No progress today, but...

I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day and took time to actually remember.  No rocketry went on here.  Just fajitas, fixin's and family  :)  I was, however, pondering this coming week's activities and thought I'd document where the 12-Pack stands.  Since my last post, I acquired the mailing tube for the body, cut three fins in sort of a Standard ARM motif, cut a special fin alignment jig, and made a foam-filled AquaPod nose cone.  I really would prefer a regular LOC or PML or equivalent cone, but the AquaPod was quick, easy and will do as a stand-in if I don't get around to acquiring a commercial cone.  Next steps:  attach fins to motor mount, screw mount into body (the lower rail button will be one attachment point), install the Kevlar shock cord leader (I'll add a short stuffer tube to strengthen the attachment point).  That's close to it other than paint.

Michaels Crafts run

I wonder if our local Michael's are going to stop carrying C11s and D12s?  Last time I was in G'burg they had none and today the Rockville store had them on clearance.  I wiped out their remaining stock at $6 a pack.  And they took an AC Moore 50% off coupon since the price didn't pop up as a sale.  And they took $3 off one pack because it had been partially opened.   And they gave by 15% off the entire order.  What a deal.  Unless they stop carrying them.

12-Pack motor mount

Forget the 6-pack, make mine a 12-Pack

Epoxy filler is drying, no pictures, feel like making a core dump...

I'm in the process of making a 12 x 18mm rocket that I'm calling the 12-Pack.  I had been eyeballing the 'stiffy' BT-20 tubes over at Uncle Mike's Rocket Shack for some time and when I saw a TRF thread where someone was going to build a clone of the USR Swarm C6-7, the gears started turning.

I bought 6 of the 18" tubes along with some other stuff and should point out that UMRS shipped the order the same day that it was placed and it arrived in good shape 3 days later.

The mount is constructed as follows.  The tubes were quickly hacked in half.  I wasn't even that precise since the rough ends would be hidden in a 3" body tube anyway. I then glued them together in one set of four, one set of two and two sets of three.  Once the glue had begun to set, these sub-assemblies were stacked and glued together.  This process was a tale of disaster and redemption.  When I glued the four sets of tubes together, the Titebond wood glue wasn't fully set.  The glue was set enough to hold them together and, when the group of 12 tubes was stacked on their flush ends, they seemed to be secure.  After several hours, I shuffled back down to the Dungeon and, to my horror, about half of the tubes were totally misshapen.  I assume that once the glue shrunk, it pulled and twisted on the tubes, but not enough to separate them.  I shoved motors in both ends of all the tubes and ran masking tape tightly around their circumference.  The next morning, the tape and motors were removed and it looks like I found the mistake just in the nick of time.  Whew! One tube looks a little squirrely but a motor fits nicely.  Did I say 'whew'?

So, I decided to mount the tube assembly in a 3" coupler.  I figured this would make plugging the outer tubes and the gaps between all of them easier and I could then easily slide it into the main body.  To allow the tube cluster to fit, I had to trim about 1/8" off 6 tubes where they abut the coupler.  This was easy with a diamond cut-off wheel on my Dremel clone.  To plug the outer 9 tubes, I cut plugs from corrugated cardboard, coated them with wood glue and then glued them in.  I mixed half an ounce of epoxy filler to cap the cardboard plugs and fill all the gaps.

The rocket will have three fins nestled in the joints between tubes.  The shock cord will be through the wall.  And, that's as far as I've gotten.  Will it look like a 'normal' rocket or be an odd-roc? I don't know...

NASA tests "sub-scale" SRM

Yesterday, NASA Marshall successfully static tested a "sub-scale", 24-inch-diameter, 109-inch-long motor. The propellant and case was borrowed from space shuttle test equipment but the nozzle was a new design based on the Ares I first-stage development motor. You know you're having fun when your sub-scale motor is 24" in diameter.

Jack Kennedy posted the attached schedule, which is extracted from a presentation at NASA's Exploration Enterprise Workshop this past weekend in Galveston, TX.  NASA's related website provides .pdf's of the workshop presentations.  These plans are obviously just preliminary and are in flux, but I guess it shows where their current thinking sits.  No NASA heavy lift capability until after 2016?  Egads, now THAT's what I call a gap!  SpaceX, your Falcon-9 damned well better work. ('scuse my language)

Xombie air restart

There have been numerous reports/posts about Masten's first in-flight restart of their Xombie vehicle's engine.  However, the latest video really caught my eye.  Beautiful.  (as seen on Clark Lindsey's RLV blog)

X-51A video!

Courtesy of the kind folks at the Edwards AFB:

Air Command Water Rocket Labs is open for business

George Katz just opened an extension to his Air Command site - Water Rocket Labs.  You can search Air Command's Data, do unit conversions, submit your data, and request experiments.  Read George's introduction over on his blog.

Water rocket boost gliders

Here's an album of the first water rocket gliders that I've seen.

The X-51A's flight earned a grade of "a solid B" (updated already)

AvWeek is reporting that the flight of the X-51A Waverider was mostly successful. (via Clark Lindsey)

The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne hydrocarbon-fueled, fuel-cooled scramjet engine was planned to run for 300 seconds, accelerating the X-51A from about Mach 4.5 to beyond Mach 6. The actual duration of the flight and maximum Mach number achieved have not yet been released. The vehicle splashed down in the Pacific.

If the AFRL spokesesman said the flight earned a 'B", then the flight goals must not have been fully met. An in-flight video or even a photo would be awesome.

(Update) I probably should look at everything in my reader before I post!  FlightGlobal reports that the X-51A attained Mach 5 with a scramjet burn of 140 seconds.  At 140 seconds, some anomalies were noticed and shortly thereafter telemetry dropped out.  Per their range safety rules, controllers issued a destruct command when the outage reached 3 seconds.

FLIGHT INTO HISTORY - The Story Of The X15 Ship #3

This was just received from a reader:

The display will include a private collection of artifacts, images and interesting relics relating to this little known chapter in aerospace history and Major Michael J. Adams.

Exhibit opens Memorial Day May 31st

A field trip to the crash site monument will depart from the Museum at 11:00am

The Rand Desert Museum
161 Butte Ave. Randsburg, CA 93554
www.randdesertmuseum.com

The Wallops Flight Facility's 65th Anniversary Open House

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is celebrating its 65th Anniversary with a public open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, June 5, 2010. Exhibits, tours and demonstrations will be conducted during the event highlighting the many research activities by NASA at Wallops. In addition, exhibits will also be hosted by other government agencies, academia and industry that conduct operations at the Facility. Food and refreshments are available, as are activities for younger explorers. Also, military aircraft, including the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, that are performing in the Ocean City Air Show will be departing and arriving from Wallops throughout the afternoon. Gates will be opening at 9:30 a.m.

Jack Kennedy points out some of the event details.  You will be able to tour the sounding rocket payload facility, engineering and scientific balloon labs and the range control center.  The Orbital Sciences Corporation's Cygnus spacecraft will be also be there.  The Cygnus is intended to carry supplies to the International Space Station from the colocated Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

Atlantis returns!

Via SpaceflightNow, some stats:

Atlantis' rich history includes 294 days in space, 4,648 orbits and 120 million miles during 32 flights. On this 12-day mission alone, Atlantis traveled 186 orbits of the planet and 4,879,978 miles.

originally uploaded by Flying Jenny.

X-51A Waverider flight scheduled....today....again

ParabolicArc notes that the X-51A flight was delayed a day.

NAR/TRA recover some legal fees

Quoted in its entirety.  Highlights added by me.

On May 24, 2010 we agreed to a settlement with the Department of Justice (DoJ) attorneys representing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) on the issue of recovery of legal fees. This fee recovery was our right under the Equal Access to Justice Act, because this federal agency was found by the court to have been "arbitrary and capricious" in the regulatory actions on ammonium perchlorate composite propellant that we had successfully argued for the court to overturn. The amount of fee recovery that we had sought under the limitations of the court decision was $81,498. The DoJ attorneys planned to challenge this amount in detail, which would have forced us into a series of cross-filings and potentially a court hearing, further increasing our legal expenses and postponing an end to this ten-year legal struggle. To avoid this and to bring a prompt end to this issue we have agreed to settle for a recovery of $70,000, which will result in a net of approximately $64,000 after final legal expenses are paid. One half of this amount will go to NAR and one-half to TRA. This represents about ten percent of the amount of your money that we actually spent on winning this case, but getting any fee recovery in a case like this is vindication that the party that defeated the federal government's position was absolutely in the right. We were right, BATFE was wrong, and now it's over.

We extend our thanks to all of the members of our two organizations who have supported us financially and emotionally throughout this ten-year battle to defend our rights and to defeat BATFE's unnecessary and unjustified regulation of APCP as an "explosive" requiring federal licensing to possess or use and requiring storage in high-security magazines. Because of your steadfast support we can continue our safe and responsible pursuit of our hobby without the wholly unjustified added burden that BATFE had sought to impose. It is very rare for any group or individual to completely defeat a federal agency's attempt to impose a regulation. We did so through sound technical arguments that many of you helped formulate; through brilliant legal representation by Marty Malsch, John Lawrence, and the late Joe Egan; and through a completely unified cooperative effort between the nation's two rocketry organizations. Be proud of what we have accomplished, and fly safely and responsibly with the freedom that we have earned.

Trip Barber, NAR President
Ken Good, TRA President

RG at TARC2010-2

TARC2010-2, originally uploaded by cpbeyers.

X-37B tracking

A few days ago, I saw the first reports that amateur sat-watchers were zeroing in on the X-37B as it orbited the Earth.  Spaceweather posted the attached photo, taken on Sunday night by Gary O. from his home in Fort Davis, Texas.  Very cool.  If you aren't an amateur astronomer, you can always turn your iPhone into a tracker or check Spaceweather's Simple Satellite Tracker for X-37B flyby times.

Tiny Tim Smoke

Here's the painted Tiny Tim Smoke.  I used black Rustoleum with silver vinyl trim. Unfortunately, my rocket-photography-fu is weak and the glare washed out the detail in the photo :shrug:

PMRRF update

The Paul Miller Recycled Rocket Fleet is complete...at least for the time being.  I inspected, inventoried, and scavenged the entire box.  There are lots of parts for future builds and there are even a couple of flyable 18mm and 13mm rockets, but they have no immediate interest to me.  The only planned future build is resurrecting his AeroTech Cheetah.  I wonder if Kenny has any 1.9" tubes? 

X-51A Waverider flight scheduled ....today

Clark Lindsey reminds us that the X-51A is scheduled to fly today. It will be dropped from a B-52 at 50k', boosted by a solid rocket to Mach 4.5, and then will accelerate to Mach 6 under scramjet power.  It is slated to maintain this velocity for 5 minutes. This is not the fastest scramjet flight to date, but it is the longest burn and will get there using hydrocarbons vs. LOX.

My initial PMFL line up (updated)

With the announcement of the Paul Miller Farewell Launch at the next MDRA launch on June 26th, I wanted to grab a quick photo of my Paul Miller Recycled Fleet. Left-to-right and back-to-front:

• The 3 x 18mm Fatboy, complete with a shiny new MDRA logo.  It needs some yellow touch-up paint but is ready to fly.
• The Estes Quasar.
• This name of this rocket is driving me nuts.  Thanks to tbzep on YORF, I learned that this is a MRC IronMan Heavy Lift launch Vehicle. The 24mm motor mount is in but the new mis-matched gold pod is only dry fit.  Still, it will be good to go (and could be by tomorrow).
• Here's a new rebuild that I haven't mentioned.  I got a burned out (literally) Tiny Tim booster from a WAC Corporal kit that met its demise at NARAM-47 on a C11-0. The top  including the inter-stage was fried and there was no motor mount.  I sanded and trimmed the centering rings so I could get a new 24mm motor tube in.  I also found that, once I trimmed some damage, a Quest T-35 tube fits over the body like a glove.  Finally, I also have one more Nike Smoke cone, and the result will be the Tiny Tim Smoke. The parts are only dry fit but the build should be fast.
• Finally, you can see the 18mm Estes Javelin.

Having fun with a big box-o-rockets

Earlier, I mentioned that I won a big box of dead rockets at Paul's party.  This reminded me of another facet of my obsession - rebuilding.  I (almost) always fix, rebuild or in extreme cases scavenge parts from those less than perfect (but often cool) flights.  And those I haven't are in my junk bin for future scavenging.  So, today I took my latest loot down into the Dungeon and began work.

First, I found a handful of unattached nose coned from BT-5 to BT-55.  There were also two nice 18" nylon 'chutes, compete with snap swivels.  These were assimilated into the collective.

Paul's 3 x 18mm FatBoy, whose 'tick marks' indicate 33 flights, had plenty of battle scars including a newly broken fin and a separated shock cord.  I'm fixing the fin with CA and epoxy filler.  I also added about 8" of Kevlar through the body wall.  Conveniently, there was a spot that was previously internally reinforced with an add-on shock cord attachment point.  Some sanding and touch painting and it will be ready for flight # 34.

There's a tall-ish BT-70 (my guess without measuring) with an interesting double angled cone, plastic/decorative strap on boosters (one of which is missing), and nice wraps to make it look like a space booster. I've seen it before but don't remember the name.   It has a baffle and the fins are intact but the motor mount is gone.  So, I cut some custom rings to install a 24mm mount and found a plastic doohicky to replace the missing booster.  This should be ready to fly in a day or so.

I found several models that are flyable as is, including:

• Javelin - 18mm, streamer, unknown manufacturer.
• Estes Quasar - 18mm, 'chute, plastic fin can.

Suitable nicknames and photos will ensue.  I smell a Paul Miller Memorial Launch in June.

Some day, I will build a water rocket launcher

And when I do, Air Command will show me how.  Never thought of the check valve, have to find one of them.  Wonder of Harbor Freight has 'em in their large area dedicated to air tools?

Paul is gone, but won't be forgotten

Gone to Aridzone, that is.  Yesterday, Warthog and Mrs. W. hosted a nice going away party for our rocket buddy, Paul.  They covered all the food groups: grilled meat, BBQ, sausage (substitutes for the the bacon group), and beer.  Even better than a build session.

Oh yeah, Warthog also shared his memories of Paul, who escaped without being roasted as much as dinner. Paul even donated a bunch of rocket stuff to the attendees, of which I got an ammo box and a huge box of damaged rockets that will be a treasure trove of parts.  I will rebuild his cluster Fatboy and fly it at the next launch.

Paul was a great rocket buddy and will be missed.  He was always good for a story or some help or a story that helped.  He still will be, just not at NARHAMS or MDRA.   Here they are posing with Paul's specialty -  the V-2 (these are stand-ins, his are all packed).  Adios compadre!

(Yeah, not a build session but it's the closest tag I had.)

A week after the launch...

True Blood and the Delta X-15 have been treated with CA and touch painted.  The Wedgie's streamer has been trimmed and reattached. And, the Helix 29 has a brand new balance beam.  Thus, all evidence of last week's launch has been erased from the Dungeon.  At least if you don't look carefully.

Today, I placed my first order with Uncle Mike's Rocket Shack.  Less than an hour after the 'send' button was pushed, I got notification the order was shipped.  This probably only means the shipping order was placed, but that's pretty good any way you cut it.  I hope the actual shipping is this timely.  I ordered a bunch of 18mm 'tough tubes' for a big cluster project and some BT-101 paraphernalia so I can finally use my tubes.  Time to fire-up RockSim.

On-line book - Rockets and Spacecraft Propulsion

This time, I'm playing around with on-line publication site Scribd.  These sites seem to have some stuff I'll find interesting but there is so much junk there that you have to do some digging.  Then, I find looking at a 400pp book online pretty painful. YMMV.

Rocket and Spacecraft Propulsion

Video of a nice RC Shuttle boost glider

Shuttle Returns to the 2008 Circus!

EMRR update, and the Raise

EMRR's latest update includes my opinion of the Odd'l Rockets Raise.

New issue of Rice magazine on issuu

I'm mostly just posting this to explore what the issuu online publication site has to offer. The articles probably of most interest to my readers would be: Year of Nano, Star Power, Nanodragsters Hit the Street, and Collision Point (about the LHC).

Open publication - Free publishing - More college

Atlantis, ISS, the Sun

Amazing photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis and International Space Station taken on May 16, 2010 from Madrid, Spain. Full Story. Credit: Thierry Legault

Bang - CATO in Laos

Bang, originally uploaded by Damien @ Flickr.

Click through to find more photos of the rocket festival in Laos. Big BP rockets are cool...and way cool when they do this.

Some rocketeers will go to extremes to recover their rockets

...photo embellishment by skycopp ;)

New idea of what to do with one or more of the retired Shuttles

The nation's museums won't like this (not to mention NASA or other space advocates with a set agenda burned into their mind), but Richard Godwin and Dennis Wingo (whoever these guys are) think parking one or more of them in orbit might be the way to go.  They provide a rationale for doing so and address the first level of concerns that would be raised.  I really haven't mulled this over much and have to admit it made me do a Spock eyebrow raise.  But, hey, most ideas conceived out of the proverbial box sound goofy on first glance.  Worth a read even if it is fantasy.

Random Interweb stuff

I was freaked out by the announcement of the plans to sell EMRR so I saved the shtml pages for all my reviews.  This grabs the text and thumbnail images but not the linked larger versions.  This is OK because I should have them somewhere.  I also downloaded the delimited text file of all my flight logs and imported it into OpenOffice.  I'll continue using EMRR (I just submitted three new reviews) but will try to keep up with my local backups and will grab the logs file when the hammer falls.  I'm hoping someone picks it up and keeps the data, but ya' never know. 

I think in the spirit of internet abbreviation and shorthand (LOL), that text smilies should be considered punctuation:  :) looks better than :). or :)!

I wish Blogger supported graphical smilies.

I wonder why a spammer would think they could sell shoes via comments to my blog.

I killed my GoogleDocs comments form.  Someone actually used it and had forgot to check it.

The first RATTworks Tribrid motors have been certified by Tripoli

As seen on Rocketry Planet, it appears that Tripoli Motor Testing (TMT) has certified two RATTworks Tribrids: a 1861K350TR-P (45% K) and a 2170K600TR-P (70% K motor).  For those who don't know what a Tribrid is, it a hybrid hybrid/liquid motor (at least I think the latter describes it).  That is, they use Nitrous Oxide as an oxidizer and both solid ABS grains and liquid Alcohol as fuels. RATTworks has been working on them for some time and IIRC they have flown at TRA Research events.  This is cool but is sure to result in discussions regarding safety and fire codes.  It will also to see if the NAR accepts this certification.

Unreasonable Rocket 3-D printing

 
Paul Breed has been working on an engine design that he can have 3-D printed.  I borrowed the attached image from his latest blog post on this project.  He had a plastic version for show-and-tell but when he got the metal version, some of the internal features (cooling ports) were plugged.  He has tweaked his design to facilitate the printing/manufacturing process.

And to think my previous post was about my problems using a low end tool to build non-functional models of toy rockets. :rolleyes:

Making 3-D models of your rockets

(If you know how to use 3-D modeling tools, you can hit your 'back' button now.)

That is the subject of Issue 261 of the Apogee Newsletter (find it here). In this issue, Tim walks you through the steps to draw a 3-D rocket model in Google Sketchup.  At the moment, RockSim 9 is nicely handling all my 3-D rocket drawing for me.  However, there have been times when I wanted to draw a 3-D model in Sketchup just for the sake of doing so.  It turns out I don't find 3-D drawing tools very intuitive and generally don't spend much time on the instructions or tutorials.  Thus, I have muddled around and expended tons of effort to get a poor result.  Next time I get the urge, I'll use this newsletter to get a jump start.

Harbor Freight raid

I just returned from Harbor Freight, picking up my free flashlight and other boring stuff.  With the departure of my neighbor and his pinch point bar, I've been wanting one of my own.  I borrowed his every year for over 20 years.  But, they can cost up to $75 dollars at places like home depot.  HF's 60"/18lb bar was on sale for $21 and change and we had a 20% coupon on top of that.  What a deal.  Now I'm set to dig, chop and pry for the next 20 years!

Another new rocket app - a microrocket equipped microbot

This Israeli-built Pincher 'microbot' is equipped with dozens of 8" long rockets capable of destroying roadside bombs. The rockets have “pyrophoric" warheads that combust after penetrating their target.  (via the Danger Room)

P.S. - These would be a good subject for a full-scale model.

The weirdest use for a rocket motor, evah

The New Scientist reports that researchers at Vanderbilt U. have developed a drug delivery system based on a small solid rocket motor.  The motor activates a piston that releases the drugs from their capsule.  It consists of a MEMS microigniter, diazodintrophenol (DDNP) pyrogen and black powder propellant.

Air Command hosting change and a general lament on linking

Today, George Katz announced that his main Air Command website was re-hosted and now has its own domain.  I updated my links list in the sidebar but, as usual, I won't update individual posts.  The underlying structure will remain the same, so you can merely replace  http://home.people.net.au/~aircommand with http://www.AirCommandRockets.com.

Unfortunately, this will not be known to the casual visitor here.  I use a lot of links and this will not be the first regularly linked site that has changed.  It happened to the Apogee newsletters and EMRR among others.  It would be cool to have a Blogger tool that managed links so this change could be automated.  I'm pretty sure there are tools that can do this for 'regular' web sites, but even if I knew how to do this, you just don't have enough access within Blogger.  Dead links are a problem everywhere, I reckon.

LockMart Samari monocopter update

Dave at Creamy Robot Goodness provides a first hand update on the progress of Lockheed Martin's Samari monocopter UAV and points to an AvWeek article.  He also brings video evidence...the first video below  is of a newer and slightly smaller version and the second is of the original. 

EMRR is for sale :eek:

Nick just announced (well, earlier today) his intent to sell EMRR.  I find this sad but understand why he wants to do this.  His efforts have provided me a useful tool, countless hours of enjoyment, and plenty of goodies along the way. He has paid forward more than any rocketeer can be expected to and I wish him well in all his future endeavors.  I'll continue to support the site as best I can until he hands over the keys!

Launch Report 2010-5

Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD (MDRA ESL-144)
Weather: sunny, high 70's, windy
Total flights: Today - 12; YTD - 33
Total motors: Today - 12; YTD - 33

The day started badly - the Beltway was backed up shortly after I got on.  It cleared but then got bad again near Rte50 due to the Joint  Forces Open House and Airshow at Andrews.  Then the commute got better - once again there were only 4 cars ahead of me on the Bay Bridge toll booths. Then the day got worse - it was windy with the vector pointed right at the closest stand of trees.  But the day turned out very well.  Except for the wind, the weather was perfect and I had enough small (read that low-flier), odd and small/odd rockets to fill in until the wind started to break late in the day.  It eventually got a bit milder and slightly vectored out into the long field.  GREAT DAY!

My Flights (see embedded photos and video):

1. Helix-29 on a G10 - This was a collectible AT motor circa 1986 or so. Low thrust motors in monocopters and wind don't mix but I was tired of scrubbing the flight.  Well, it started up, tilted into the wind, and hit the dirt. D'OH!  But wait!  It once again takes off and has a nice flight.  I wouldn't have chosen this flight profile but everyone agreed that it was WAY COOL.  And it was a G10 not a mislabeled F10 or anything.  I estimate over a 10 second burn time.  One leg of the balance beam broke off but it flew well anyway.  A bit of surgery and I think the Helix will once again be flight worthy.  I embedded the video below but you really can't see much. 
2. Hat of Death on a G75MS - After a couple of unsuccessful flights, the Hat had another sky-writing episode.  :eek:  It was very sparky and kinda cool anyway. I think this motor has one thing in common with the failed G20 flight - both motors are quite long.  It's flown on numerous G's including a G80, a G64 reload and a G77 SU.  These are pretty long so maybe it's a combo of the motor and the wind (?)
3. Hat of Death on an E9-P -  I had to let it redeem itself, and it did!
4. Hostile Projectiles Delta X-15 on a E20-4 - It took off like a bat but ejection was very early.  My tape zipper protector did its job but the front BT is crunched.  Not hard to fix.
5. Landshark 3.0 "True Blood" on a G64-6 - Nice boost, closer to the original -10 than a drilled -6.  Needs paint touch up but there was no real damage.  People seem to like it's dripping blood nose cone.
6. Whirlygig-24 on an E15 -Nice flight but short.
7. Odd'l Wedgie on a QC6-3 - It weather cocked severely a lot but the flight was good nevertheless.  The only 'damage' was the tip of one of the skin panels peeled up.  Fixed with some cellophane tape.
8. Odd'l Wedgie on an QB6-4 - The wind had begun dropping and the boost was straighter. The rocket held up fine but the crepe streamer was damaged.
9. Odd'l Birdie on an A10-P - Nice flight!  I like this better than my other mini-motor saucers and saucer-like objects. 
10. Odd'l Birdie on an A3-4 - Another good one.  And no walking.
11. Mini V-2 on an A10-3 - Nice straight flight despite the wind and close-in recovery via streamer.
12. MicroMaxx Saucer of 'Roids on a QC6-5 - Nice flight.

Find more photos like this on Our Planet


Find more videos like this on Our Planet

If you're going to play Farmville, you have to follow the rules

These are the rules for the Central Sod variety of Farmville.  Weather tomorrow should be warm and clear but a bit windy.

NASA Earth Observatory site

NASA's Earth Observatory site also features images of Eyjafjallajökull. It looks like it has a lot of other cool stuff too, but I haven't explored it yet.

Live volcano-cam

There are two live cameras pointed at Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano. One is standard/visual and one is apparently a FLIR.

Great Orion Pad Abort-1 video

Finally! Click through to Vimeo and watch full-screen.


Orion Pad Abort 1 Video Highlights from Space City Films on Vimeo

(found via Wayne Hill)

Cruisin'

Click through to see the source...

Tech birthdays: lasers and buckyballs

This year,

The laser is turning 50.  While the theoretical foundations of the laser were first established by Albert Einstein in 1917,  the first functioning ruby laser was demonstrated on May 16, 1960 by Theodore Maiman at the Hughes Research Laboratories. {Wikipedia; ScienceNews - Laser pioneer reflects on making Einstein’s idea real}

and

Nanotech is turning 25.  Twenty-five years after the laser, the buckminsterfullerene, and probably the entire field of nanotech,  was born at Rice University.  For this discovery, Rice's Robert Curl and the late Richard Smalley, with their research colleague Sir Harold Kroto, shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.   {The Year of the Nano; From beams to buckyballs}

Best of the Rocket Girls, Volume 3

It's that time of year...

IMG_7584, originally uploaded by oaklandEarthGirl.

IMG_0132, originally uploaded by Spaceman Spiffy.

Erin with her first rocket - Oh Frabcious Day, originally uploaded by dcrocketeer.

U1088925, originally uploaded by VintageBelle2.

Bill Gates - terraformer (update)

The UK's TimesOnline reports that Bill Gates is funding research into machines that can suck up ten tons of seawater per second and inject it into the atmosphere as microscopic particles. This sun shielding system is supposed to create white clouds to reflect the Sun’s rays.  This is considered relatively benign because no chemicals are involved as in other proposals.  Except for the chemicals naturally in the sea water?  As big as this sounds, I don't know how much water this is relative to what Mother Earth naturally generated by evaporation.  I do wonder, however, about the law of unintended consequences.

NOAA estimates that a 'standard' 1 km³ cumulus cloud weighs around 2.211 billion pounds. That's about 1 million tons, so it will take Bill's system about 100,000 seconds (approximately every 28 hours) to make the equivalent.  The NOAA site also estimates the atmospheric water volume to be 12,900 km³...but this is the liquid water equivalent not the volume of a fluffy cloud!  So, it appears this experiment won't be but a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Modrocs launched from 11K'

JP Aerospace posted the following video which shows what appears to be model rockets launched from a balloon platform. (via Clark Lindsey)

Landshark 3.0: "True Blood"

OK, I punted on the name. Keeps the 'Landshark' lineage but picks up the bloody nose cone theme.

Friday build progress report

Now, if I just had a 'solo' launch site...T-to-B and L-to-R:

• The tip of the Landshark 3.0. I painted a bit then dribbled some on.
• The Wedgie, inside and out.  The wraps turned out OK despite having to use spray glue. Typically, the wraps get glued to me, not the rocket. Not perfect, but it looks nice enough :)
• The Birdie x 2

Nice photo albums of the Orion Launch Abort-1 flight (updated, again)

Embedding is turned off, so you'll have to go there directly.  These shots were taken overlooking the launch site from the San Augustine Pass.

R2K also found some.

And, for future reference, AvWeek has some too.

X-51A Waverider flight scheduled this month

Looks like the the first flight of the X-51A WaveRider hypersonic scramjet flight test vehicle will occur later this month. (Per the NewScientist).

Pad Abort-1 NASA TV footage

(hat tip to R2K)

Stupid Rocketry Tricks #13

This is less of a obvious goof on my part but still is a tale of rocket construction woes.  Today, I went to apply a clear coat on some printed sheets that would become skins for my Odd'l Wedgie.

Can #1...empty.

Can #2...sprayed for a couple of seconds then clogged.  I tried to get it going but gave up.

Can #3...coated all three sheets.  Took it back into the Dungeon and in spontaneously began spraying on its own.  Pulled the cap and it kept on.  I set it outside and let it empty itself. That is the first time I've had a spray can stick open much less appear to have stopped and then restart.

More shocking footage of Eyjafjalajökull

I previously posted about the electrical shocks (i.e. lightning) generated by Eyjafjalajökull's eruption. The video below clearly shows the physical shock waves emanating from the crater. Simply awesome!

Pad Abort 1 animation and snaps

Here is an animation of today's Orion Launch Abort System test. Probably better than live once the boost has started since it shows the full mission profile. collectSPACE also has some snaps from NASA TV. Clark Lindsey indicates NASA has a video, but the link is missing at post time.

Pad Abort-1 launch deemed a success

Space.com reports that NASA successfully launched the Orion Launch Abort System this morning from White Sands.  The article includes an artist conception of the even and a link to a snap from NASA TV, but I'm waiting for a good video.  Reportedly the system hoisted the dummy Orion capsule to some 6,000 feet and it was recovered around 7,000  feet down range.  The flight events included mid-air reorientation of the capsule, drogue and main deployment.

Nice aviation photo album

Hughes "Falcon" and 2.75 inch "Mighty Mouse" rocket, originally uploaded by aeroman3.

Click through to find the full album. Besides a few rockets, it has the XFY-1 Pogo, F-104 Starfighter, another weird VTOL, a JATO-augmented sea plane...lots of good stuff!

The big Cinco de Mayo post

Ate out for lunch so I'm chugging Yuenglings and chompin' burritos at home. Building Odd'ls and seeing who is going to be voted off....


On May 5, 1862, the Mexican army of Benito Juarez defeated a larger French force at the Battle of Puebla.  The  Mexicans (eventually) kept their freedom and we got an (inherited) holiday.  I generally use it as motivation to eat Mexican food and drink a cerveza even if not on the big day itself. I'm doing both, but not in a fancy schmancy manner.

And io9 reports on a new comic ready-made for Cinco de Mayo - Hellboy in Mexico. Tequila - check.  Luchadores - check.  Vampire fighting luchadores - say what?  Hellboy - now, that is really weird.  Weird, but right up my alley.  Now all I need is the grade 'C' movie adaptation because I don't do comics. (cover art by Richard Corbin)


Have a good one!

Got a package full of Odd'l stuff

Odd'l Rockets, operated by Hans "Chris" Michielssen, is dedicated to unique, if not odd, rockets and rocket-related accessories.  He recently asked if I'd be interested in testing out his newly released kit, the Wedgie.  Well, do pigs fly?  {an obvious oddroc reference} So, today a small box showed up.  Chris also dropped in a Birdie kit and a Raise standoff.  Thanks a bunch, dude!  The Birdie is drying as a I type.  Wedgie to begin soon.

UP video

Video from KOAT-TV

Painting progress

Landshark 3.0 (not renamed, yet) - The tip of the pointy cone is bloody :) The new name will have a vampire theme. Body is primed and has 2 coats of Rustoleum hammered black (as on v2.0).  I'm out of it and am 90% sure that I'll need some more for the final touch-up.

SS-7.5 ICBM - Almost forgot about this project.  It has its final coat of OD and, when dry, will have its clear fins installed.  Still need CCCP stickers.

Chinese space plane?

The Bayourat has a post on what appears to be a Chinese space plane. The story appeared on China Aviation Journal shortly after the launch of our X-37B. It even resembles the X-37B a bit. The source report has been deleted and it's unclear if and when more info will be available.

The Bumper WAC, plus more

Here's another cool post on Modern Mechanix about an article in the November 1950 issue of Modern Mechanics - Rockets on a Timetable.  Via High Power Rocketry via Rocketry Planet.

UP went up

Early reports are that UP Aerospace's 4th Spaceloft XL was launched successfully at ~7AM MDT (9AM EDT). Looks like you can watch the replay, but it is long so I won't embed it here

My crayon fleet

I looked back at the cool crayon rockets in the current Sport Rocketry mag and thought I'd bore you with mine (again).

Massive Gassive - ten 24mm mounts

CrayShipOne - 38mm mount

Standard Cray-ARM - another 38mm mount (actually, the first of the crayon fleet)