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Date: 27th October 2012, 8:45am - 12:30pm
Location: Doonside, NSW, Australia
Conditions:  15 - 25km/h , ~20C, blue skies, partly cloudy later.
Team Members at Event:  PK and GK

Launch Procedure

This week we took our regular Axion rockets to Doonside. We wanted to get the Shadow II ready for this launch but with work commitments we ran out of time. The day was fairly windy anyway so we wouldn't have been able to launch even if the rocket had been ready. We had to replace the LiPo batteries on the Shadow because power was accidentally left on and they were completely drained.

The first launch of the morning was dedicated to filming our set up and launch procedure as we've now had a number of people request a video of how we carry out a typical launch.

Hat-trick

The day before launch Dad came up with the idea that we should get the rocket to pull a hat off our head during launch. So we worked out the details on the way to the launch site.

The second and third launches were done to film the hat-trick videos. We decided to use about 15m of string from the rocket to the hat so that the rocket had enough time to accelerate. We knew the hat was going to be a bit of a drag on the rocket so we shortened the deployment delay on the parachute by 1 second. We also laid the string out zig-zag style on a box so that it wouldn't get caught on the grass.

We also did a couple of practice pulls of the string to see what it was going to do. Dad had the hat on very lightly so there was no effort to pull it off.

Both launches went well and the rocket landed without issues. In the onboard video you really couldn't see the hat clearly, but you could see the jolt on the rocket as it pulled it off dad's head. (see highlights video)

We also launched my "Waterless" pyro rocket on a F20-7W. The launch rod pointed down wind a little and with the strong breeze the rocket took off at a bit of an angle. It flew great and the predicted altitude was around 1800 feet. We didn't fly a camera or altimeter on the rocket because there was a chance we were going to loose the rocket. Even with a small chute it landed over 500m away down range. Thanks to Norm and David for helping to retrieve the rocket. We had another motor ready to go but decided to wait for another calmer day.

The last launch of the day was just the Axion rocket which we now pointed down range because the wind had swung around and was now heading directly for the big trees. The rocket flew well but again coned on the way up. We're not quite sure why that is, perhaps due to the camera strapped to the side or a slight bend in the rocket? We need to re-align the fins too as the rocket rolls more than we would like especially for video flights.

Here is a highlights video from the day:

Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night

A couple of weeks ago NSWRA had a stand at the Macquarie University astronomy open night. It was a great night with a huge turnout. We had quite a few people from the club helping to man the stand and helping out with the demos as well. We did the G64 static motor firing outside and had around 200-300 people come and watch which was a lot more than we were expecting. Overall it was a great success and a number of people expressed interest in coming out to watch or participate in future launches.

There are some pictures on the left and here are some pictures from the night:
http://www.nswrocketry.org.au/gallery/OtherEvents/2012_MacUniAstronomy/01_MacUniOpenDay.html

Flight Details