Monday, September 3, 2012

Vidroc 6

Member: Jamie Clay

Club: AeroPac
Project Goal: A long time ago I wanted to do a video rocket with the camera out on a boom so you could see the entire rocket within view.  If this goes well I may fly it a few times with up to an H power.

The Boostervision DV cam is mounted out on a boom made of graphite and brass. 




Aries I




MemberRichard Dierking

Club: ROC
Altitude: 5000'
Motors: Aerotech I284w to H123w
Project Goal: Two stage scale model of NASA Ares I crew vehicle (cancelled program, but still cool).  Rocket has two Estes A3-4T engines for stage separation.  Ground tested OK but will they work?  Both stages are dual deploy with a video camera (looking down) on the 2nd stage.  

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Mercury Joe with Mike Power



Member: Jamie Clay
Club: AeroPac
Altitude: 2200'
Web site: MercuryJoe.com

Project Goal: Another classic flight in - with all cameras working and Mike Power at the controls!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Hedley Lamarr


Members: Ken Biba, Casey Barker, Erik Ebert, Becky Green, Jim Green, Dave Raimondi, Tom Rouse, Steve Wigfield
Club: AeroPac

Altitude: 100,000+ '
Motors: N1000 to M685
Project Goal:  
This is our attempt to claim the "Carmack 100kftMicro Prize"  for an amateur flight above 100K'.  We are attempting to claim the prize using commercial motors in a certified configuration while carrying a functional science payload based on a commercial smartphone.  We adopted these constraints to further our goal of making 100K flights more accessible, repeatable, and affordable for the amateur community.  At the completion of the project, we will publish full documentation of our design and construction process and open-source our payload software.

The airframe is a two-stage, minimum-diameter design (see attached).  Construction is primarily of commercially-available fiberglass components with carbon-laminated fins.

Architecture:     Two stage minimum diameter - 4" booster to 3" sustainer
Motors:             Commercial ACPC motors.   Aerotech N1000 in booster staging to Aerotech M685 in sustainer.  24 second total burn time.
Total impulse:    21,650 ns
Length:             126"
Pad weight:       61 lbs
Avionics:          Raven+RDAS, Beeline GPS (70cm APRS), GoPro2 + WiFi BacPac replicated in booster and sustainer
Payload:           Smartphone+sensors with 2m APRS telemetry
Launcher:         12' rail
  
We will fly September 10-16, 2012.  As part of our "repeatability" goal, we intend to make multiple flights weather permitting.  We intend to webcast the video of the launch as well as real-time telemetry of the flight from the AeroPac web site.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Senza Confini


Member: Ryan Catanesi
Club: AeroPac

Altitude: 27 - 33,000'
MotorsAerotech K250W. CTI K300Cl, L640DT, L935IM 

Project Goal: This is a rocket that I have scratch built and designed for extreme altitude. I will be flying it under the TRA Mentoring program, my father being my mentor.

Senza Confini, is a "max performance" 54mm Carbon fiber minimum diameter rocket.

Optimized for the Aerotech 54/2800 hardware or CTI Pro54-6Gxl hardware. (By utilizing an interchangeable length forward airframe section)  It is only 38 inches in length, and weighs about 1.8lbs empty.

We are expecting upwards of 27,000 AGL out of it on any motor fit for these hardwares (excluding Skidmarks).

Project Note: Green light for flight pending a successful Re-cert L2 by my father after a short membership lapse.

Bare Necessities


MemberChristopher Cotner
ClubRocketry Organization of California

Altitude: 115,000'
Motor: N5800CS  

Project Goal: Tripoli N-class altitude record (for the CTI competition) and Carmack Prize Attempt. 
  • Bare minimum airframe for recovery and structure
  • Machined (not welded) aluminum 7075-T651 Fincan
  • Custom composite front end with Hawk Mountain tubing 
  • Designed and build by Chris Cotner and Carlo Vaccari (TRA# 13438)
  • Flown legally by our mentor and professor Gregory Lyzenga (TRA# 12088)

Monday, August 20, 2012

Needle Jr.


Member: Bill Earls
Club: AeroPAC

Altitude: 20,000'
Motor: J-530