Updates

All right, it's been a while since I posted here last, so I think I'd like to get into making more posts. Since the last post, I've gotten Jr. Level 1 certified with the NAR. I did this back in March, with my Drago on a Cesaroni H163(right). It flew to about 2,800 feet and went about 400mph, the fastest and highest I've ever flown. Above is a picture from the rocket's highest altitude, with the rows of cars visible. The date in the lower right of the image is incorrect, though. It was a perfect flight, despite landing on a metal roof and subsequently falling onto a gravel road. It's one tough rocket! Also, as a sort of celebratory launch, I flew my first sparky motor, which you need to be certified to fly since it spits out large amounts of sparks that could start fires. The motor was a G106, and it flew to about 1,700 feet(left). The rocket suffered a little damage, though, but it will fly again.

Another one of my projects over the school year was TARC, Team America Rocketry Challenge, which is a national rocketry competition where you have to fly a rocket to a certain altitude with a one or two eggs inside of it, and bring it back down in a certain amount of time. The years change each year, and the past year's rules were: two eggs, altitude of 800 feet, and a flight duration of 43-47 seconds. The closest to the altitude and duration gets the highest score. My friends and I had a great time, although due to tricky winds, we didn't make it to the finals. We are looking forward to doing it again next year! Below is an image of our rocket lifting off.

During April, I attended Red Glare XII, which was fun as always. I flew two new rockets, the Wild Child, an all fiberglass rocket designed for high altitudes on small motors, and the Cowabunga, a four inch diameter, three pound monster designed to have fun, "slow-n-low" flights. I had six flights over the weekend, an F36, an F59, a G68, an H163, an H87, and an H237. Unfortunately, my Drago broke two of its fins due to a badly wrapped parachute. It will fly again. It was cloudy when most of my rockets flew, so there aren't any good pictures, unfortunately.

One of my current projects is an electronic deployment project, which I am basing off of this video. As far as I know, I will be the first one to use this form of deployment on a High power rocket. The reason that I'm doing this project is because, as a minor, I can't purchase black powder or other explosive materials that are usually used for dual deployment. Dual deployment is basically when you have two different parachutes on a rocket, a small one and a large one, and you deploy the smaller one at the highest altitude and the larger one at a lower altitude. This doesn't let the rocket drift as far in the wind. The full thread on The Rocketry Forum is here. Note that there was quite a learning curve, and I began the project with barely any knowledge about it at all. Later on in the thread I began to learn more and become more literate with the parts and electronics.

Otherwise, I haven't been able to do much rocket work this summer. My other two current projects are a short and stubby 2.6" rocket called the Lil' Goblin (it's so small the parachute has to be packed in the nose cone) and a 2" diameter five and a half foot tall fiberglass rocket that will weigh at least 4 lbs when fully built. I may not even be able to finish it until next summer, since it has many different parts and I want to take my time while building it. And, homework and my rocketry club slow me down a ton during the school year.

I'll leave you with this picture, which I think is pretty neat. It is my Lil' Nuke rocket on an E18, one of my favorite rocket/motor combinations. Thanks for viewing!