| Date: | 23rd September 2023 |
| Location: | Macquarie University, Australia |
| Conditions: | Indoors |
| Members: | GK |
NSWRA again had a stall at this year's Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night. Thank you to Mac Uni for inviting the club back again this year, it's always great to connect with the wider community and especially when it is science related. We had quite a few rockets on display this year, and Brian even brought along his TVC demonstration rocket.
This year we also set up demonstration launch inside the main hall. This is what we had trialled on day 227 at Whalan reserve. I made a launcher that could stand on its own on the stage, and then we ran a steel cable up to the third floor and some distance away. I also made a larger rocket out of a spliced pair as opposed to a single bottle in order to get more performance out of it. I test flew the rocket several times so that it just about reached the end of the line. I had to use 70psi to get it to go that far on just air alone. I used a 9mm nozzle for this. I also set the parachute delay to 2 seconds which turned out to be about right, as the rocket started to slide back down the line, the parachute would open and then slow the rocket before reaching the launcher again.
Originally I planned on using a bicycle pump to pump up the rocket so that kids could do it, but decided to go with the scuba tank as that was going to be a lot less work on the night if I had to do it myself. We ended up launching the rocket about 20 times. We could have easily been shooting it all night, but I didn't want to keep disturbing the other exhibitors with the fairly loud whoosh. It was definitely a success with the kids, and to solve who would pull the string to launch it, I had the kids do rock-paper-scissors and fight it out amongst themselves.
Click on this link to see short videos of the zip line in action on X/Twitter. pic.twitter.com/QdSOugWYiR
— George Katz (@AirCommand) September 25, 2023
Here are some photos from the night:
