Project 'Fire mouse over the Thames'

[Brian]

i vote glider

[Andrewlee]

I think the glider idea is good to. it's stable, and would almost guaranty a moderately level flight, and reasonable g forces. although with an egg, the pod would work. i do not have pictures, but I helped my brother do this in high school

[Team Seneca]

I think the glider idea is good to. it's stable, and would almost guaranty a moderately level flight, and reasonable g forces. although with an egg, the pod would work. i do not have pictures, but I helped my brother do this in high school

I vote glider too.

But I had a totally new idea for fabricating the glider. I suggest that you look up paragliders. You could deploy one from apogee and with a simple r/c servo control you can steer the glider as far as you need to go. If there's some wind you can actually climb in altitude as you fly.

[Andrewlee]

But sticking to the guide lines of cheapness and effectiveness, the fixed wing glider, or a safety pod would work. Although, I am prone to the likeness of Radio Controlled as well.

[Tim Chen]

But sticking to the guide lines of cheapness and effectiveness, the fixed wing glider, or a safety pod would work. Although, I am prone to the likeness of Radio Controlled as well.

I think Bill's idea has a lot of merit. A parasail wing would deploy on apogee using any of the methods that have been very thoroughly shaken out over the years. The thing that makes the idea so appealing is because the parasail is cloth, so it won't get ruined in a crash and it would be folded up inside the rocket during the boost phase and therefore will not be damaged by the air or have any influence on the rocket's trajectory.

[Andrewlee]

The biggest problem with a para sail is control. and to do that, it would require remote control. And that starts to make it expensive. But, if there were a way you could do this, that would direct the rocket over the river, regardless of wind (speeds of wind taken to account...not talking of 25kt winds) that do not require radio control, that would be cheap, effective, and freakishly awesome

[Rusty]

The biggest problem with a para sail is control. and to do that, it would require remote control. And that starts to make it expensive. But, if there were a way you could do this, that would direct the rocket over the river, regardless of wind (speeds of wind taken to account...not talking of 25kt winds) that do not require radio control, that would be cheap, effective, and freakishly awesome

This is probably the only situation we would use the complicated paraglider, because, as mentioned, it would be expensive and complicated and I'm lazy. My idea of a glider rocket is a rocket with some wings attached, the wings simply being triangular shaped pieces of a suitable material, so any improvements to the glider design would be appreciated

[Spaceman Spiff]

The biggest problem with a para sail is control. and to do that, it would require remote control. And that starts to make it expensive. But, if there were a way you could do this, that would direct the rocket over the river, regardless of wind (speeds of wind taken to account...not talking of 25kt winds) that do not require radio control, that would be cheap, effective, and freakishly awesome

Holy smokes! I thought I would be helpful and google for some plans to see if it's been done and I found this site that sells one of these exact things!
http://www.rcparamodels.com

They have some videos linked at the bottom of the page. it looks like they fly it up and drop it out of an R/C plane and wow it looks like a BLAST to fly. If you could get one of these things up about 100 meters you could fly the thing for miles and miles and do stunts while you're at it! It only needs a 2-channel controller and can do all that!

Check it out! I'm very tempted to buy one.

[Andromeda]

Those videos do look cool. You know something? r/c parachutes with no motor are to r/c planes what water rockets are to pyro rockets. A really niche segment. Thanks for sharing the link!

[U.S. Water Rockets1]

That looks like a lot of fun.

Do they make radio controls that will work from 3000+ feet distance?

[Andrewlee]

Yes, most RC Airplane Remotes (gas powered, often can work up to a mile away.

[Rusty]

Looks cool
But back on topic: What sort of glider should I use to rocket my mouse across?

[Andromeda]

Looks cool
But back on topic: What sort of glider should I use to rocket my mouse across?

What about those huge foam gliders that they sell in the hobby store? It's big enough to soar a long way?

[Andrewlee]

that, or else you could find plans for "the Gentle Lady" it is a Gordon design. They also did the The Eagle and the Eagle 2. You could take the wing design off of that. I just like the designs.

[Rusty]

A thought just occurred to me. Wouldn't attaching a water rocket to a glider, such as 'the gentle lady' mentioned, make it quite unstable as i would have thought that if you applied force to a glider it would be quite unpredictable.
Also, the designs mentioned seem bigger than I was planning to make. I was also more planning of attaching glider parts to a water rocket, rather than attaching a rocket to a glider, as we were trying to make as much of it ourselves as would be possible, and the plans mentioned seem to emphasis buying a glider rather than building a rocket.
I was wondering if a design where some wings were attached to the rocket in such a way that as the rocket was travelling at speed (ie taking off) the wings would be folded in, then when the rocket stops moving as fast (ie at apogee) the wings unfold and the rocket turns into a glider.