Successful 2 stage flight with new booster

Post photos and videos of your rocket, launches and your onboard video or photos here. A wide variety of formats supported including attachments and embedded youtube.
dongfang
WRA2 Member
WRA2 Member
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:29 pm

Successful 2 stage flight with new booster

Post by dongfang »

Hi,

I have been working on this for some time... after thinking up the simple Gardena staging mechanism, I had no problems getting it to work with a simple, 22 mm nozzle booster with lots of thrust. But with a larger, heavier, smaller nozzle (17 mm), it just wouldn't separate.

I have modded the staging mechanism now, making it able to trigger with less thrust. Here are the pictures of the first successful flight with it.

Unfortunately my FlyCamOne went dead and I have sent it back to where I got it from (I think I will withdraw my recommendation of that pile of junk). So, no onboard video on this flight.

Regards
Soren
Attachments
Booster parachute release. It is a sleeve that fits around the booster, held together by the spring and pin. When the sustainer flies off, a thin twine from it will pull out the pin and then snap. The rubber bands and the wind will then make the sleeve fall off, and the parachute be deployed.<br />The thing on the top with the white tape around it is part of the weight on the Gardena sleeve. It would later come off in the flight, and never be seen again. Real rockets just have to throw space junk in all directions...
Booster parachute release. It is a sleeve that fits around the booster, held together by the spring and pin. When the sustainer flies off, a thin twine from it will pull out the pin and then snap. The rubber bands and the wind will then make the sleeve fall off, and the parachute be deployed.
The thing on the top with the white tape around it is part of the weight on the Gardena sleeve. It would later come off in the flight, and never be seen again. Real rockets just have to throw space junk in all directions...
DSC_0824.JPG (61.67 KiB) Viewed 404 times
Rocket on pad. Somebody had parked a large rubbish container just to the left of where I took the picture; the booster almost landed in it :)
Rocket on pad. Somebody had parked a large rubbish container just to the left of where I took the picture; the booster almost landed in it :)
DSC_0858.JPG (94.15 KiB) Viewed 405 times
Ready to launch.
Ready to launch.
DSC_0860.JPG (84.42 KiB) Viewed 406 times
Blast-off. The thing parallel to the sustainer is the arming pin (a cable tie on a string) for the parachute release.
Blast-off. The thing parallel to the sustainer is the arming pin (a cable tie on a string) for the parachute release.
DSC_0861.JPG (39.6 KiB) Viewed 408 times
Liftoff on a beautiful evening sky.
Liftoff on a beautiful evening sky.
DSC_0862.JPG (32.44 KiB) Viewed 405 times
Air blast of the booster. The last water is just visible at the bottom of the frame. This indicates that the booster is pretty much burnt out at separation.
Air blast of the booster. The last water is just visible at the bottom of the frame. This indicates that the booster is pretty much burnt out at separation.
DSC_0863.JPG (29.58 KiB) Viewed 408 times
Separation.
Separation.
DSC_0864.JPG (28.1 KiB) Viewed 404 times
Mag of the above.<br />Separation. The parachute sleeve of the booster is coming off. The sustainer didn't go up all that straight, but OK it fired. <br />The small black and white thing on the left is a PVC part that I added on the Gardena sleeve to make it heavier. It was not recovered.
Mag of the above.
Separation. The parachute sleeve of the booster is coming off. The sustainer didn't go up all that straight, but OK it fired.
The small black and white thing on the left is a PVC part that I added on the Gardena sleeve to make it heavier. It was not recovered.
DSC_0864_section.JPG (28.73 KiB) Viewed 407 times
DSC_0865.JPG
DSC_0865.JPG (28.2 KiB) Viewed 406 times
Mag of the above.<br />Sustainer is away (already a tiny dot in the distance). It came down - without parachute deployed - 2-300 meters away. Booster chute worked beautifully.
Mag of the above.
Sustainer is away (already a tiny dot in the distance). It came down - without parachute deployed - 2-300 meters away. Booster chute worked beautifully.
DSC_0865_section.JPG (38.32 KiB) Viewed 404 times
Top
User avatar
Spaceman Spiff
WRA2 Member
WRA2 Member
Posts: 681
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 11:06 am

Re: Successful 2 stage flight with new booster

Post by Spaceman Spiff »

Very pretty photos! It looks like a beautiful flight, and you captured all phases on camera! Really great work! Too bad about the onboard video. I think the videos from the rocket are the coolest part, so it really sucks that it didn't work. I would have loved to see the staging from onboard.
Spaceman Spiff
"What goes up, must come down"
Top

Return to “Water Rocket Photos and Videos”