Light to zero blogging alert IS CANCELLED

Starting last night, the laptop I use doesn't let me publish.  I tried all the normal stuff but nada.  I, of course, cursed Blogger.  When the problem persisted this morning, I tried another computer...and you can see the results.  I haven't seen any issues with any other sites.  So, I won't be blogging until this is remedied.

Well, it was Blogger.  I had tried clearing cookies this AM but it didn't help.  After I saw the issue on the Blogger help group, I cleared everything and rebooted.  This did the trick (or so it appears). Whew!

Minotaur 1/ORS 1 launch seen in suburban Maryland

The launch was clearly visible from my driveway although it may not have been noticeable to the casual skywatcher. It was still pretty cool. Unfortunately, my photographs didn't do it justice.

Coin-sized spacecraft at MDRA?

Via the club prez.  If you're a member, you can attend.  If not, you can join.  If you join, you can fly rockets.

        On the July 21 club meeting, we will have a guest speaker, Dr. Mason Peck. He will give a presentation on:  The recent STS 134 Space Shuttle mission carried a very tiny payload to the International Space Station: three spacecraft-on-a-chip prototypes called Sprites. They use about 1 square centimeter of solar cells to power a microprocessor and radio that communicate with an inexpensive HAM antenna on earth. The point of this experiment is to demonstrate that one can build a spacecraft the size of a coin, one that might weigh at most 50 mg (about the mass of an aspirin). If the Sprite project is successful, we could see an entirely new generation of spacecraft: trivially cheap to launch into earth orbit, capable of measuring the physics pf large-scale phenomena such as solar storms, and even able to travel to distant locations without propellant. This last feature may be surprising, but it's the result of small-scale physics. Solar pressure--photons from the sun--are enough to push Sprites around the solar system. Sprites can also use the earth's magnetic field for propulsion. But what would really change the game is to shoot these little explorers out of a particle accelerator, giving them a velocity approaching the speed of light. Dr. Peck will describe this project and will bring some hardware to pass around. He is also looking for new ideas: what would be an effective way of getting Sprites into space without resorting to a large launch vehicle?

You can find more about Sprite spacecraft here - includes links to research papers, dang, login required ;(

Minotaur 1 ORS-1 launch is ON

Posted by RCC on 2011-06-29 at 13:54:35 EDT
The countdown has started for the launch today of the Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the ORS-1 satellite. The launch window is 8:28 to 11:28 p.m. The wether is not expected to be an issue for today's launch as it was last night with the huge thnuderstorms that rolled into the area.

webcast

Atmospheric flare from a Minuteman III test launch

Taken from the Subaru telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii:

Atmospheric flare from a minuteman III ICBM missile from Kanoa on Vimeo.

Video report on NASA's air sampling mission over the DC/Baltimore corridor

 

Wildfires near Los Alamos

Credit: AP/SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

This eerie scene of desolation was taken near the Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM, where the first atomic bomb was developed.  Although the wildfires are threatening the facility, officials claim that the buildings that hold sensitive or hazardous materials can withstand the onslaught.  The fire is also close to a dump site containing ~30,000 55-gallon drums of plutonium-contaminated waste, which are stored above ground under tents.  Lab officials confirmed that drums of waste, which are staged for transportation off-site, do exist but are on a paved area with few surrounding trees.  The cynic in me thinks this is not good.

Never Say Never

That's the probable name for my new project, the concept of which was hatched since my early morning post.  In that post, I poo-poo'ed the idea of using coffee bins for a rocket.  Or, it might be called the Recipe for Disaster.

Take the leftover guts from my destroyed Grand Whazoo.  Mix in the cone from my Birdhouse, V2 (also dead). Start slicing up four, 9" tall Folgers bins.  The only part I haven't figured out is the fins.

The guts of the Grand Whazoo include a 29mm motor/stuffer tube, complete with a lower plywood ring and bolts for motor retention.  This is centered in a 4" parachute tube.  There are three foam rings already installed.  It turns out the lowest foam ring, which was part of the Grand Whazoo's tail cone, fit nicely in a coffee bin.  So, I drilled a hole for the motor mount and retention bolts in the base of one bin.  The assembly is installed from the inside and the retention bolts also are used secure the plywood thrust plate to the base of the plastic bin.

A hole saw and grinder make a 4" hole in another bin.  The upper foam rings are cut to fit in-situ and the 2nd bin is slid down into place.  Since this is going to be an odd, Frankenstein-like kludge, flame-patterned duct tape is used to connect the bins.

The wooden cone from the Birdhouse, V2 has a shoulder to fit the 4" tube and is pretty close to the diameter of the bins. Bingo!

Fins, who knows?  They will be through-the-wall, sandwiched between centering rings, and bonded to the motor tube.  The coffee bin won't provide much support.  Since this is fat, I can keep the flight profile tame so the fins should have no problem in the up direction.  Landing may be another story.

Well, at least this should keep me off the streets.

Stuff that's on my mind - satellites, the asteroid, yada, yada, yada

• Spying on the spies - Astro photographer Thierry Legault has images of the X-37B space plane and the Keyhole and Lacrosse satellites.  Includes background info on each.
• Space.com reports on photos of  asteroid 2011 MD.  I found the photos were underwhelming. 
• Trying to decide if 9" tall, 6" dia. plastic coffee bins are rocket fodder.  Am thinking no since concave indentations will be a pain.  Doable, but I'm lazy.  
• I wish I still received NASA Tech Briefs in print. I guess I'll have to settle for the web site. Exploration pending.
• For the first time I agreed with my wife regarding my rockets - I have too many.  My launch opportunities and budget will never let my fly a significant number of them in a given flying season. So many good ones and so little time.  Regularly having a bunch of new/modified ones doesn't help.  Maybe that's justification for building bigger more expensive ones.  This would slow down the growth.  So, maybe we don't agree after all.
• Ignore my previous rant.  Big rockets aren't in my future.  Sticking with many smaller ones I guess.
• Chris Michielssen posts on Vern Estes' motor patent.
• Sleep.....

U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 Rocket (updated with launch window)

U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 Rocket, a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

"An U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space office’s ORS-1 satellite is scheduled for launch June 28, 2011 from NASA’s Launch Range at the Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia."

Launch Window: June 28- July 10
Time: 8:28 - 11:28 p.m. EDT 

NASA to buzz the Washington/Baltimore corridor (updated)

When I read the headline, I was hoping NASA was going to fly a piggyback Shuttle as it was delivered to its mausoleum museum.  However, the report is that NASA will fly a P-3B turboprop to assess air pollution in the area.  The flights, to occur between June 7th and the end of July, will be as low as 1000 ft.  No matter how much they try to spread the word, I'm sure the 911 call centers will be busier than normal. [via CNN]

See updates here.

Rocket girls #88

Because this is a long one, I'm hiding it below a page break. Remember you can click on embedded Flickr photos to find more from their source. Hovering will show the source too.

V-2 on the USS Midway

USS Midway, a photo by Kemon01 on Flickr.

Liked this shot more...

V-2 on the USS Midway

USS Midway, a photo by Kemon01 on Flickr.

Click thru for a few more shots.

Gustave Eiffel probably would shudder

I completed Phase 1 of the Eiffel Tower, er, build.  I didn't figure a way to implement a recovery system, so there isn't one.  One good thing about MDRA is they are amenable to trying things like this.  Especially in low power.  The pads are far away from the LCO and further from the crowd.  I am not sure how much 'aero braking' will go on with this design.  I haven't even figured out if it will be stable.  That's Phase 2.  The good news is that this won't go high or far.  Depending on the condition of the Sod Farm's field, I may wait until we get back to the plowed fields of Price.

So far, all I did was to drill the base for an 18mm mount and install a lug. With just a tad of grinding on the bottom inside rim of the bird entry way, the lug fits nicely through the opening. I covered the opening with duct tape.  If it flies and recovers, I'll replace that and paint the rocket.

MRBR-1, completed

I was torn between painting it like the image on the tag or some more real-rocket-like scheme.  I didn't do either, but somewhat blended these options.  I didn't really fill anything except the hole where the tag was stapled to the body.  I shot one coat of white primer and sanded off the larger splinters.  I laid on a white gloss base coat and then painted the rest with brush-on Testor's.  I added the red rail buttons from my dead Big Brute and covered the access hole with an MDRA sticker.

Shoot now, focus later

I found out about a revolutionary new type of camera, the Lytro.  This camera, due to be released later this year, differs from typical cameras by capturing the entire light field of a scene. The light field is defined by color, intensity and, most importantly, the vector direction of the light rays reflected by the subject.  The Lytro web site explains in more detail and the attached video depicts how it  will work. [via Mashable]

This is awesomely cool but I have questions. (BTW, I'm totally thinking out loud here.)  What will is cost?  How hard will it be to post-process?  Will the results be as good as those shown?  I can see that, if the entire scene is blurry in the raw image, you won't be able to see if your subject is blinking or making a funny face.  You also won't want to take an hour per photo if you take hundreds of them.  Still, I am excited about this technology, even if the first release has issues.  I could see that much of what initially will be done on your computer after the fact could be migrated to the camera in future versions.

MRBR-1 progress

 When I last reported, I mentioned that I needed parts to continue.  Well, I decided that I could make do with parts and scrap on hand.  I made a motor mount from a tube that covered a grain in an AT RMS load and a couple of rings that I scrounged from my junk box.  This fits into a section of BT-60.  Since it's hidden, I used a slightly crunched tube.  The thick wood in the base acts as the lower support for the motor mount and I used 4 slivers of balsa to support the top of the BT-60 stuffer tube.  Motor retention is a single threaded insert.  The recovery harness includes some recycled Kevlar and a long piece of elastic.  The nose includes a home made coupler and about 2 oz of nose weight.  This gives a margin of 0.85 on a D12.  However, the weight is almost 11 oz.  I didn't want to step up to an E for the first flight so I made an adapter to let me use a 18mm D24.  This will provide plenty of thrust to get it moving.  Here it is with the first coat pf primer.  I'm still kicking around what the paint scheme will be.

DIY rocket powered UAVs...from 1930

Via Modern Mechanix - "How to Experiment with Rocket Ships", Modern Mechanics, February 1930.

Home-made rockets can be easily prepared and attached to almost any model airplane for successful experiments in flying rocket ships.

Michael's run leads to new rocket plans

I had an hour to kill while I was out, so I went to a Michael's.  I found this store did in fact have some Estes kits (mostly RTF and starters) and a selection of 13mm and 18mm motors, including the Blast-Off Flight Packs.  I guess I need to keep an eye out for those 50%-off coupons.

I ended up buying two birdhouses for $3 each - one rocket shaped one and one Eiffel tower (more below), some 4" wide balsa stock, and some plywood.  The wood was all Revell brand and is better quality than I'm used to at Michael's.  At least the balsa is.  It is very dense and stiff, which I think is a plus.  I have no immediate plans for the balsa but the plywood will go into the Big Brute replacement.  I have no time line, but that build will happen.

Now for the birdhouses (see photo).

• The Michael's Rocket Birdhouse Rocket (MRBR-1) - I started by cutting the top conical section off.  I saw a build thread on YORF, which used a BT-55 stuffer.  The hole in the middle of the rocket did fit a BT-55 well but, unfortunately, it was way off center.  So, I expanded it to fit a BT-60 instead using a curved wood rasp.  I marked the center of the 'tail cone' using the fins as a guide and will drill a hole for a 24mm motor tube using a hole saw.  The body is too long for my press, I found my plug in drill unexpectedly died, and my portable drill needs charging. (So, I need a Harbor Freight sale or coupon too.)  I need some parts to continue.
• Eiffel Tower - I am not sure what I want to do with this one.  I'd like to use 'aerobrake' recovery, but it may be too heavy.  The alternative is to rear eject a 'chute or streamer.  So far, all I've done is remove the base.

Rocket girls #87

I wonder if she became an engineer or scientist? [via]

I don't post much of the abundance of artwork out there, but...

Credit: Oliver Cook.

This rocket (Tintin's rocket at the Comic Museum in Brussels, Belgium) seems to be a favorite of rocket girls.




The Rocket Girls - NASA Student Launch Initiative team from the University of Alabama.

What's left

This is what's left of my Big Brute:

• 29mm mount with Gorilla mount and shock cord. (I even removed the motor block, which I put in when I didn't know better.)
• One fin.
• Rail buttons.
• 'Chute, Nomex pad (removable anyway).

It was a good run, old pal.  Your memory and parts will live on.

You can do this, or you can do that (post-launch update)

As noted in my launch report, the Ankyo234 was, well, unstable.  Is my RockSim model was flawed? The fins too floppy? The nose weight shifted?  The model certainly may not reflect the odd shaped body with it's twisted channels.  The fins are very floppy and this could explain why it started up OK but then looped when the speed built up. And, there is no way to tell whether the nose weight shifted in flight or at impact.  At a bit over 6 oz loaded, I decided more nose weight was not the solution.  I can't stretch its length, so the only other solution was to trim down the forward fins.  It will go up on a C11 next time.

The X-Fire 18mm probably could fly again, but is likely retired.  I have too many monocopters and monocopter-like objects to worry about it.

The Grizzly Behr monocopter is dead.  The burn through caused the wood glue impregnated twine to compress the motor tube.  This could also be repaired but...(see above).

I am really bummed about the Big Brute.  I may build a clone...but it just won't be the same.  I'd want real rocket parts, probably Blue Tube, but don't want to cough up the cash right now.  Maybe I'll try out Don's new slot router jig in the winter.  (Oh yeah, I found the powder charge stuffed in an odd spot in the range box.  It appears I pulled it out, got distracted, and hid it. DO'H)

I need an E18 for the Days of Future Passed.  But I need a -8 not the -4 that I have. Hopefully, next time there will be a vendor on-site.  A SU E20 might work too.

Well, looks like I have nuttin' to fix and there is nothing new on the bench.  Time to amble down into the Dungeon and see what I have on-hand.

Propulsion man

Sport rocketeer and Master's student David Reese is featured in Purdue University's engineering newsletter:  Rocket man: One man’s passion for propulsion.  Check out his web site, TDK Propulsion.

Launch Report 2011-2

Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD (MDRA ESL-157)
Weather: partly cloudy, high 80s, wind 0-5 MPH
Total flights: Today - 10; YTD - 21
Total motors: Today - 12; YTD - 33

The traffic through Annapolis and approaching the Bay Bridge was heavier than I've seen in 2 seasons, but it only cost me ~15 minutes.  The weather cooperated very well and the crowd was light due to the absence of boy scouts.  As usual, I stole Don's shade.  The only bad thing was the pad area is now surrounded on 2 sides with corn.  Corn at a sod farm?  That's just wrong!.  So, unless we relocate elsewhere on the farm, the remaining launches will be a PITA.  It wasn't that bad today, but that corn is growing fast.

My Flights:

1. NCR Big Brute on a G138-6 - Quick up, quick down. RIP.  This was the 25th flight of one of my favorite rockets.  I'll have to clone it. See the attached pics.
2. Hat of Death on a G71-P - Nice red flame.  Easily found in the short corn.
3. Margin of Error on an H165-6 - Nice flight with ejection at apogee.  It took some searching to find it, even though the corn was short.
4. Grizzly Behr monocopter on a QC6-3 - Very anemic.  I think the burn through killed the motor's thrust.  Lesson learned:  DON'T use Quest motors in spinny things.
5. Art Applewhite X-Fire 24mm (Beta) on 2x C11-3 - I wanted to fly this on two D12's, but found myself short on them.  So, C11's it was! Only one lit, proving that these are stable on one motor (at least when balanced with the 2nd one).
6. Art Applewhite X-Fire 24mm (Beta) on 2x E9-4 - There had been reports of this rocket re-kitting itself on E9's so, of course, I had to try it.  Yes, it re-kitted itself.
7. Art Applewhite X-Fire 18mm on 2x Quest C6-3 - Nice enough flight, but was damaged due to burn through.  See lesson learned above.
8. I Build Rockets Ballistic Chicken on a Quest C6-5 - No 'chute, only the top 1/2" of tube was crunched.
9. I Build Rockets Ballistic Chicken on a Quest C6-5 - Straightened the crunch and re-loaded it.  Nice flight.
10. Ankyo234 on a D11-P - It went up, looped, headed up again, and then looped back to the ground. Boink!  I think a video was taken and I'll post if it appears on the MDRA gallery.

Rocket launch travel alert

Excerpt from baybridge.com:

Due to the Anne Arundel County Burn Foundation's Benefit Motorcycle Ride, motorists should expect high traffic volumes on Saturday, June 18, at approximately 10 a.m. when the group is expected to reach the bridge.  The MDTA will direct the group to the far-right side of the toll plaza.  Approximately 1,200 - 1,500 motorcyclists are participating in the benefit event.

So, I could leave at 8:45 and beat the biker crowd but then have to figure out how to kill a couple of hours before the sod farm opens at noon.  Or, I can leave at 10:00 and just sweat out the traffic.

Blast Off of the World's Largest Water Rocket

This rocket was built for the NPL's Water Rocket Challenge 2011. The rocket was made from over 100 bottles and was over 11 feet long.

Blast Off of the World's Largest Water Rocket, a photo by National Physical Laboratory on Flickr.

Drabocket V1

Drabocket V1, a photo by Tony Buser on Flickr.

3-D printing will present unlimited options. [drooling]

Pool Noodle 'boink' rocket - status update

First off, I found that the name Ankyo, followed by a long series of numbers, is marked on a fin. Sounds like a rocket name to me.  So, the rocket is now named the Ankyo234 (using the first 3 numbers in the series).

I entered the design in RockSim and fudged around with the materials just to get the mass in the ballpark (I'll enter actuals later).  I simulated the ribs with long fat fins.  It looks like 2 oz of nose weight will be required to get it stable on a D12.  The margin will be about 1.5 just in case my model is flawed. 

I found that Quest T-35 tubing is a great fit in the center hole. For the business end, I centered a 24mm tube in some T-35 and added a card stock thrust ring.  The lower lug sits between the rings so the rings were notched.  On the nose end, I found a rigid foam cylinder in my junk box.  It fits perfectly.  Once again, I'm amazed at how pieces of random junk work so well in my builds.  I'll add an upper lug in another piece of tube and will notch the foam to allow the rod to pass.  The foam will sit in the tube and the nose weight will be epoxied to its base, around the lug.  The trick will be to make sure the lugs are aligned!

This may even be ready for Saturday's MDRA launch!

Armadillo postmortems on the Stig and Dalek

Armadillo has posted very detailed flight reports on the 'tube rocket', Stig, and the finned SuperMod, Dalek. Both flights went up from Spaceport America and both failed. "Failed' may be a harsh term since I'm sure the lessons learned were important, and, that's why you test.

The report is chock-full of photos and several videos, two of which I've embedded below:

Another 3-D printed rocket

Available from Thingaverse. Dang, I want one so badly. But not badly enough to buy/assemble a 3-D printer.

MakerBot Rocket Assembled, a photo by Tony Buser on Flickr.

Not UFOs: Soyuz (?) Rocket Launch

Sojuz (?) Rocket Launch, a photo by Not-UFOs (Не-НЛО) on Flickr.

Click through for Not UFO's gallery of things that are, well, not UFOs.

'StratoShuttle' aims for 120,000 ft

The folks at Quest for Stars are at it again. To follow up on the Robonaut-1 and Senatobia-1 balloon flights, which successfully imaged the launches of STS-133 and -134, the team plans to launch a UAV to 120k ft.  The StratoShuttle is a balloon launched UAV with a 5-to-6-foot wingspan. (via)

New 'boink' rocket planned

I bought this foam rocket at a local Target for 2 bucks.  The body is ~18" long and appears to be made from a pool noodle or at least is the same material.  The hole through the middle looks too big for a BT-50 and too small for a BT-60, but I just quickly eyeballed it.  It has 4 floppy fins in the rear and three in the front.  Some nose weight will be required due to those forward ones.  My first thought is to mount the weight a few inches down from the top and fill the front hole with some other flexible foam.  That's what I did on my Fat Boi-nk and it seems to work fine.  The 'ribs' in the body rotate along its axis, so it should have some natural spin.  So, the fit of the central tube, the nose weight, and fin stiffening seem to be the main issues.  Maybe the lugs will also be in the center hole but off-center a bit.  It will be a few days until I can work on it.

You can see my three other flexible foam rockets here.

Chris completes his Saturn V

...and sets a record for the longest series of blog build posts...71.  Check out #71  for his lessons learned.  What I learned is that this is too complicated a build for my lack of patience. Good job Chris!

Rocket girls #86

Via voynarovskiy

Wife of Apollo 16 Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke

Credit: Peter Kleeman

LAUNCH Magazine is back online

After being down for over a year, LAUNCH Magazine's website is back on-line.  The word is that the magazine will be reincarnated in an on-line format, with reprints of past articles and, more importantly, new content.  Rocketeer Mario Perdue is helping Mark and Deb Mayfield (the original principals in the magazine) in getting it up and running.  Attached is an image of a cover that never made it into production, which features Mario's 2X Interceptor upscale. I'll post again when I see new material.

Odd hodgepodge of stuff

In X-Men: First Class, I found what might be the optimal range safety scenario: Make your rockets out of ferrous metals and hire Magneto as your RSO.  BTW, I really liked the movie.

I couldn't ID the rocket that the girl is sitting on in my last rocket girls installment.  I knew I'd seen it before and that was bugging the $!@# out of me.  Today, I found it by accident.  It appears to be a Lark:

"This is the droid you are looking for."

CH-64 “Chow Hund” Missile

Another cool item from Retro Mechanix is the CH-64 “Chow Hund” Missile, a anti-arcraft missile designed after WWII by imported German engineers.  The 4 page article is well detailed and includes 8 scanned diagrams.

Avro "X-Wing" VTOL Jet Fighter Proposal for USN (1956)

See the entire 73-page proposal on Retro Mechanix.

Light show courtesy of Chile's Puyehue volcano

I love lightning and volcanoes but have been slow in posting these. Better late than never. (not the original source, but I got them via R2K)

While I was snoring: Terrier-Improved Orion Launch at NASA Wallops

Rocket Launch Completed from NASA Wallops a video by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Rocketry at Maker Faire NC

I see that the newly formed Triangle Amateur Rocketry Group will give rocketry some exposure at Maker Faire North Carolina.

The Triangle Amateur Rocketry Group was created in April 2011 with the specific goal of educating youth in the Triangle area on the excitement of model rocketry. Our team of experienced rocketeers designed TAR to help them get the word out to young people of all ages.

Wireless launch controller plans on Gadget Freak

Gadget Freak Case #188: Rocket Controller Goes Wireless

Thierry rocks STS-134

Thierry Legault amazes us once again with spectacular ground images of STS-134/Endeavour and the ISS.  Follow the link for more images and animations.

Dr. Robert Goddard photo set

NASA GSFC just added additional photos to their Robert Goddard album. One sample is shown below.

Dr. Robert Goddard, a photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Flickr.

Reminds me of an Iron Butterfly concert

Somersaulting CME [Video] a video by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Rocket girls #85

Probably photoshopped, but...

Some TARCers

The latest in pool floatation devices...

Rocket or torpedo?