Rockets

[jadebox]

One of the reasons we bought an RV was to make our days spent out in the middle of nowhere punching holes into the sky an even more pleasurable experience.



Our local model rocket club holds monthly launches at a park just six minutes from our house. While far from a necessity, our RV does make attending the launches more enjoyable. Instead of struggling to erect a pop-up canopy for shade, we just press a button. If it gets too hot or cold, we have an escape. And ... well ... it provides a rest room just in case.

To join others launching larger rockets we often have to trek hundreds of miles to remote locations such as cotton farms in rural Georgia. So far we have only made one such trip. Staying at a nice KOA campground saved us a bit over a hotel and we met some interesting people. I did the math and we just have to attend about 450 such launches over the next 15 years for the RV to pay for itself!

 

[Rene T]

Tell me, are you guys regulated as to how high they can go?

 

[Oldgator73]

Tell me, are you guys regulated as to how high they can go?

There’s a regulation as to how high you can ge….oh, you said go.

 

[jadebox]

Tell me, are you guys regulated as to how high they can go?

Model rockets, basically ones weighing less than about three pounds with less than about four ounces of propellant, have no altitude limits and require no waivers from the FAA when flown according to our safety code and FAA rules. But, of course the propellant weight limit sets a limit on altitude. The max altitude for the smaller rockets is around 2000 feet.

Launching larger, high-power rockets requires certification by one of our national organizations and a waiver from the FAA. The waiver generally specifies the maximum allowed altitude for launches at a specific place and time. For example, one club I launched with had a standing waiver for 2000 feet but we could call Air Traffic Control which would provide us with a "window" allowing a flight of up to 8000 feet. Some of the launches held out in the middle of nowhere are able to get waivers allowing much higher flights. Hobbyists launching in the desert in California, for example, often get waivers up to 100,000 feet or more. Some day we'll take our RV to one of those launches. I have heard some incredible stories about the adventures people have had driving through the desert and camping there. It is said to be a daunting task.

As far as altitude, my personal best is about one mile in altitude for a 5.5" diameter, 12' long rocket weighing about 20 pounds at lift-off.

 

[Rene T]

Model rockets, basically ones weighing less than about three pounds with less than about four ounces of propellant, have no altitude limits and require no waivers from the FAA when flown according to our safety code and FAA rules. But, of course the propellant weight limit sets a limit on altitude. The max altitude for the smaller rockets is around 2000 feet.

Launching larger, high-power rockets requires certification by one of our national organizations and a waiver from the FAA. The waiver generally specifies the maximum allowed altitude for launches at a specific place and time. For example, one club I launched with had a standing waiver for 2000 feet but we could call Air Traffic Control which would provide us with a "window" allowing a flight of up to 8000 feet. Some of the launches held out in the middle of nowhere are able to get waivers allowing much higher flights. Hobbyists launching in the desert in California, for example, often get waivers up to 100,000 feet or more. Some day we'll take our RV to one of those launches. I have heard some incredible stories about the adventures people have had driving through the desert and camping there. It is said to be a daunting task.

As far as altitude, my personal best is about one mile in altitude for a 5.5" diameter, 12' long rocket weighing about 20 pounds at lift-off.

Interesting

 

[jackiemac]

Presumably once it goes you never see it again?

 

[Rene T]

As far as altitude, my personal best is about one mile in altitude for a 5.5" diameter, 12' long rocket weighing about 20 pounds at lift-off.

Just curious, what is the fuel, how much did it take and what is the cost. Can you retrieve it?

 

[jadebox]

Tell me, are you guys regulated as to how high they can go?

Model rockets, basically ones weighing less than about three pounds with less than about four ounces of propellant, have no altitude limits and require no waivers from the FAA when flown according to our safety code and FAA rules. But, of course the propellant weight limit sets a limit on altitude. The max altitude for the smaller rockets is around 2000 feet.

Launching larger, high-power rockets requires certification by one of our national organizations and a waiver from the FAA. The waiver generally specifies the maximum allowed altitude for launches at a specific place and time. For example, one club I launched with had a standing waiver for 2000 feet but we could call Air Traffic Control which would provide us with a "window" allowing a flight of up to 8000 feet. Some of the launches held out in the middle of nowhere are able to get waivers allowing much higher flights. Hobbyists launching in the desert in California, for example, often get waivers up to 100,000 feet or more. Some day we'll take our RV to one of those launches. I have heard some incredible stories about the adventures people have had driving through the desert and camping there. It is said to be a daunting task.

As far as altitude, my personal best is about one mile in altitude for a 5.5" diameter, 12' long rocket weighing about 20 pounds at lift-off.

Just curious, what is the fuel, how much did it take and what is the cost. Can you retrieve it?

For my mile-high I used a commercially manufactured motor that used APCP which is the same propellant as in the Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters. Rocket fuel sounds exotic, but APCP is basically rubber mixed with an oxidizer. When it burns it produces a lot of gas quickly which provides the thrust.

The motor I used was a “reloadable” which means for each flight I just need to replace the propellant in the reusable motor casing. The propellant for that large rocket’s one-mile flight cost about $150. Like a lot of things, the cost has gone up and it would probably cost about $200 now.

As you can probably guess, I don’t launch big rockets like that too often. I probably average about one a year.

Most of the time, I fly the smaller rockets like in the photo. Motors for those rockets are single-use meaning you replace the entire motor after each flight. But the cost of launching a smaller model Rocket is usually just a few dollars a flight.

All of rockets are designed to be safely recovered and except for extremely rare special cases are intended to be launched multiple times.

 

[Rene T]

You must have a parachute to get it back to earth in one piece. If you do is that deployed by a radio controlled device similar to what is used for flying a remote controlled airplane?

 

[jadebox]

Presumably once it goes you never see it again?

Our rockets are launched and recovered safely using a parachute or some other method such as gliding.

The 12’ rocket that I launch to about a mile in altitude was almost never seen again. For rockets that go really high, we usually use a technique called “dual deployment” so they don’t drift too far away from the launch site. At apogee, the highest point in the flight, a small parachute is deployed so the rocket falls quickly back to earth. When it gets to within a few hundred feet of the ground, a larger parachute is deployed so that it lands slowly and safely.

In my case, the larger main parachute deployed at apogee causing the rocket to drift far away. We looked for it several times over the next couple of weeks, with no luck.

Then a few months later one of the farmers from that area called us to say they found our rocket. A couple, celebrating their honeymoon by hunting for wild boar, found it!

After spending months in a tree, the rocket (which was constructed mostly of cardboard and plywood) was not in good shape. But I was able to salvage the motor casing, parachute, and a few other parts.

You can see videos of some of our (my wife is always a part of whatever I do) rocketry projects and adventures at:

https://youtube.com/@jadebox

Don’t miss the video about the “Bigger Big Daddy Akavish” - a six-foot tall, furry flying spider.

Apologies … but when I start to talk about rocketry, it is hard to get me to stop!

 

[jadebox]

You must have a parachute to get it back to earth in one piece. If you do is that deployed by a radio controlled device similar to what is used for flying a remote controlled airplane?

Generally we use electronic altimeters that sense and compute the altitude and deploy the parachute or parachutes.

 

[Rene T]

Thanks for the info. Never knew they flew that high. Sounds like a expensive hobby

 

[jadebox]

Thanks for the info. Never knew they flew that high. Sounds like a expensive hobby

It doesn’t have to be. A model rocket launch set with a rocket and launch equipment and a pack of motors from Estes costs $50 or less and everything but the motors are reusable.

It is only when you graduate to the larger rockets that it starts to get expensive. And I know people that have built and flown small model rockets for decades that have never been lured to the dark side of high-power rocketry.

If anyone has an interest In getting involved in the hobby, I suggest looking for a rocketry club in your area. Flying rockets with a club rather than on your own is a great experience. Not only do you have the social interactions and the chance to get help from others, but you get to see many more rockets being launched than you would launch on your own.

 

[msw3113]

Takes me back to my younger days and Estes products. I never got past Skill Level 4 but we sure had a lot of fun!

 

[DutchmenSport]

There are always new uses for the RV. They come in handy for a lot of things other than conventional camping. It sounds like you've got this figured out pretty good. I'm glad it's working for you and you are enjoying yourself. After all .... isn't THAT what RVing is all about!

 

[winona]

Takes me back to my younger days and Estes products. I never got past Skill Level 4 but we sure had a lot of fun!

Ahhh yes. I remember my older son and his rockets. I didn’t really believe a “toy” could launch but geeze oh wow did it! Totally impressed. Favorite was Big Bertha that shuddered as it lifted.

 

[jadebox]

I first built and launched a model rocket back in sixth grade. Our teachers did a neat thing. For a whole week they worked rockets into all of our classes. In our science class we actually built the rockets. In history we learned about the history of them. In English class we wrote a paper about rockets. In math class we worked out equations related to them. And during PE the last two days of the week we launched our rockets.

On the last day, after we finished launching our Estes Mark II rockets, the science teacher brought out his Big Bertha and launched it. It was so big and cool!

A few years later, I took a shop class. One of our projects was building a model rocket. It was a different experience than building from kits as I had continued to do. We actually rolled our own body tubes and turned the nose cones on a lathe. When we launched them I secretly palmed the 1/2A6-2 motor the instructor handed me and replaced it with a C6-7 (which is about eight times as powerful). The rockets were launched one at a time, just a few seconds apart. So, it went something like:

3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Whoosh .. Pop.
3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Whoosh .. Pop.
3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Whoosh .. Pop.
(And now my rocket...)
3 .. 2 .. 1 .. Whoooooooooooooooosh .. Pop.

The instructor looked at me with a knowing smile. And my fate was sealed as I was forever labelled a true nerd by my classmates.

 

[Vanbrat]

This sounds like a fun hobby...

 

[Joezeppy]

Looks like fun - launched a few back in my Boy Scout days.