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Artemis Nala1 mission updates

Jun16
by cgould on June 16, 2013 at 6:35 AM
Posted In: XR2 (Artemis) Medium power booster Project

(Cuyahoga Falls, OH)

OK, SO I’ve been horrifically late posting this update.  It’s due to the latest Nala mission that required a LOT of data sifting…moreon that later.

ALS-052, April 27, 2013 – Harmon field.

The first of two reports…Nala1 Mission ALS-052.  This was the most picture perfect launch almost ever.  Flying on an Aerotech F-40, Nala rocket flew straight as an arrow to a height of 966 feet with a maximum velocity of 225 MPH.  I did not video this at all.  Just watched, and it was wonderful!

Mission ALS-053 was next.  Same day.

This flight was as strange as it gets.  Nala1’s F-40 motor chuffed a bit (not unusual), came up to pressure, and the mission was underway.  Then about 100 feet or so in the air, Nala1 suddenly “turns” almost 45 degrees, and flies off at an angle towards dense brush!  Recovery took a while as it was tough to find the upper half of Nala rocket in the VERY VERY dense dry brush.  But we did it.

This flight WAS recorded both on the ground, and with Nala’s on-board camera.

What I found (after closely analyzing the video for quite some time) was that the motor began to “chuff” again when Nala1 was halfway up the launch rod…then again after departure…this time the chuffing was so bad the motor nearly stopped burning…at that point, the rocket began to decelerate and FALL.  At this point, the motor came back to life again..but Nala1 was no longer pointed straight up…she was at a 45 degree angle.  The remainder of the burn took her south of the flying field, and over the dense brush, where the parachutes were deployed.

Maximum altitude was only 620 feet, and she was moving pretty slow, about 160 MPH peak speed.

Design changes

After ALS-052, Nala1 was brought into the shop for some design changes to incorporate some of the new ways I’ve been handling main parachute baffle designs in the Nesaru and Comanche rockets.  This design will greatly improve Nal1’s sometimes problematic baffle system with a much more reliable design.   Nala1 should be back on the launch schedule late July / early August.

More later!

((( )))

 

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ALS-051 Highlights

Feb26
by cgould on February 26, 2013 at 11:31 PM
Posted In: XR2 (Artemis) Medium power booster Project

(Saturday Feb 9, 2013 – O’Reily Field)

The 51st launch of the Artemis Launch System was a beautiful sight!

ALS-051 Liftoff!!

 

Nala1 lifted off on her first “full power” flight on a G-64 motor. This mission had two objectives.

1) To finally reach the “maximum altitude” for the Artemis rocket design.
2) To prove the reliability of a new on-board battery to power all of her electronics.

Both goals were met – or exceeded expectations!

On her way to 2052 feet on a beautiful cloudless / windless day!

 

Nala1 reached an altitude of 2052 feet. The highest altitude of any of my rockets to date, easily beating X4 Perseus Eagle’s estimated 1700 foot record from last year.  Top speed was about 420 MPH.  Quite impressive!

Flight data from ALS-051. Click on image to expand.

The only problem I encountered involved the on-board video camera, which gets to be a bit flaky in cold weather. All was not lost as a friend of a friend brought along a video camera, and took a pretty cool video record of the flight!

Video to be posted soon on the CPG Aeronautics You Tube channel.

Nala1 is now undergoing deep inspection / refurbishing work after a busy year of continuous flights. Next launch is set for late March 2013.

((( )))

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Nesaru X6 and Nala1 power retrofit nearing completion…

Dec26
by cgould on December 26, 2012 at 9:48 PM
Posted In: XR2 (Artemis) Medium power booster Project, XR6 (Perseus V) high power booster.

(December 26, 2012 – Cuyahoga Falls)

After the hair raising shakedown flight of Nesaru X6 / Zephyr last November, all of my rockets were grounded pending a look into the failure mode of the power systems on board Nesaru, and an effective solution.

A final verdict on the failure mode

In a nutshell, the power system problem was due to the colder temperatures causing diminished performance with the on-board batteries. This prevented the black powder charges from firing at apogee, and at the per-determined altitude for the deployment of the main parachute.

The temperature wasn’t at an extreme cold, but “cold enough”. 40° F (about  5° C), was cold enough to cause the on-board batteries to run at an extremely diminished capacity.

Studies by Engineers at my place of employment confirmed this (they had a blast troubleshooting this issue!).

It has been determined that the best “all weather battery” for the job is the Lithium Polymer battery.  Even the tried and true Alkaline 9 volt battery, which has been the staple power plant for rocketry electronics for years showed to be almost marginal in cold temperatures.  Lithium Polymer can provide power in cold temperatures with ample amounts of “headroom” to spare when used in extremely cold temperatures.

On that note, the supplies were ordered, and a multi-week long project began to retrofit Nesaru, and Nala1 to operate using Lithium Polymer batteries.

Lithium Polymer batteries for Nesaru X6 and Artemis / Nala1. A 9 volt battery is shown for comparison.

Not only are Lithium Polymer (LiPo or LiPoly) batteries better in the cold weather, they are also capable of supplying many tens of amps of power at an instant.   This is much more than what the “model rocketry standard” 9 volt battery can supply, and way more than the A-23 batteries I’ve been flying can deliver.

Nesaru X6 electronics bay sled assembly with LiPo battery installed.

Nesaru required only a few modifications to support the LiPo battery retrofit, while Nala1 needed a longer electronics bay to properly accomodate one.  As a result, Nala1 will be a few inches longer than before.

The weight of the lithium polymer battery is heavier than the A-23 itself, but only a couple of ounces heavier than the A-23 battery, it’s holder, and the hardware (screw and nut) to mount it to the electronics sled.  This should pose no real impact to the performance of either rocket.

Nesaru’s launch weight is about 4 pounds.  Nala1 1.5 pounds.  The additional ounce or two won’t make much of a difference.

Work is expected to be completed to both rockets in time for a mid January launch for both rockets from O’Reily field.

((( )))

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