Archive for Current (Active) Projects

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October 23, 2010 launches.

Oct24
by cgould on October 24, 2010 at 12:42 AM
Posted In: XR4 (Perseus) Medium Power Booster project, XR5 (Aurora) Medium Power Booster

(Saturday, October 23, 2010 – Ray Harmon Flying Field, Aurora, OH)

First, I must say that having the on-board cameras have really added a new dimension to the rocketry hobby!

Saturdays flights involved two rather successful flights of Perseus X4 “Columbia”, and four wonderful flights of Aurora X5 “Omnia”.

Columbia flew its first mission launching the static weight of the Dual Deployment system currently under development.  The purpose of that mission experiment was to complete a failed test from Perseus X4-03 to ensure the Perseus design is capable of successfully flying the full weight of the dual deployment electronics.  THe flight was a low altitude one on a D12, which reached a height of around 300 feet.  The launch test was a complete success.

The next flight was a camera test launch.  That one was also a success.  Launched on a D15, Columbia reached an altitude of 419 feet.

Aurora booster Omnia’s launches were just as successful!  One of the high points of Omnia’s missions was a dual launch where the on board camera captured the launch of one of Mark Recktenwald‘s rockets for a few moments.  Definitely worth checking out!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V54u2t2g7I

We have a neat video of the launch of the last flight of the day for Omnia.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljEmP0CdLRQ

And Columbia’s test flight to 419 feet with the onboard video camera.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quuq85T6vrU

We’ll have a followup post on some of the other items under test during this weekend’s launches as we analyze our data.

((( )))

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Some changes in Saturday’s launch agenda

Oct22
by cgould on October 22, 2010 at 11:26 PM
Posted In: XR4 (Perseus) Medium Power Booster project, XR5 (Aurora) Medium Power Booster

(October 22, 2010 – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio)

Since the O’Reily field will be unavailable for launches, we will be at the Harmon field in Aurora.  Weather for tomorrow is calling for 10-20 MPH winds,  so this may rule out high power launches.  We will attempt one launch in the early morning hours when winds are usually calmer.   At the larger fields, this would be a bit of a problem, but at Harmon field, we will have to do this very carefully.

Scheduled for flights are the Aurora X5 “Omnia”, and Perseus X4 booster “Columbia”.   Columbia will attempt 1 early morning high power launch on an Aerotech E-18.  Omnia will fly a few initial flights on a D-12, then (if all goes well) fly a couple of flights on an E9.

We’ve been quietly rolling out the Aurora X5…not for any reason other than the recent successes of the Perseus booster projects overshadowing the nascent Aurora booster project.

The Aurora X5 project involves testing a new booster design to address weaknesses in the X3 Artemis booster design.  If successful, the Aurora booster will carry forward flight missions originally planned for Artemis.

Updates will appear soon!

((( )))

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Next high power Perseus flight test scheduled

Oct16
by cgould on October 16, 2010 at 11:53 PM
Posted In: XR4 (Perseus) Medium Power Booster project

(Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Saturday, October 16, 2010)

We have scheduled a series of higher power flights for the next Perseus booster launches.  Columbia is once again scheduled for this experiment.

The launches will happen either at the Amherst field, or the O’Reily field – if the location ready for high power launches.

If successful, Columbia should reach over 1700 feet.  Columbia will be equipped with our on-board camera system as well as an on-board altimeter.

The last two high power launches were less than successful for both Columbia on August 28th and test booster “X4-03” on September 11th.   After several weeks of investigations, it was determined that both boosters were “hanging” on the launch rod just before clearing it – this caused the rockets to “whip” to one side.  In the case of Columbia, nearly over-stressing its airframe, and for X4-03, causing it to fly in a complete loop before resuming upward.

Perseus X4-03 lifting off at high power just before being whipped into a full 360 degree loop.

The solution under test for the next mission involves much larger launch lugs, which will allow for a bit of “wiggle room”.   Also, we will be using the E-18 motor vs. the E15 used last time.  The E-18 has less initial “kick”, which should minimize any “wiggle” as the booster travels up the launch rod.   The idea was tested on the last series of flights for Columbia, which utilized D15 motors.  The D15 has very similar launch characteristics to the E-18.  We feel confident that the Columbia will perform well on the E-18.

This series of launches will bring us closer to the goal of flights above 2,000 feet using a dual deployment system currently under development.  If all goes well, we may see our first dual deployment flight attempt by mid January 2011.

We are starting the countdown for T- 6 days, 14 hours, 54 minutes.  Weather forecast is so far calling for sunny skies, High of 60 degrees, 10 MPH winds.

Over the course of the fall / winter we have the following objectives to accomplish with the Perseus booster project:

– A series of high power flights to insure we have all old “issues” ironed out

– Test flight missions with boilerplate dual deploy section as dry runs for high altitude dual deployment missions.

– First dual deployment flights @ normal altitude.

– First high altitude dual deployment flights.

– Throughout the course of the above missions, flight video camera systems will also be tested.

It will be a busy period of time coming up!

((( )))

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