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(4) EM Launch Competition 1000 dollar Grants still available

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Jasonr

Sat Aug 05 2006, 05:26PM

Registered Member #167 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 06:41PM
Location: Waterloo, WI
Posts: 54

There are (4) 1000 dollar grants available there are a few rules.

The time period for enteries is Thursday 08/10/06 so you do not have much time.
Use my name as a referal Jason Rollette as this is the reason for the time extention.
Grants are available on a first come first serve basis!

You MUST be able to attend the competion in Houston, Texas USA next March

Write a Proposal following information below.
Proposal format
â€¢ Five page maximum length
â€¢ Minimum 10 point Times New Roman or similar font, singlespaced Length limit includes figures and pictures.

Sections:
â€¢ Summary of proposal (200
words)
â€¢ Description of launcher
â€¢ Work plan with milestones
â€¢ Background of team members, including advisors
â€¢ Potential sources of additional funding, contributed materials, or volunteer expertise
â€¢ Submit proposal as a PDF to "pputman at lifeboat dot com" (use cute pdf writer if you don't have a method to make pdf's JR)
â€¢ File size should be less than 1 MB

see the web site for more details.

There are minimal restrictions on the launchers, as follows:

1. Energy supplied to the launcher, from capacitors, batteries, a flywheel/generator, or other power supply, is limited to 2000 J. This rule prevents unlimited expenditures on power supplies, and focuses the design work on improving the efficiency of the launcher.

2. All contestants must use the same glider, which will be supplied by the organizers at the time of contestant selection. This likewise focuses effort on launcher design.

3. Groups that use voltages higher than 120 V must submit a circuit diagram and an additional waiver.

4. The projectiles will be Estes Gnome rocket bodies ballasted to 25 g. They're 14 mm in diameter and 260 mm long, with larger diameter fins. Replacing the original fins with pop-up fins will be permitted. "Regulation" gliders will be supplied on the day of the competition, but obtaining gliders for practice is the responsibility of the competitors.

This project advances both of the Foundation's short-term goals, public education and advancement of space technology. The competitive nature of the event increases public interest, while the potential for improvement of the technology is great â€” many known launcher configurations have not been explored in depth, and other possibilities no doubt exist. If the contest is repeated annually, the energy limit and funding can be increased each year, up to levels useful for placing payloads into orbit.

Hope to be competing against some of you!
Jason Rollette

McFluffin

Sun Aug 06 2006, 06:24AM

Registered Member #119 Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 06:26AM
Location: USA
Posts: 114

Sounds cool, but I've never been that far in my life, so I don't know if I'd be able to make it for the contest. Maybe we can hold a similar contest on 4hv? It would be nice if people even submitted a paper as part of it to make it more professional.
So, is the main goal to have a high efficiency launcher, right? Guessing that this will be the fastest projectile in this case. Or, can you use less power and be more efficient, even if you are slower than another group? Are you participating in this?

Jasonr

Mon Aug 07 2006, 04:24AM

Registered Member #167 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 06:41PM
Location: Waterloo, WI
Posts: 54

http://lifeboat.com/ex/grant1

yeah I am I going to.

williamn

Mon Aug 07 2006, 11:22AM

Registered Member #55 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:56AM
Location:
Posts: 149

I live there. I don't have time to work on an entry but would like to check it out.

Carbon_Rod

Thu Aug 10 2006, 09:54PM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

Power limit sucks â€“ should have only been a size and weight limit instead.

Time limit and the fact a $1000 would not even cover the cost of the pizza and beer, Add a few more 0's to the prize and one may get some serious contributions. It would take some serious paperwork these days to prevent some governments export restrictions from landing one in jail.

good luck, =)
(Rubber bands are cheap. lol )

Jasonr

Mon Aug 14 2006, 04:06AM

Registered Member #167 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 06:41PM
Location: Waterloo, WI
Posts: 54

yeah I whined about the power limit too:)
So I am not seeing anyone name pop up on the web site? I can't believe some of you guys don't want a 1000 bucks to make a launcher!

(you also get a chance to try and beat Sam Barros or myself) this has to be worth something hahahahahahahaha

jason

badastronaut

Mon Aug 14 2006, 12:25PM

Registered Member #222 Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 05:49PM
Location:
Posts: 96

This highly interesting competition seems to be rather poorly defined.

There are schematics in the pdf files that describe a railgun and coilgun. So does this mean that either technology can be used?

Railguns are good at accelerating light objects to high velocity while coilguns are good at accelerating heavy objects at lower velocities. It's unfair to pit them against each other.

The object to be accelerated has a mass of 25 grams, which is very, very, very heavy for amateur railgun standards. My calculations indicate that with an inductance gradient of .5uH/m the best effieciency with 2000J is 1% assuming .5 milliohms overall resistance.

I also have worries that high efficiency augmented railgun acceleration could tear apart the rocket.

An extremely well designed coilgun is at an advantage here.

The contest mentions that the highest apogee will be rewarded, but it also said the contest focuses on efficiency. So how does one win the prize?

The restrictions also mention nothing about preinjection, which could make a huge difference in the competition...

Jasonr

Thu Aug 17 2006, 11:20PM

Registered Member #167 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 06:41PM
Location: Waterloo, WI
Posts: 54

there are still 3 grants available, 1000 bucks for you to build a coilgun!
this will buy alot of caps for someone looking to do other projects.

I just heard from Phil today he will still accept proposals. but you ahve to hurry as they are on a first come first serve basis.

Jason

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