last updated: 21st october 2023 - Day 226 to Day 230 - Various Experiments

Safety First

Search

Site Index

Tutorials

Articles

Rocket Gallery

Labs

Where To Buy

10 Challenges

Links

Blog

Glossary

Contact Us

About


Construction - Basic

Body

Ring Fins

Flat Fins

Nozzle

Nosecone

Construction - Advanced

Robinson Coupling

Splicing Bottles #1

Splicing Bottles AS#5

Reinforcing Bottles

Side Deploy #1

Side Deploy #2

Mk3 Staging Mechanism

Multi-stage Parachutes

Fairings

Construction - Launchers

Gardena Launcher

Clark Cable-tie

Medium Launcher

Cluster Launcher

Launch Abort Valve

Quick Launcher

How It Works

Drop Away Boosters

Katz Stager Mk2.

Katz Stager Mk3.

DetMech

Dark Shadow Deployment

Articles

Recovery Guide

Parachutes

How Much Water?

Flying Higher

Flying Straight

Building a Launcher

Using Scuba Tanks

Nozzles

Video Taping Tips

MD-80 clone

Making Panoramas

Procedures

Burst Testing

Filling

Launching

Recovery

Electronics

Servo Timer II

V1.6

V1.5

V1.4

V1.3, V1.3.1, V1.3.2

V1.2

Deploy Timer 1.1

Project Builds

The Shadow

Shadow II

Inverter

Polaron G2

Dark Shadow

L1ght Shadow

Flight Log Updates

#230 - Tajfun 2 L2

#229 - Mac Uni AON

#228 - Tajfun 2 Elec.

#227 - Zip Line

#226 - DIY Barometer

#225 - Air Pressure Exp.

#224 - Tajfun 2

#221 - Horizon Deploy

#215 - Deployable Boom

#205 - Tall Tripod

#204 - Horizon Deploy

#203 - Thunda 2

#202 - Horizon Launcher

#201 - Flour Rockets

#197 - Dark Shadow II

#196 - Coming Soon

#195 - 3D Printed Rocket

#194 - TP Roll Drop

#193 - Coming Soon

#192 - Stager Tests

#191 - Horizon

#190 - Polaron G3

#189 - Casual Flights

#188 - Skittles Part #2

#187 - Skittles Part #1

#186 - Level 1 HPR

#185 - Liquids in Zero-G

#184 - More Axion G6

#183 - Axion G6

#182 - Casual Flights

#181 - Acoustic Apogee 2

#180 - Light Shadow

#179 - Stratologger

#178 - Acoustic Apogee 1

#177 - Reefing Chutes

#176 - 10 Years

#175 - NSWRA Events

#174 - Mullaley Launch

#173 - Oobleck Rocket

#172 - Coming Soon

#171 - Measuring Altitude

#170 - How Much Water?

#169 - Windy

#168 - Casual Flights 2

#167 - Casual Flights

#166 - Dark Shadow II

#165 - Liquid Density 2

#164 - Liquid Density 1

#163 - Channel 7 News

#162 - Axion and Polaron

#161 - Fog and Boom

#1 to #160 (Updates)

 

FLIGHT LOG

Each flight log entry usually represents a launch or test day, and describes the events that took place.
Click on an image to view a larger image, and click the browser's BACK button to return back to the page.

 

Day 149 - Glide Fins
Date:  10th August 2014
Location:
Whalan Reserve, NSW, Australia
Conditions:
 Overcast, calm  ~5km/h
Team Members at Event:
 GK, Paul K, and John K.

Glide Fins

For this launch we prepared a rocket with a couple longer fins that were meant to help the rocket glide a little more on the way down under a normal parachute. The longer term goal is of being able to steer the rocket away from trees. The rocket was suspended so that two of the longer fins formed a dihedral with the third smaller fin pointing straight down. The idea is to make the rocket itself steerable rather than the parachute as is commonly done. For this test there was no steering involved, we just wanted to see how the rocket behaved with the glide fins attached and whether it will in fact glide more. The parachute was attached the same way as we did for the stabilised descent video which ensured the fins were oriented the right way round on the way down.

Launch Day

Although it was overcast today, the wind was fairly calm and made for good launch conditions. We loaded up the rocket with the glide fins onto the launcher and pressurised it to 120psi. We were a little worried about the asymmetric fins causing the rocket to fly in an arc, but the rocket flew well without issues. The parachute deployed at apogee and the rocket turned it self around to the correct attitude. Observing it on the way down it looked like it occasionally had forward movement, but then it would pitch upwards, change direction pitch down and then glide forward again for a short time. In this configuration I believe it would be hard to control. I think we need to attach the parachute a little further back so the rocket has a more pitched down attitude. We will also likely shorten the shock cord to help reduce the parachute movement. The rocket landed well otherwise and we'll try again next time.


 

 

 

We launched the Axion rocket a couple of times at 120psi with foam, The flights went well with altitudes of 518 and 538 feet. The rocket landed well with no damage.


 

 

 

Paul also ended up flying his Black Thunder rocket on a C6-3. The rocket flew well and deployed at apogee but the parachute didn't inflate. It even had talcum powder on it to prevent it from sticking. The rocket had a tumble recovery and landed well without damage.

Here is a highlights video from the day:

Flight Details

Launch Details
1
Rocket   Axion II
Pressure   120psi
Nozzle   9mm
Water   1500mL
Flight Computer   ST II - 5 seconds
Payload   AltimeterOne, HD cam #16 V3
Altitude / Time   325 feet / 23.2 seconds
Notes   Good flight with good landing.
2
Rocket   Black Thunder
Motor   C6-3
Payload   None
Altitude / Time   ? / ? seconds
Notes   Good flight with good deploy, but parachute failed to inflate. Rocket had tumble recovery, but survived with no damage.
3
Rocket   Axion
Pressure   120psi
Nozzle   9mm
Water   1800mL + foam
Flight Computer   ST II - 5 seconds
Payload   AltimeterOne, HD cam #16 V3
Altitude / Time   518 feet / 33 seconds
Notes   Good flight with good landing.
4
Rocket   Axion
Pressure   120psi
Nozzle   9mm
Water   1800mL + foam
Flight Computer   ST II - 5 seconds
Payload   AltimeterOne, HD cam #16 V3
Altitude / Time   538 feet / 34.5 seconds
Notes   Good flight with good landing.

 

<< Previous   Back to Top   Next >>



Copyright © 2006-2023 Air Command Water Rockets

Total page hits since 1 Aug 2006: