldn't worry.

Meteoroids kill satellites

The author with the Los Alamos
Portable Pulser. (Photo: Chip Simons)

The IEEE Spectrum has an interesting article on the danger that meteoroids pose to satellites and other spacecraft -  Space Invaders: Shooting Stars Can Shoot Down Satellites.   The author, Sigrid Close, is a Stanford professor, asteroid hunter, and TV show host.  She reviews the dangers these objects pose to satellites and chronicles some known and suspected cases of meteoroid damage.  Two interesting notes:

1. Aside from their kinetic dangers, meteoroid impacts also generate electrostatic discharges (ESD's) and electromagnetic pulses (EMP's), which also can disable satellites.
2. She mentions Bill Cooke, who is the lead for the NASA Meteoroid Environments Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center and an avid sport rocketeer!  

Comment problems this AM

If you comment (or have commented) this morning and your submission never shows up, it is not because I am ignoring them.  A couple of comments I've moderated have not been attached to the subject posts but are gone from the moderation page.  Also, one of my responses not only didn't show up on-line but was reported as being in response to some other post.  So maybe the comments aren't gone but are attached in the wrong place?  I don't know.  Thus far, no comments made this morning are showing up on the comments widget in the sidebar.  We'll see how this sorts out through the day.

Added tips page

I added a tip page (see tab under the banner).  These mostly came from my original web page.  If I post any new tips I'll also add them to the dedicated page.  In addition, I'm going to add links to other tips/hints resources.  So far, I only have two.  I know there are more out there but I'm drawing a blank.  If you know of any, please comment.

Fixit tips

I haven't tried to keep a list of the rocketry tips that I use. Maybe I should go the Wayback Machine and see if I can find my old web site's tips pages?

Anyway, here are a couple of repair tips. Two old and one new.

1.  To replace a broken shock cord, you can install a Kevlar leader along the side of a launch lug as follows:
1. Punch two small holes, one on either end of the lug in the fillet area.
2. Feed the Kevlar twine into the back hole and fish the end out.
3. Tie a double knot and pull the knot against the hole.
4. Feed the loose end through the upper hole and fish it back out.
5. Keeping the line taut, apply a fillet with 5-minute epoxy, and work a bit into the rear hole where the knot is.
6. If not exclusively using the Kevlar as a shock tether, you can attach some of your favorite sproingy material.
2. Add a couple of folds of tape (I prefer duct tape) at the point where the Kevlar line touches the body tube.  This will reduce Kevlar-induced zippers.
3. Now for the new one.  I found several of my Nomex 'chute protectors were tearing in the middle.  Holes will allow gas to pass so this is not good.  I found duct tape works as a decent patch material.  It adhered well and was still in place after the flight.  I don't know low long it will last, but it's cheap and easy to replace if it falls off. 

The future of late night TV

I think Geoff Peterson terminates his competition.

"Open Graves, Open Minds"

The vampire is my favorite horror theme, and now io9 reports that the University of Hertfordshire in England will be offering an MA in Vampire Literature. My title comes from the their title for a coming conference. Are there really enough people in this field to write advanced-degree-class papers to fill a 2 day conference?  One wouldn't want the event to suck.

ROMBUS III nuclear rocket

Scott Lowther provides a preview of his Aerospace Projects Review V2N6, which will feature the Douglas ROMBUS/ICARUS/Ithacus/Pegasus.  The linked post includes a low res, but detailed, view of the ROMBUS III nuclear Mars rocket.  The Douglas Aircraft Co.'s proposed "Reusable Orbital Module-Booster & Utility Shuttle" (ROMBUS) concept was a heavy lift VTVL SSTO RLV follow-on to Apollo. The 'III' series would have had four gas-core nuclear rocket engines in its upper stage and a Mars-bound payload equipped with gas-core and solid-core nukes, and another  nuclear reactor for power.  More on ROMBUS can be found on Encyclopedia Astronautica, which is the source of the simplified diagram I've attached.

Great (rocket) balls of fire

Here's old Wired article on a novel use for rocket fuel: clearing WMD bunkers (or any other enclosed area that you want to incinerate).  The rocket balls are/would be hollow spheres, made of rubberized rocket fuel.  When ignited, they randomly fly around spreading fire and destruction along the way.  Sounds like some actual rockets I've seen :D
 

Cool label, so-so contents

This weekend, I tried some Ed Hardy light beer.  I picked it because of the label and branding.  Made in Mexico.  Typical light beer.  Not bad, but typical.  Probably was overpriced but I didn't pay attention.  Unless you want the label to decorate your rocket, I'd recommend buying any mainstream light beer (Coors, Miller, Amstel) instead.

Unreasonable HPR

Paul Breed, after having to cut up and scrap his landers, has decided to get certified on, gasp, a garden variety high power sport rocket kit.  He needs the certs to he can buy motors for some undisclosed project.  He has generally eschewed sport rocketry but, has plans to move on to 'regular rockets' from his previous hovering landers.  I guess his plans are not that undisclosed, but I didn't think he'd need/want commercial motors.  Personally, I think it makes sense to do some HPR before building a liquid-powered rocket.  Anyway, I hope he has fun along the way!

And, how can not like a guy who HATES PAINTING?

Everyone needs a robot skeleton sidekick

Tonight, along with all the other hobos, cheeky monkeys, and members of his robot skeleton army, I be watching the debut of Graig Ferguson's robot skeleton sidekick, aka Geoff Peterson.  Geoff was built by Mythbuster Grant Imahara and until now has been top secret (well, at least a little bit).  I don't know if this was being planned before Craig even mentioned the idea of a robot skeleton sidekick on-air, but I tweeted about it when he first mentioned it (patting self on back).  Windows 7 wasn't my idea, but Geof was (well, at least a little bit).

Plans, as leaked on Pop Mech.

Two space launches

Expedition 23 Soyuz, April 2nd. This video has a really cool perspective. (via the Bayourat)



And, this morning's pre-dawn launch of the Shuttle Discovery. (found on Spaceports)



Oh, yeah, there are now a record 4 women in space - on Discovery, former high school teacher Dorothy "Dottie" Metcalf-Lindenburger and robotic arm expert Stephanie Wilson and Japanese Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki and, via the Soyuz, chemist/astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson.

Before Ky Michaelson there was Harry Bull

Sport rocketeers everywhere know that Ky not only builds cool kits, manufactures great recovery components, and hosts a big superbowl party but also has strapped rocket motors to most every kind of land vehicle. But I don't think he was doing so in 1931:

Rocket Driven Ice Sled Speeds Over Lake at 75 M. P. H.

PROPELLED by the fiery explosions of eighteen rockets, a new torpedo shaped ice boat, designed and built by Harry W. Bull, 21-year-old Syracuse University student, proved itself in a recent test an extremely speedy vehicle, capable of acceleration at a rate of 110 feet per second, or about 75 miles per hour—four times faster than that of the average auto.

From Modern Mechanics, June 1931. Read more on Modern Mechanix.

Binder Design Excel - L1 Cert Flight

Binder Design Excel - L1 Cert Flight, originally uploaded by Sascha Grant.

Sascha Grant reports that he just got his TRA Level 1 on a Binder Design Excel. Way to go Sascha!

Didn't find any Easter Eggs, but I did find...

'Flying Jenny' at Cape Canaveral.



And Astronaut/Flight Engineer Tracy Caldwell Dyson suiting up in Baikonur.



In both cases, you can click-through for more info and related photos.

Launch Report 2010-3

Location: Great Meadow, The Plains, VA (NOVAAR)
Weather:  mid 70's; clear to high thin clouds; wind 5 - 10 mph
Total flights: Today - 7; YTD - 19
Total motors: Today - 7; YTD - 19

I was fortunate for both nice weather and the TARC competition.  The latter resulted in two back-to-back launch weekends!

While at Ken Allen's tent, several people returned AT E15's and E30's.  Evidently some batches are CATO'ing in large numbers.  Then I got to witness a couple myself :eek:  I don't know the subject lot(s) but think I'll try mine anyway. I also bought a 2-pack of the new E20's.

Ken should be getting his order of the new Metalstorm motors very soon.  I want to fly a couple at Red Glare.

My Flights:

1. North Coast Archer on an H165-6 - Excellent flight.  The flame seemed redder than normal, and the Redlines are normally very red.
2. North Coast Big Brute on a G38-4 - I couldn't fit my 30ga igniters or even a larger Copperhead so I went with a Copperhead for a 24mm motor.  This motor was an old one given to my by Paul M. so I started worrying about a CATO.  My worries were unwarranted as the flight was perfect.
3. Lime Stiletto on an E9-6 - The RSO rejected the Stiletto for sitting too high on the rod (interference with the large bulbous plastic NC).  It had flown this way several times but I CA'ed the First Fire tube from my Archer's flight onto the rear fins.  Ejection was a couple of seconds late but the flight was good.
4. Semroc V2 on a B6-4 - Nice boost but the Kevlar leader burned through.  Both parts recovered.
5. First Flight Corn Roc on a C6-3 - Nice flight.  People liked this rocket.
6. First Flight Semi Sonic on C6-5 - High flight that landed near the far edge of the field near the entrance.  I picked it up as I left.
7. Semroc LAUNCH Missile on a C6-5 - High flight, not too bad a walk due to a tangled 'chute.

Find more photos like this on Our Planet

Silicon meets AP

A reader just directed me to The Rocket Project. This is a student designed project sponsored by Sony and Intel and supported by Tom Atchinson of the Rocket Mavericks. Launch is scheduled in 9-10 days as of post time.  The web site is a little heavy on the computer hype, but what the hey, the sponsors deserve their due. 

La Mega Bomba - Sledgehammer Fireworks

Check out this crazy YouTube video of people in San Juan de la Vega, Mexico strapping explosive fireworks to sledge hammers and whacking them on an I-beam.  Embedding is disabled. You may want to skip towards the end.  Found via the (un)Make:blog.  More about this on the Living in San Miguel blog here and here.

I have to admit I like things that go boom and as a kid blew up plenty of stuff with firecrackers of various sizes.  However, I don't think I've ever drank enough to try that.

The latent April Fool's Day post

It seems all my cute ideas for April Fools posts only arise when it's not April Fools Day.  That applies to all pranks not just blog posts.  So, I didn't try to pull any.

I had considered the standard "I'm quitting rocketry" post.  Or the "I'm quitting blogging"  post. Or even, "It's April Fools and I'm not quitting blogging"...and then actually quit.  Now you see why I didn't post anything. 

Oh, the good but unrelated news.  I messed up entering stuff into the calendar and it looks like I will be able to attend Red Glare!  And that's no joke!