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My first rocket!

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LAN_403

HV Enthusiast

Mon Jun 11 2007, 03:19PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Well, my first rocket in 20 years. I'm retiring the Tesla hat (i've done pretty much everything i wanted to do with that) and going on to high power rocketry. I plan on doing my L1 cert in two weeks, my L2 cert this fall, and then my L3 cert next spring. Read L3 as meaning big ass rocket.

Here are some pics of this first rocket. It has a video payload system to record video during launch and tranmits it back to the ground via a 2.4Ghz 500mW transmitter.
I'll post videos when it takes first flight in two weeks.

Schematic can be found here of the video payload. Pretty basic stuff.
http://www.danielmccauley.com/arcas01.pdf

Enjoy!

Dr. Shark

Mon Jun 11 2007, 03:32PM

Registered Member #75 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 09:30AM
Location: Montana, USA
Posts: 711

Nice! Is the rocket itself an off-the-shelf unit, or did you build it yourself like the payload? I am not familiar with what L1 .. L3 mean, is it all solid-state rocketry or are you planning to mess with liquid fuel or hybrid rockets as well?
Anyway, good luck for your maiden flight!

...

Mon Jun 11 2007, 03:54PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

Not to steel Dan's thunder, but a short bit of background with model rocketry...
The motors are rated with a letter system, each letter is 2x as much energy as the previous one. An A motor has 1.26-2.50 NÂ·s, a B motor as 2.5-5n/s, etc.
To buy anything bigger than a G motor, you need to be certified with one of the big organisations, a level 1 gets you G and I motors, level 2 gets you J and K, and level 3 gets you anything you want (the biggest one I have seen in person is a O motor, that ran off liquid N2O and PVC)

Unfortunantly, there has been a battle between us and the ATF for a decade now, they declared that our motors are OMG!!!b0mz0rZ!!!!! and that to buy anything with >6.2.5g of propellent you have to get a LEUP (low explosive users permit) which requires you to make a few magazines, pay a fee, give up a few rights, etc.

To get arround that I use motors that run off liquid N2O as the oxidiser and PVC as the fuel, both of which are unregulated. So no permits for me :)

In any case, nice downlink!

I am working on a gps/accel/altitude logger/downlink atm, should have a rev0 by the end of next week.

HV Enthusiast

Mon Jun 11 2007, 04:31PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Yes, this rocket is an off-the-shelf Aerotech ARCAS kit. I just applied for my LEUP, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

ShawnLG

Mon Jun 11 2007, 09:02PM

Registered Member #286 Joined: Mon Mar 06 2006, 04:52AM
Location:
Posts: 399

"I'm retiring the Tesla hat " Huh, isn't tesla coiling your carrier?

Tesladownunder

Tue Jun 12 2007, 05:30AM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

I'm retiring the Tesla hat (i've done pretty much everything i wanted to do with that) .....

I would be very sorry to see you retire too much from TC's. (Hey I haven't started the Plasmasonics 1 board I bought from you years ago).
I have a different approach and I believe that there is a lot of things that have not been done with TC's. I have 4 or 5 things things planned which should be impressive and have not yet been done yet. Only one or two are me-standing-close-to-sparks type things.

Not retiring your telescopes too I hope?

Good luck with the rockets. Good for picking up lightning downstokes too.

TDU

sparky

Tue Jun 12 2007, 06:09AM

Registered Member #530 Joined: Sat Feb 17 2007, 07:56AM
Location: Victoria BC, Canada
Posts: 178

Hybrid rockets are a lot of fun... Oxygen and roofing tar also works as a fuel too.... N20 tends to be a bit expensive for me.... Just don't have any motor failers --- they sure can be deadly when your playing with 1000 lbs worth of gas pressure!

HV Enthusiast

Tue Jun 12 2007, 12:49PM

Registered Member #15 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:11PM
Location:
Posts: 3068

Actually, not really retiring. Just reorganizing my time for my various interests. I'll still be doing Tesla coils from time to time, astrophotography of course, and am preparing to build a MEGA MONSTER smoke ring generator! heh heh

...

Tue Jun 12 2007, 02:34PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

@ sparky, I will take the cost of buying/storing liquid N2O over liquid O2 any day. In fact I probably wouldn't use liquid O2 even it if was free since it is such an oxidizer.

But having a liter of liquid N2O (vapor pressure @ 25c = 700psi) in an aluminum tube with the nozzle plugged was certainly an explosive experience. There is a video buried in my rocket thread.

In any case, good to hear you aren't selling off all of your gear!

Tesladownunder

Tue Jun 12 2007, 03:49PM

Registered Member #10 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 09:45AM
Location: Bunbury, Australia
Posts: 1424

EastVoltResearch wrote ...

... am preparing to build a MEGA MONSTER smoke ring generator! heh heh

I have wanted to build a bigger one but shed space is a problem. But perhaps I can store stuff in one if I make it big enough.
I will be seriously jealous if you make a bigger one.

TDU

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