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drrocket — drrocket
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Published: 2012-07-21 23:33:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 458; Favourites: 50; Downloads: 5
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This is how I acquired the nickname of "drrocket" I'm the guy in the middle...We are setting up a test of the second stage of one of Bobs'(That's Bob on the left) rockets. The test went well and the two-stage rocket was flown to an altitude of 29,000feet+ the next year in Colorado.This photo was taken in Wyoming just North of highway 20-26 on BLM land where we had got permission to launch.The view is looking West towards Muddy GapRelated content
Comments: 33
lol
I believe someone from the middle-east is interested in your services!
That's one serious bit of kit
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My largest rocket is 9' 6"
The jokes are bad, sorry.
What motor\fuel did you use.
I'm restricted to solid fuels only here,
and my next launch window is Next July
We have only one week a year for anything
over 4 foot!
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The first stage was powered by a 98mm diameter 'M'Motor, the second stage was powered by a 58mm diameter short-burn high-impulse'K' motor,Both motors used APCP or Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant,
Just the same stuff used in the Space shuttle SRBs.
Don't worry about liquid fuels , that sort of thing is too impossibly complicated for anyone without a billion Euro budget to play with.
If you've not already done so, contact Cath at [link] for more informstion on High Power Rocketry in the UK.
Anyway, about the "joke. I spent 12 years in college then 30 years Working at Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon perfecting the base component for the instrumentation to make this: [link] making it possible and win the Cold War and destroy the USSR.
so, .
I do tend to get a bit testy if anyone even suggests that I might lend any kind of assistance to any dictator or despot who even contemplates enslaving any peoples for any reason, It infuiates me.
If that ass-hat from Iran had the balls to show up on my front porch, he would get only two things from me, two .45 caliber slugs through the head. so no more, bad jokes , if you please
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Who makes the 58mm motor? I have never heard motors coming in that size.
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Understood.
Good info on the motors.
As for liquid fuels, a very simple version can be built without too much trouble.
Still, a good long burn liquid system is, as you say, complex!
As for the bad jokes, someone suggested one of my rockets to be launched in a certain direction.
Although since I have made and used fireworks for displays (some time ago now), it was understandable.
For remote launching (this is the serious question bit.) do you ever use wireless remotes, or only wired systems?
I've only had one successful wireless launch of a 2 foot rocket, but I need to rebuild the launcher
As for motor size, launching in the parks here are restricted to a 'D' motor
which is why we tend to wait for the open weeks (different times in different places around the country.)
But we are still held to about 'J' without a licence!
Bit lame here
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Well, there are hybrid motors available that use liquid Nitrous Oxide dumped with no throttling straight into a thermo-formed HDPEcombo combustion chamber/nozzlethrougha single-use pyro valve but even that system is a bit too complex for me to bother with as the loading of the Nitrous Oxide takes place on the launch pad and is rather too prone to failure for my liking, Not to mention the rather tedious cleaning of each and every little thing that comes in contact with the Nitrous to prevent detonation of any residual organic materialwhile the rocket is on the pad. I had a hybrid motor here but finally threw it away, I want to fly not spend all day pissing around with a motor that really requires a fairly large well-trained ground crew. With reference to "wireless"launch systems, the answer is "NO" they are generally too suceptable
to inteference from random nearby sources and I don't think you would like a rocket going off in your face, You can take my word for this,
My FCC Radio Operator License callsign is: KC7ZCA As to being restricted to 'D' motors, AeroTech makes re-loadable 24mm 'D and 'E'class motor casings that use APCP reload kits With about 2.5 times the specific Impulse of the common black-powder motors. Good flying!
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Thanks for the motor info - Now, I go shopping
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impressive, it must have some sort of onboard altimeter and transponder so you can locate it and retrieve data. how long does it take for that vehicle to reach its apex?
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Yep, it carried a transponder that used the 70 cm band near 430MHz so it could be tracked using a hand-held transceiver and a compact YAGI antenna Time to apogee was right around 57 seconds
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Yep 430MHz transponder so you can track it down with a hand-held Yagi; digital recording barometric altimeter, go to [link] and search for a prefecture near you, give them a call or look at their website to find out where and when their next launch will be held I'm sure they would be delighted to have an audience.
Approx. 57 seconds to 29,000+ feet
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Outstanding, thanks for the information ^^
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It(the work)was more fun than the fun
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'Strue! we were in the sam place and had filed for a waiver to 32,000 feet, when every thing was checked and double-checked for the high-altitude launch, we called Salt Lake Utah Air Traffic control then Denver AirTraffic Control to activate the high altitude flight window(shared responsibility) Salt Lake ATCC asked us to delay the launc for 10 minutes so they could re-route two flights out of Seattle; we, of course said we would delay, no problem, as we could see two con-trails at about 34,000 feet approaching from the west we watched as the northern most one executed a 45deg. turn to the North and the southern most one executed a 45 deg. turn to the South, after about 15 minutes, Salt Lake called and told us to go ahead and launch, so we did and called them to say the bird was away; then both aircraft executed turns until they were both going East again. *That* was way cool!!
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Hiyas Deb! 
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And, amazingly, relatively inexpensive.
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Hiyas Paul!! I was wondering where you'd got off to.The largest rocket motor I ever messed with was an "M"."[link] (they start at 1/4 "A" and go up to "O"and "P"with each succesive letter having twice the total Impulse of the preceeding one. An "M" motor produces3,000 horsepower for 5.4 seconds and will push an 85 pound rocket to 31/2 miles of altitude at roughly 634 MPH. Motors larger than "H" commonly use Ammonium Perchlorate Composite propellant(APCP), The same stuff used in the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket boosters. which, in the US,required that one have an explosives license issued by the BATF as well as an approved storage facility. The whole endeavor is further complicated by the requirenent that on file for a waiver with the FAA before launching a "High-Power Rocket. Anyway the whole thing became much too complicated, especially after I moved from Wyoming (98,000 sq. miles of nothing much) to Arkansas (47,000 sq. miles of "rocket-eating trees". So I've not done anything with it for years...
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Hiya Dan, good to hear from you too. You are a man I respect for your attention to detail, your warm friendly character and just being a really decent man. no matter how long it takes for you to hear from me, I'm always your friend. Keep up the good work and I still want that rocket lol...
take care Paul.
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0 and they can also explain whatever 'red-tape' the gummint requires
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Thanks Darren, yeah the Buppie is getting old now lol.. tells us when to get up when to go to bed and when he wants anything.. always was a smart dog. Kids are all grown up now.. last one was eighteen this year..... Have applied for membership to tripoli.... would love to go to a lauch
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Heh, aren't we all...
Goto [link] and ask the Prefect where and when the next launch is...
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