I found a few kinds of parachute ground disconnect devices most of them rated for large cargo, possibly for hummers and tanks. The smallest one I've found is rated for 50-100 pounds and weighs only 3.5 ounces.
Art and I discussed the item above (thanks Steve) but Art pointed out that it may have not been useful in his case. The nose cone and upper body tube never hit the ground. So unlike a cargo payload that touches down all at once, with dual deploy the tension never completely goes away. It's nice that it is automated but considering it's price we are working on our own design before Odyssey flies.
I have a design that will test out over the next few months based on the principal of the method I used to attach the booster on to Freeze Frame. I believe it will work and I'll be glad to post the design for anyone that would like to see it. The boosters had K700's with about 250 pounds of thrust and lifted the rocket before the main kicked in and the held on until they were suppose to detach. They will require some method to activate like the WRC.
Doug
I probably forgot someone. If I did, I apologize. I'm so grateful. It was a grand weekend
see you at MHM!
Don't forget Conway's igniter (my last one) that lit Casey Mae up! 😉
Glad to see that the idea of the disconnect got some people thinking. When I was searching around on the internet for these I found about a million different patents for them I read that for some models the disconnect is activated when it senses a reduction in the weight of the cargo upon impact so not all of it has to touch the ground. Adrian has a great idea having the parrot to do the work, I'm sure you could set it to detect the landing and have it trigger a bp charge or even a mechanical release.
This is something that is definitely possible for us to figure out and it would solve a lot of problems by keeping the rocket stationary once it lands.
When my rocket was being thrown around for a half mile in the desert it knocked all of the batteries loose from the altimeters causing one of them to loose its data not to mention the damage to the airframe and fins.
This seems like a rather common problem among large rockets so lets put our minds to it.
-Steve
Excellent, Steve.
Another launch that was fantastic was Cliff's Prometheus that flew just over two miles on a modified Russell Red N1850... and landed just on the other side of the road from the flight line. 8)
sorry I don't know who it was I was helping but he had an awesome flame job on it.... I'm SOOOO glad he decided to abort though. The ground winds were starting to whip through pretty good at that point.
Greg, that was Scott Harless you were helping. Art called him on the two-way as we were heading back and recommended that he not fly because of the wind. Good advice. That would have been two beautiful paint jobs trashed.
Not to brag, but the launch of my Croc-a-Do Sunday morning was epic. I stuck the landing and the East German judges only gave me an 8.5
There were really some amazing flights both days and the paparazzi were all over. Looking forward to seeing pictures everywhere.
Not to brag, but the launch of my Croc-a-Do Sunday morning was epic. I stuck the landing and the East German judges only gave me an 8.5
Joe, that was so cool! I'd never seen anyone ever do that. 😯
8) One of the great stories was about a flight that did not happen. Steve was there with his L3 bird ready for a L3 attempt. A large crowd of friends and family were there, and there was a lot of excitement in the air. Steve loaded the M2400 Blue Thunder (OH BABY!) and was ready to go to the pad. The Big Red Rocket was about to roar to life! Just one more quick call to ART......Then the bad news, up high the winds were almost nothing, but at ground level the winds were bad. Art advised for a no go! Steve did the right thing and called for a scrub. Boy, that let the air out of the balloon! After a long wait in 100+ weather, friends and family loaded up to go home. Steve began to take Big Red apart to head home. He found that in all the excitment, the Quick Link from the booster to the upper section was not tightened. Had he launched.... That would have been ugly!
The rocket gods were with us for most of the flights. Denver Center reports are positive and we should expect our windows to happen again at Oktoberfest. Build 'em big, build 'em strong and let 'em fly!!!
I got my pictures sorted and post, I put them a collection you can view here:
ActiveOptics on Flickr
Or by day:
7/19/2008
Chris Murdock
Excellent, Steve.
Greg, that was Scott Harless you were helping. Art called him on the two-way as we were heading back and recommended that he not fly because of the wind. Good advice. That would have been two beautiful paint jobs trashed.
I was standing there when Art called Scott. Talk about a bad feeling..... I don't usually get involved in decisions but I joined in the discussion. I'm glad he gave it a good thinking over. I don't think it's one that can ever be second guessed!
How about you guys with the release ideas post up a thread on it? It's far easier to find good tech talk in threads where you expect it. AND this is some good juicy reading!!!!
How about you guys with the release ideas post up a thread on it?
The thread is started under Recovery help. Give me time, Give me time. I have the idea and working on the drawings. I'll get it machined up and still have to do some testing. It'll be several weeks before anything is ready for release.
Doug
How about you guys with the release ideas post up a thread on it?
The thread is started under Recovery help. Give me time, Give me time. I have the idea and working on the drawings. I'll get it machined up and still have to do some testing. It'll be several weeks before anything is ready for release.
Doug
Yeah, sorry about that. I had a brain fart and didn't see the thread. 😳
You my friend are a wild man. I would love to be a bug on the wall in your machine shop..... I'm trying to remember what little I learned almost 20 years ago all while I'm making chips.... It's pretty tough, but they have some good videos out these days.
Anyhow, I'll be watching it......
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