Fog

When we got to the launch site there was quite a thick layer of fog so we decided to quickly set up and launch into the fog as we did a few years back to see if we could get above it again. We managed to get one flight in before the fog had burned off. The rocket did make it above the fog and you could see the normal white puffy clouds above it.

Early Morning fog

No wind

Just near apogee

Which way is up?

Long Boom

We have filmed our rockets before using a boom off to the side of the rocket (see Day 80,  Day 82 in 2009 and Day 112 in 2011), but it always only showed a partial section of the rocket. Today we wanted to put the camera a long way out so that we could get the entire rocket into the shot side on. The boom was made out of 4 x 2.4m long and 6mm diameter wooden dowels. In order to get the rocket to fly straight the boom had to be balanced and so needed to extend all the way out to the other side. The boom was just taped to the side of the rocket. Since the boom extended on both sides, we put a camera on each end so we could get the flight from two different angles. The boom with the cameras and mounting brackets weighed 235 grams.

Boom fits the quick launcher

Attaching boom to rocket

Total boom span is 2.4m

Only minor fairing damage

With so much expected drag and added weight we figured it wasn't going to go very high and so set the timer delay for just 3 seconds.

The rocket made a nice humming noise on the way up as the boom resonated in the airstream but surprisingly the video was quite stable. It probably went up only about 150 feet, and the parachute deployed in plenty of time. The boom generated a little more lift than expected on the way down and so the rocket came down nose first, We should have attached the shock cord a little further up the rocket. Only the nosecone fairing split a little bit but otherwise all was good. The video was reasonable and we were able to capture the view of the entire rocket side on.

Foam Flights 

We also flew some more foam flights of the full length Axion rocket and all were recovered safely. All in all it was a good day for rockets with good conditions and a good club turnout for the launches as well.

9 Years

In the past couple of weeks we have also celebrated our 9 years in the hobby since the first single bottle launch in the back yard.
Here are a few previously unpublished photos from Day 1 and Day 3.

Assembling first launcher

4th bottle to be launched

Rock Legend Angry Anderson ...

... launching one of our rockets

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angry_Anderson

We would like to thank everyone for their great continued support. :) Stay tuned lots of new projects coming this year!

Flight Details