The History
This site was created for me to use as a project log as well as flight logs for my experiments in Model Rocketry. I’m getting back into this hobby after about 28 years away from the hobby. For me, the hobby came to a quick end while I was researching technology to be used in a remote controlled (RC) boost glider project. As a young pre-teenager, I wasn’t sure how possible such a thing was for various reasons. For one, the RC technology back in the day was still quite bulky, and heavy, making rocket flights difficult at best. The rocketry hobby at the time had a weight restriction of 1 pound!
Another unknown for me was whether or not we could even reliably control a glider by remote control at the distances the model rockets would fly. Tests with small radio transmitters to find out quickly took a left turn to “low power radio” where I fell in love with radio broadcasting and the tech behind it, and that became my new hobby, and later, a career for me.
Fast forward to today and these days I’m doing what I love, which is designing and rolling out audio processing systems for radio stations world wide at Omnia Audio, and I wanted to get back into having fun again…and I re-discovered one of my favorite old hobbies!
Upon my return, I find that the Model Rocketry hobby has changed a LOT! No longer is one pound your maximum weight…you can get cleared to fly rockets of hundreds of pounds, and the motors available today to loft them into the sky is mind bending! Couple this with the extreme miniaturization of all things electronic, I find that my old childhood dream is more than possible today!
So….with this in mind, I jumped back in with the thought of brushing the rust off of my rocketry knowledge, build up a workshop, and work my way up to the ultimate project…a remote controlled boost glider! This blog website is the diary to this journey for me to look back on and enjoy each step, and to share these with friends.
How to get there? Well…it is outlined with a number of projects. It goes something like this:
Step One: Return to custom rockets… The Aquila booster. A small scale test model for gathering data to aid in the construction of the Artemis booster.
Step Two: The Artemis Booster. This launch platform will be used for launching fun experiments into the sky, and for studying G-Forces and acceleration curves under various launch conditions for use in designing the RC Boost glider. Various electronic data gathering and computerized control of key recovery functions will be developed on this project for general use in my exploration of this hobby.
—EDIT—-
Step 2.5 – (new) Perseus Medium Power Booster. This platform fills the voids where the Artemis boosters fall a little short. The design of the Artemis is such that flights beyond 1,000 feet are a bit challenging. Perseus is being designed to routinely fly at least double the height of Artemis. Underlying tech is based on the Artemis booster — only improved with the luxury of hindsight…
—END OF EDIT—
Step Three – plan A: The Sagitta Heavy lift booster. For this step, I will have to get some launch certifications under me, so this booster may very well be the one that I will use to get said certification. It will be this booster that will be used to lift the glider into the air. For this booster, many computerized functions will be developed and debugged, such as computer controlled parachute deployment as well as “mockup” shuttle / booster flight tests. This will be a busy period of testing, and should prove to be very interesting!
—EDIT – with the experiences gained from Artemis and Perseus projects, there may be a better design here…more research is needed. —
Step three – plan B: Develop a “heavy lift” version of the Artemis booster called “Artemis II heavy” which will enable plenty of lift capacity if I manage to get the Carina Shuttle designed to be under 2 pounds of weight…which is a really strong possibility. Artemis II will also be used to test mid flight ejection systems needed to separate the shuttle at the appropriate moment in the launch cycle.
Step Four: The Carina Shuttle. This will be the name of the remote controlled glider…to be mounted on the Sagitta heavy lift booster, and will be released at the apogee of the sagitta booster’s flight path. As the booster returns on parachute, the shuttle portion will be flown back to the launch site by radio remote control.
Timeline:
(Timeline removed as there is lots to learn…it may take a bit longer than planned! But that’s OK…It’s all about the journey!)