Spokane Area Rocket Club

January 29, 2005

Download file I created this simple drift calculator to help with the discussion of how high we should launch rockets at our site. It includes all of the major effects except weather #######. I was thinking of running many sims in RockSim to include that effect, but decided I did not have the time (do I hear science fair project?). If the rocket goes downwind by over 2000 ft. or upwind in dual deployment mode by more than 1000 ft. the results are in red. I felt these were reasonable values to try to keep rockets (particularly larger rockets) on the main field based upon where we launch.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

Nike-Hercules Sustainer Sim Results J350

January 26, 2005

View image Here are the sim results for the sustainer on a J350. There is some distinct wobble in the boost. Speed off the rail is 53 ft/s which is adequate. However, I would sure feel better about a J570.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

Nike-Hercules Sim Results 5xJ350

View image Here are the sim results on a full compliment of J350s. It comes off the 11 ft. long rail at 77 ft/s so it should be stable and is even over 50 ft/s if only 3 of the four boosters light. By default run sims in light winds (3 - 7 mph) to check for wind ####### and such.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

Club Nike-Hercules 2D view

View image This is the RockSim 2D view of the club project in full 38 mm mode. Buck supplied the totally dry weights and I only had to add less than a pound to both the booster and sustainer designs to get them to match. I then added parachutes, shock cords, electronics, and 1.5 kg of nose weight to get the sustainer stable on a variety of motors. In the 38 mm version (posted here) I also added 110 g for each of the 54/38 mm motor adapters.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2005

Download file This is Mark Howe's fleet of 158 rockets in response to a post on NW Rocketry asking for fleet specifics.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)

Next step for Spaceship One

January 10, 2005

Wired.com has an article about Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic (and now Virgin Galactic) and his involvement with Spaceship One and his plans for commercial sub-orbital spaceflight. Click here to read the article.

Posted by terry at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)

John's 2.75X Alpha & Kellogg

January 09, 2005

This is John Weiser's (age 12) space related project. One of the options was to build a scratch built rocket and compare it to a NASA type rocket. John had been talking about doing upscales of his Estes Alpha Kellogg so we found some 2.56" phenolic tube and did the first one. He decided to show a HPR motor and the only one I had was a J570 which he thought was very cool - although too large for this project. He has plast grains and the case for a 38/360 to demo at school. John did some of every step except cutting out the fins on the bandsaw including turning the nose cone.

Posted by bonrocketsai at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

Election Results

January 06, 2005

I am pleased to announce the results of SPARC's first ever contested election of officers (previous selections have involved arm twisting and such). For 2005 Ray Stoner was elected President and Mark Howe was elected as Vice President. Krys Davidson and Bob Yanecek agreed to continue to serve when no one volunteered as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.

Posted by terry at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)

Ray Stoner

January 03, 2005

My venture into rocketry started at a young age when I was in the cub/boy scouts. I remember looking in the back of the Boy's Life magazine and drooling over the rockets I saw there. I got catalogs and continued my drooling, but for some reason I never got a rocket to build. Either my parents decided that I was too young, or they didn't have the money to do it. My favorites at the time were the mosquito and the SR-71. The mosquito appealed to me just for the altitude it could get, advertised at around 1000 feet. The SR-71 was just damn cool. I realize now that I would have had to have a lot of mosquito's if I planned to launch more than a couple of times. Fast forward 20 years. I was walking through a store called Factory to You looking for Christmas gifts for the kids and saw a Quest ready to fly kit call the "Whiplash," it had everything I thought I needed to launch a rocket, and I decided to buy if for my son, Sean. As we went through the gifts that year, we realized that we had gotten way too many gifts for my son and that my step-daughter would be receiving less gifts, so to keep things fair, we put the rocket and some other gifts away to give him on his birthday. Christmas came and went, and his birthday rolled around, so we gave him the rocket and the other gifts. I guess some of the other gifts dazzled him and he kind of forgot about the rocket, so we didn't prep it and launch until the following March (his birthday is in June). The rocket came with 3 quest "A" motors. We had a nice warm day in March to fly the rocket and we did, two of the ignitions were successful and the rocket went about 200 feet into the air, we all loved it. Of course, it wasn't long till bigger motors were purchased and during that purchase at B&B hobbies I grabbed a flyer for SPARC. I saw there would be a launch soon and decided to attend. That launch got cancelled due to high wind. I had caught the rocket bug again. We flew Sean's whiplash a number of times on ever bigger motors, and decided that a "C" motor in the field where we were was too big. I stayed home from work one day, just to relax and decided to go and buy a rocket, so I went down to B&B and bought a StormCaster Kit. I assembled it following the instructions and spent hours painting it. I set it out on the deck to take a photo, and the wind promptly blew it to the ground. One of the fins broke loose. I guess my construction techniques weren't that good. I finally made it to the May launch and had a "blast" and decided that I would go whenever I could. That was the beginning of the end. I was dazzled by the big rockets that were launching and wanted to play in this hobby more. It wasn't long before I had an Aerotech kit (an Aereaux) and a reloadable motor (29/40-120). I kept attending launches and decided that it would be good if I learned more about building these big rockets. I came across a carpet tube at work one day, and grabbed it. I sent Marty an email and ask him if he would like it, because it would be just too big for the stuff I wanted to do at that time, he suggested we build a project together and Joseph was born. I learned a lot during the building of Joseph, and even more following the unsuccessful flight. I am now firmly entrenched in the hobby, and I am having a ball. I went to XPRS in Black Rock with Keith and Bob in the fall of 2003, and again was dazzled. I managed to get my level one Cert in September 2003 on the second attempt, something about a fully reefed 'chute (a rubber band around it) caused my first attempt to fail. I have to say that a big part of my involvement in the hobby is the camaraderie and the helpful attitude of the members of SPARC. Even when I was launching "b's", "c's" and "d's" there wasn't any attitude of "you should be launching bigger rockets." The pressure to progress was mild and could more aptly be called encouragement. Flying rockets was and is enough to be a deeply involved member of the club, it doesn't really matter what size.

Posted by ray at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

July 2004 Photos

January 02, 2005

Photos from our July 2004 launch.

sparc 2004-07-11 c-3 f-042s	mean machine recovers	good times	fat boy lifts off
coming down	almost there	You got it son	Yes I am ready
Yep I am pretty sure the fins are the right size	Yeah I think it will fly	Why does it look like that Bob	Where did I put it
Where are those wires	What do you mean the fins are too big	Welcome to level two	We almost have it now
Walking home	WOW nice rocket man	Unpacking a core sample	Under chute
Two commanches ready to fly	Time for the motor	Time for an ignitor	This goes here dad
These go here	These are the ignitor wires	There she goes	There is a lot of shock cord to pick up
The motor goes here	The long walk to the pad	The long walk home	The lonely walk to level two
The flight line	Thats really high	Terry loads a high power bullpup on the pad	Super Kludge gets loaded in the tower
Successful recovery	Stretched out	Still under chute	Still More parachute testing
Something fishy on a column of smoke and fire	Smile for the camera Bob	Setup	Setup continues
Secure the ignitor wires	Really I am ready	Ready to go	Ready to fly
Ready for flight	Ray tracking something	Ray removes a motor Sean plays video games	Ray and Sean load Charm on the pad
Ray and Buck string the flight line tape	Raptor and doll leave the pad	Proud level two flyer	Our resident High flyer isnt he nice
Obligitory rocket pose	OK I think we are done	New Level 2 flyer walking ready to walk back to the flight line	More prep from Darrel
More parachute tests	More ignitor prep	More conversation	More Setup
Model lifts off	Mean machine leaves the pad	Mean machine goes on the rod	Mean machine almost down
Mean Machine takes flight	Mean Machine lifts off	Marty preps Beat Stanford	Marty cleans the low power rods
Marty LCOs with a mean maching in the background	Marty Darrel and Robert talk	Marks patriot leaves the pad	Mark loads a rocket on the pad
Mark connects the ignitor	Mark Howe with his Patriot	Make sure those are well connected Bob	Looks like the parachute works
Just like this	Johnathan gets his commanche getting ready to fly	John Hearn returns with Sylvester	Jeez there is a lot of stuff to pick up
Is this tight enough	Is that a spider	Is that a rock chip	Is that a chad staged rocket Mark
Im ready	Ill hold it you poke it with a stick	I'll get this part	I want to fly this
I want to fly this one dad	I think you left it over here	I think thats straight	I think that still looks OK
I think its ready to fly	I think I have a hangnail	I think I found it	I think I am ready
I really like that rocket Darrel	I like rockets how about you	Howe family contemplates a LOC mini mag	Hooking up the ignitor
High power rockets on the pad	High power leave the pad on a white lightning motor	Hey why is yours bigger than mine	Hey why is yours bigger than mine Harrold
Here we go	Heavy black smoke as Darrels rocket leaves the pad	Have a donut for luck Marty	Harrold getting splat ready to fly
Gotta go the paperwork	Gotta get that ignitor in the right spot	Got it	Good recovery
Good looking rocket Darrel	Getting the ignitor ready	Getting closer	GOod deployment
Fun with ignitor wires	Folding the parachute	Filling out the flight card	Ewww is that supposed to look like that
Even more parachute testing	Even closer	Drag racing mean machines	Did I forget anything
Dave loades somthing fishy on the rail	Dave asks whats that in there	Dave and Robert talk about a mean machine	Dave Terry and Darrel at the high power pads
Dave Luders loads a rocket	Dave Luders and Dave Glass tape a doll to the bottom of a Raptor	Dave Luders Model leaves the pad	Dave Glass Phoenix recovers
Darrels son hooks up the ignitor wires	Darrels almost done	Darrel tests the Parachute	Darrel talking things over
Darrel puts a model on the pad with his son	Darrel prepping a rocket	Darrel poses with his rocket	Darrel gets a beautiful rocket ready to fly
Darrel fills out a flight card	Darrel doing more prep	Darrel and son prep a rocket	Darrel Smith doing more prep
Darrel Smith Preps for his level 2	Connecting the ignitor its ready for flight	Charm lifts off on a I211	Charm Recovers
Chad staging is fun	Chad staged short mean machine lifts off	Bull pup model leaves the pad	Bobs ready to track
Bobs mansfield packing test lifts off	Bobs back	Bob searching for his rocket	Bob preps Super Kludge
Bob and Ray return with Super Kludge	Bob and Dave setup the tower	Are you sure these are the wires I need	Anybody have a clue how this goes together
Another shot of the flight line	Another model leaves the pad	Am I ready for this	Almost down
A two stage fat boy	A tres lifts off	A nice model lifts off	A model lifts off
A model leaves the pad	A good looking rocket

Posted by terry at 07:48 PM | Comments (0)