Not Rockets

Other than offering a tiny bit of support to the ongoing Sugar shot project, I've been way too busy to do any real rocketry work. On top of being busy at work, we've decided to replace the floors at home with tile, to the tune of around 900 sq. ft. downstairs and 200 sq. ft. upstairs. I've decided to do the work myself. I convinced myself that it was a good way to save money, but the reality is that I kinda really enjoy the work. One of the first jobs that my dad had was as a stone mason, so maybe it runs in the family? It's going pretty well (I think) and I've gotten into a routine of laying whole tiles at night after the kids are asleep. By morning the mortar is set enough that they can walk on the tiles without causing any problems. Then on the weekends I cut and lay the smaller perimeter pieces when I can use the saw without annoying or waking anyone. In the bottom photo is how the floors looked before, and the other photos show the progression of the dining room area. Grout, baseboards, new carpet (on the stairs and upstairs), and paint still to come. Anyway, if anyone does actually follows this blog, stay tuned as I hope to get back to some rocketry work later in the year and finally fly this rocket.

We once had a Rocket

Mike Roberts posted a link to this interesting documentary film on arocket today. Mike reports that it was inspired by Francis Spufford's book "The Backroom Boys" and it's called "We Once had a Rocket". It documents how the engineers responsible for Black Arrow went ahead and launched the rocket with the satellite Prospero despite the government having just cancelled the whole programme. It includes a number of interesting interviews with some of the guys who worked on Black Arrow at the time. As others have pointed out on the arocket list, it seems unlikely that the government didn't authorize the launch, but the idea makes for a more dramatic story. Either way the video is interesting and worth a view.

Finocyl Propellant Segments Fired

Rick Maschek successfully conducted a static test of the small test motor which used a finocyl core geometry for the SStS project. This is exciting because of the possibilities that complex core geometries open up. Many of the most impressive small sounding rockets utilize a monolithic grain segment with a complex core geometry. Arguably on of the earliest and most successful is the Loki dart which could deliver a small payload to 34 miles despite being only three inches in diameter. It used a simpler cruciform core design.

Photos and video courtesy of Rick Maschek.

Finocyl grain testing

The Sugar shot project has begun testing finocyl grain geometries. Rick Maschek is doing a great job of actually casting the segments. Rick has managed to remove the mandrels with ease , something that is notoriously difficult with complex cores, by cooling it first by running nitrogen through the center of the mandrel. Ed at true-core fabricated the mandrel designed by Richard Nakka. I supplied a short 2 segment casing to work with the Blast Tube Motor that I designed to test ablative samples. Really interesting work that I wish I could be more involved with.

Pictures of last months launch

My friend James took some great pictures of the zinc/sulphur rockets at last months RRS launch. Zn/S rockets typically leave the ground like they're being shot out of a cannon, so many photos I've seen only include a column of smoke but no the rocket.

You can see the rest of Jame's photos from the day on his Picasa site here. The day was pretty overcast and there were some really cool cloud formations late in the day. James captured a great panorama of the approaching storm clouds that he posted on his blog here.

Two Wheeled Rocket

The other day a friend at work rode in his friends Ducati Desmosedici RR, and I got an opportunity to look over this awesome machine in person. Not a true rocket, but an incredible machine none the less.

Great Weekend!

I attended the RRS launch this weekend. It was a great launch and I had tons of fun. Rick Maschek and I fired a motor that was part of ongoing testing for the Sugar Shot to Space project. There were at least 12-13 small Zn/S rockets flown, a 4000lb thrust LOX/kerosene static test, and a variety of other flights and tests.