High Power Rocketry

PVC and aerosol rocket cannon

2012-03-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

"This video demonstrates how to fire a rocket under the power of a flammable aerosol. Hairspray or a flammable spray deodorant are the fuels of choice. The total cost of this project assuming the tools needed are already available is about $25. For that price you can make 4 rockets for the launcher, as the foam sleeping pad that they are made of is large enough to make multiples.

Parts & Tools:
1. 18" x 3" Pressure Rated PVC Pipe
2. 3" Pressure Rated PVC End Cap
3. Piezoelectric BBQ Igniter or Flint & Steel Lantern Striker (Available at hardware or sporting goods stores)
4. 2 Self Tapping Screws if using a BBQ Ignitor
5. Foam Sleeping Pad
6. 2 Liter Soda Bottle
7. Duct or Packaging Tape
8. Hot Glue
9. Drill & Bits
10. PVC Primer & Cement"

Estes Transroc Owners Manual

2012-03-02T15:28:00.002-05:00

"The TRANSROC is a miniature, multi-purpose transmitter sold in kit and preassembled form by ESTES INDUSTRIES for use with model rockets."

From Spacemodeling.org

Mylar streamers 2 x 41 inches

2012-02-29T17:48:00.003-05:00

The rocketry bender continues with two mylar streamers. I intend to use these on mid and high-power flights. The plan is to increase visibility with sporadic flashes from the streamer. If it works, this will be a regular addition to all high-altitude flights.

Formula 75 - the fins are in!

2012-02-28T15:51:00.003-05:00

The fins have been installed in the rocket. The image above shows some water drops inside, the whole thing was cleaned after a final sanding. After the parts were fully dried, the fins were tacked on with CA, and secured initially with a small application of JB weld. A pour of 5 minute epoxy was used on the centering ring to hold it in place and get epoxy rivets going through the lowest fin holes that I drilled. Slowly, with a 24 hour curing time, JB weld fillets are being used between the fin and motor mount. These will see the worst of motor heat so JB weld is a good idea. For the fin to airframe internal fillets, I will either use 5 minute epoxy or 30 minute epoxy. Strength matters here, but heat exposure is minor. Once this is done, the rocket will be ready for foam, and the centering ring will be installed.

Make your own nebula

2012-02-27T19:25:00.003-05:00

Neon Flames

Soyuz images at English Russia

2012-02-27T10:09:00.004-05:00

"On Friday, A Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying a Meridian spacecraft, lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 4.08 p.m."

Many more images at English Russia. This link was provided by Derek Deville.

Stiga flight 2 - to 95km by Armadillo Aerospace

2012-02-26T11:59:00.006-05:00

Recovery on this flight was less than optimal, but it is great to see the rocket performing as needed for spaceflight.

The footage from about 3:30 until reentry shows really cool micro-gravity and a lack of atmospheric drag. One can see a parachute just float around, along with small particles, the nosecone, and recovery lines. This is the look (and silent sound) of space!

A recovery failure appears to occur at 4:59, with the loss of the nosecone and ballute. Clearly spaceflight is hard, and takes practice to get right. Even with minor problems like the ballistic recovery, I consider this flight highly successful. With the loss of this drogue ballute, the main 'chute was destroyed as well. With the rocket now aerodynamically stable again, an high-speed impact was inevitable.

The best part of the video is at the end when the rocket comes in ballistic (and nose-down) for a crash landing. Yes it is sad that the rocket was damaged, but it scores very high on the cool factor nevertheless. It falls very fast, supersonically it would seem. The rocket then lands extremely close to the launch pad. It is good that footage was recovered and no one was harmed by the crash-landing at the end.

"The video and subsequent hardware analysis showed that when a coiled rope extended and created a jerk load, the ballute broke a strap that was meant to retain it until the main was released.

After the ballute left the vehicle, the rocket fell nose-down the rest of the way. The main parachute also departed with haste as the rocket entered the thicker atmosphere. Once the rocket gets below the clouds it provides a good view of the spaceport runway and the gravel mine southwest of the vertical launch area.

Telemetry was regained briefly on the way down as the rocket came back within range. It sent some information on event timings, but unfortunately does not send a latched apogee altitude. Apogee was estimated from the position and velocity curve of the last data received, about 10 seconds before the end of the burn, plus main engine cut-off time and apogee time from the onboard video. The best match to the data is at 94.5km above sea level.

From launch control we heard a sonic boom, shorter than the last flight's, followed by the noise of a rapidly falling rocket. The rocket was spotted, and some of us watched as Stiga impacted the ground at 205 meters per second roughly 750 meters from the launch site. This represented kinetic energy of around 5 megajoules. Everything on the rocket was destroyed, except the fins and engine, which were last to hit the ground and were quite overbuilt."

The nosecone and ballute were recovered about nine miles away! From the picture below, the size of this rocket becomes clear. It is a huge nosecone, and that is not 1 inch kevlar strap as I had suspected, but rather some really beefy 2+ inch strap. They clearly built it up and it still failed! The dynamics of spaceflight are particularly demanding.

Here are a few images from the website:

I am particularly interested in the ballute used for recovery:

I had previously noted that they would be better off going with a rocketman drogue. While I still suggest trying this, it is clear that the ballute is working fine and the real problem this time was a failure in the attachment point. This ballute will possibly be used on the next flight, a new rocket designed to fly to 125 km.

Here is more information about the flight:

Stiga Flight 2

NukeMap - a simulation showing nuclear explosions on Google maps

2012-02-26T09:12:00.005-05:00

This fun little simulation shows the detonation of any nuclear device of standard design (no enhanced radiation weapons that I can see) from a list of preset warheads, or any arbitrary yield. While I doubt the information here is perfect, since detonation altitude and conditions would greatly alter the results, it does seem to scale fairly well to at least 100 Mt devices.

The simulation above shows a small Davy Crockett nuclear device of 20 tons yield. One should note that while this is tiny for a nuclear device, and near the minimum yield possible before you get a fizzle, it is still an exceptionally powerful bomb. In explosive power alone, this bomb would be several times more damaging than even a large conventional bomb like the GBU-43/B MOAB. The explosive yield is twice that of a GBU-43, but I also think there would be a hotter fireball and an explosion with very high brissance. Even more significant, as you can see above, is the radiation damage. Very small nuclear bombs do the most damage by radiation when used against humans. Those a few blocks away would survive the blast (as long a flying debris did not hit them) and probably would not even see much of a thermal exposure at all, as buildings would block most of that, but the radiation exposure would be profound indeed. (Unless again buildings could be expected to stop most radiation, something that I do not know much about.) One would have to be 10 blocks away, or about half a mile, to be safe from severe radiation exposure if unshielded by buildings. There is no doubt that this particular target, the Empire State Building, would be completely destroyed and rendered radioactive in the process. A tiny bomb like this would, if used by terrorists, cause billions of dollars in damage and kill thousands of people.

For fun, I also tried huge detonations like a 10 Gt device:

Now I have been told that devices of 100 Mt and higher have limited use as atmospheric detonations, simply because blast is shot upward into space, and because heating is limited with the curvature of the Earth and the atmosphere blocking most of it. Any giant nuclear device must necessarily detonated at high altitudes of miles or more to help spread the heat around. But if they are, the amount of thermal heating can be profound indeed. The Tsar Bomb demonstrated this.

This 10 Gt device above has a large fireball about 20 miles in diameter (enough to utterly destroy and even crater most of New York, the place of detonation.) The blast is also massive, killing most people indoors half way out on Long Island, and killing many people out to the end of Long Island. But far more shocking is the amount of thermal energy that this bomb would produce under ideal conditions. This simulation shows 3rd degree burns as far north as Montreal and as far south as South Carolina. Clearly such a bomb would be very difficult to build, and would only be deployable on a large ship. Detonating at sea level from a ship would ruin the point of using such a large bomb in the first place for the reasons I discussed above. Only fallout would be enhanced with a sea level detonation, and the fallout from a 10 gt blast in New York would be severe enough to harm millions of people as far as Russia, though at a time of nuclear war, the fallout from distant detonations would not be a priority. Far more economical is to simply use many smaller warheads of 200 - 900 Kt yield as is the case here:

Nuclear Detonation Map

Back from vacation

2012-02-25T12:34:00.003-05:00

After a week away in Louisiana, it is both sad to leave and great to be home. It certainly helps if you get home and find a tiny box by your door that has these two inside:

I am very happy to report that two of the new Estes plastic retainers have arrived. These are called "Pro Series II" retainers, and are designed for 29mm mid-power rockets. Each pack has two threaded tubes and two screw caps. This means that each pack is good enough for two rockets! (Or perhaps one with spares.)

I will install them on my two 29mm rockets soon, and post again with more information. For now I can say that they appear to be strong, but not terribly heavy. Basically they feel like PVC fittings of this size should feel. The color is a neutral grey, and will match the JB weld pretty well.

Formula 75 build continues

2012-02-20T14:07:00.006-05:00

Construction on the new kit continues apace. First, the upper centering ring was notched to allow the kevlar line to fit between it and motor tube. The kevlar was epoxied to the fiberglass motor tube, as was the centering ring. During this step, I selected JB weld for heat resistance. I do not know (and doubt) that this is significantly better than 30 minute epoxy even in this demanding location. 5 minute epoxy (used at times in this build) is rated for 200 degrees temporary. So I suspect that 30 minute epoxy would be fine. Only with the slimline retainer do I suspect 30 minute epoxy would be at risk. As previously stated, I don't really worry about appearances for internal parts, and the JB weld was just slapped on without masking tape. Most important is that coverage is complete and that all parts of the joint are covered on both sides. This was left for 24 hours to cure.

After filling the nosecone with expanding foam, the bulkhead plate was installed first with a thin layer of 30 minute epoxy, followed by a large (22.5 grams) pour of 5 minute epoxy. This potted the unit in place very securely, and also helped reinforce the edges of the nosecone to prevent damage if there is impact with the airframe. I enjoy using 5 minute epoxy when possible because it can be whipped up with air bubbles and remain fairly light, good for filling spaces like this. It does last long enough to settle flat after 30 seconds of mixing and a pour. The fins will be potted in place using more 5 minute epoxy after JB weld fillets. 5 minute epoxy is also quite cheap, and is less brittle than slower curing epoxies. This may mean weaker, but can also mean more impact resistant.

Urban wet-sanding may not look very professional, but it gets the job done. There is no safe way to dry sand in an apartment without a dedicated work-area. The results are better anyway, and cleanup is pretty simple. Fin slots and other contact areas were sanded for fit and better adhesion. These fin slots are very tight, and it looks like alignment will be almost automatic as a result.

After ca tacking the motor tube and upper centering ring into the airframe, the rear centering ring was installed as you see above. This ring will be removed after the fins are tacked in place, so that the fins can be reinforced fully. The nylon line (once a shock-cord from a rocket) has been tacked with ca so that the centering ring can be removed later. The alternative was to drill two small holes, and this strikes me as excessive. Once the ring is removed, it can be flipped over so the ugly side is facing in.

The fins were test-fit into the rocket, and taped off. The roots were all wet sanded (this time in the sink!) first with 400 grit, then 150 grit. The 400 grit was used to remove all residue of a sticky material that was found on the fins, possibly used to hold fiberglass sheets together while cutting. I found this material particularly hard to clean off. First it took razors, then scouring in hot water and soap, and finally the 400 grit when nothing else could finish the job. (Yes even alcohol was tried. No acetone or goo be gone on hand.) The 150 grit is to prepare the fins for epoxy. It should be plenty considering the amount of epoxy and foam about to be used.

The fins were then stacked, taped together, and placed on a visco-elastic foam sample block. I used a dremel and 1/8th inch bit to drill 8 holes along the root. These holes were at no time closer than 1/4th inch to each other or the edge of the fin, hopefully preventing any cracks or weakness in the fin structure. These holes are concentrated at the front of the fin and rear. In the front, 5 minute epoxy will pour through the holes (one fin at a time) and help form rivets. In the rear, epoxy foam will extrude through the holes also. Or that is the idea anyway. This may be overkill, but I intend to use a 28 inch skyangle 'chute with this 5 lb. rocket and strong fins are an absolute requirement. Furthermore, I do not plan on adding any significant fillets to the outside of the airframe because it will not be painted. Perhaps only a tiny strip, but nothing structural. Therefore, all fin strength will come from within the rocket.

Today I will attempt to fit and tack the fins in place, and perhaps even do the JB weld fillets. The rest will have to wait until after vacation. But the good news is, this rocket is more than half done! It will be ready to go by the first launch.

The saga of HAM - first great ape in space

2012-02-17T19:14:00.001-05:00

Icarus Rocket Launch

2012-02-16T16:13:00.001-05:00

Icarus Rocket on-board video from the 2011 ULA Intern Rocket Launch event in Pueblo, Colorado on July 30, 2011. Includes both real-time and slow-motion replay. Max altitude ~4000 ft. Video shot from on-board GoPro HD Hero payload designed and built by George Mitsuoka. Icarus Rocket designed and built by Steve Dean of United Launch Alliance.

Future of Aerospace Rocket

2012-02-15T18:53:00.002-05:00

"United Launch Alliance (ULA) Future of Aerospace Rocket: United Launch Alliance, Ball Aerospace Interns and High School Students Launched Colorado's Largest Rocket, Payloads, Saturday, July 30, 2011 from a launch site near Pueblo, Colorado.

Interns from both companies--representing the future of the aerospace industry--built the high-power rockets and a variety of multi-faceted payloads this summer as part of their experience at their respective companies. A major new addition to this year's effort has been the work of 14 teams from 11 Colorado high schools, laboring for months to develop payloads to launch on the rockets.

The Future of Aerospace and Stars 'N' Stripes rockets were built by ULA summer interns-dubbed SPIRIT (Sky Piercing Intern Rock-It Team)-in Denver, Colorado, Decatur, Ala., Harlingen TX, Vandenberg AFB, CA, and Cape Canaveral, Fla. This is the fourth year ULA interns have built and launched high-power rockets as a summer project and the second year with participation from intern at other ULA work locations.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) Future of Aerospace rocket
Launch Date: Saturday, July 30, 2011
Launch Site: Hudson Ranch, 9.5 miles west from the Walmart (at Pueblo Blvd.& Hwy 78) on Beulah Hwy. It is located on the right side coming from Pueblo, Colorado.
Length: 25 ft
Weight: 300 lbs
O-Class Rocket*
Altitude: 10,000 ft AGL
(1) large, (1) medium, (12) small payloads"

More at TRP

The Shadow - first two flights

2012-02-14T15:36:00.004-05:00

Regular readers may remember a previous post about a water rocket that is built like a HPR rocket. The rocket flew twice, once with good recovery and once with a failed recovery. Both flights were very fast and achieved about 1000 feet apogee. Most impressive is the amount of thrust, and the short duration. This rocket shows similar performance to a G250 motor in my estimation. Acceleration was around 50 gs, which is more than most high power flights. It is possible that the motor was faster still, perhaps something like a G400. More data would be interesting to find out exactly what thrust and impulse this motor puts out. Here is footage of the two flights:

You can see a detailed flight report here.

Project Pluto Nuclear Ramjet Cruise Missile

2012-02-13T08:46:00.009-05:00

Finally a video of the Discovery Channel Wings episode for Project Pluto! The following are parts 1 - 5 of the show.

Let me know if there any playback issues with this video provider.

There is a poor partial video on youtube as well.

There are, however, good copies of the "Nuclear Airplane" and the XB-70 episodes on Youtube proper:

I want to thank Sheldon for sending me these videos. If any readers have something interesting to share, please email me or post in the comments.

Extreme Performance Rockets (from 2007)

2012-02-13T07:46:00.006-05:00

These are oldies but goodies, and a few of them are newies to me. Including these two:

This rocket looks like a giant egg lofter (perhaps for ostrich eggs?) but is actually a 6 inch can-sat launcher with a minimum diameter bottom for 4inch motors. This flyer is the king of low-weight altitude rockets, and this one is no exception at about 10 lbs empty. That is not bad at all for a rocket with a 6 inch payload.

The specs for this rocket are insane:
LOA: 150 inches (about 12 feet)
Booster: CTI Pro98 N2500 (5.5 second burn, 13766 newton seconds)
Sustainer: CTI Pro98 N1100 (12.2 second burn, 14044 newton seconds)
2nd stage burnout: Over 1700 mph
Expected apogee: Over 90,000 feet

This is an excellent initial test of what two N motors can do. There is no doubt that, even without staging delays, N motors can break 100,000 feet in a well built, but largely conventional rocket. Replacing the first stage with an N5800 motor would increase the build requirements, but would probably have been enough to push the design past 100,000 feet. With a 10 second staging delay, one wonders how much the apogee could be increased again. The question remains, can two N motors launch a rocket to space with the right staging delay? Projects like this are a good way to test the waters first. Clearly the choice of motor is all important. Non-optimal O motors (like the stubby CTI O motors) and skinny M motors like the Ellis Mtn M1000 have been used in 100,000 foot attempts. Yet similar performance is possible with two N motors when motors like the incredible N1100 are employed. Two N1100 motors would be very interesting to fly, but the risk of the rocket drifting into horizontal flight are greater. At very low thrust, fin thickness can be held to a minimum as can airframe weight.

Additional Rumpty Dumpty information at TRP

XPRS Gallery from 2007

The 5th Annual International Rocket Weekend, 1996

2012-02-12T18:51:00.004-05:00

The 5th Annual International Rocket Weekend

August, 1996

Kelburn Country Centre, Ayrshire, Scotland.

I came to this page searching for an image of this rocket:

The Comanche 5, that supposedly flew on a D12 - D12 - C6 - C5 - C6 to 4,000 feet! This image shows Marcus Lauder, the builder.

http://www.gbnet.net/orgs/staar/report.html

Design X - Icelandic student project

2012-02-11T08:13:00.005-05:00

Amateur Icelandic rocket to about 1400 meters.

There are also many construction and post-flight images here:

As well as images of propellant cooking:

Here is a crude translation: "Design - X is not yet complete, although the last Wednesday it was oral examinations have been completed in the course and with all the work that the students had to deliver us over. but less than that, this is not yet over. In the evening on Wednesday went Rubber, Sector Deficit and the Svalbard component shown on screen simultaneously. They were there with great excitement in the scientific corner with him Helga from Leaning Tower. The show was shown on Friday and the boys were good and were both themselves and the school with distinction. But those who have yet to see the episode when he presented tonight at 00:20 or so on Monday morning at 19:10. I recommend you check out the episode, since this is also a very entertaining episode. Following nook that was a fraction of all the major media in the country, the well has been taken in the event. Subsequently, there were 3 members of the group asked to bring in aspects of Svalbard as it was said by earlier. But now next on the fact that I Gudmundur city and Kari Rafn are going to give a lecture on aviation conference that starts next week and will be in lecture on Wednesday. I Kvet all those who want to see me sweat please come and witness the wonderful items. There will then be announced later on the exact timing of this lecture, but until then, then I pray that heylsa. Yours Gummi"
http://honnunx.blogcentral.is/

Horse gas masks

2012-02-09T16:31:00.003-05:00

Many people seem to visit this page after searching for "horse gas mask" or other similar google searches. So here are a few more.

Drops of water orbit a knitting needle in space

2012-02-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

"Expedition 30 astronaut Don Pettit uses knitting needles and water droplets to demonstrate physics in space through 'Science off the Sphere.' This is part of the first video in a series for a partnership between NASA and the American Physical Society to share unique videos from the International Space Station with students, educators and science fans from around the world."

Relative amount of hydrogen and helium required to support a man

2012-02-07T19:44:00.001-05:00

Work on the formula 75 - nosecone

2012-02-06T19:05:00.005-05:00

I have scuffed up most of the epoxy ready surfaces, other than airframe. These were all cleaned with soap and hot water, then carefully dried. Instead of purchasing a nosecone eye bolt as planned, I decided to use an extra Giant Leap 38mm anchor. This includes a strong eye bolt system as well as a 38mm aluminum tube. It is certainly overkill, but the plan is to just use the entire thing with the bulkhead at the center. I then made a small mix of 30 minute epoxy and locked the whole thing together. The application of epoxy was sloppy, but because this is an internal part I did not really worry about making it look perfect. The most important parts were all coated, including the nut, washers, threads, and the actual 38mm tube with vanes. This should help protect from off-center impacts on recovery, and will spread out vertical pull on the nosecone, but will ultimately not make a huge difference over a naked 1/4th inch eye bolt.

The bond strength of the bulkhead, or possibly the open eye bolt are now the weak points of this small component. This will be potted in place with a large epoxy pour of no less then 1/4th inch thickness at a later point. I expect that this will allow for an extremely strong nosecone assembly.

With the rest of this epoxy, the nosecone shoulder was installed in the base of the nosecone. This strikes me as a weak-point because the nosecone is so heavy. Therefore, it will be reinforced with epoxy, and later with a full volume of expanding foam.

No images of the nosecone shoulder were included because with black on black fiberglass, the contrast is too low.

Building, flying, and attempting to recover a 98mm min. dia. rocket

2012-02-06T10:51:00.005-05:00

"98mm hand layed fiberglass rocket flying on a N1397 motor"

"Tuff Enough..98mm min dia hand layed fiberglass rocket flying on a N1700 Swamp Gas. Flew to 37K 2.2 mach"

Recovery of hpr rockets is always difficult, and the challenge grows exponentially as altitude increases beyond 10,000 feet. My longest recovery was also at Black Rock, but in my case the rocket was small (2.5 inches by 72 inches) and the distance was only about a mile or maybe 1.5 miles at most. We lost sight of the rocket on the way down, but did know the general location. After driving out a ways, it came back into view on the ground and was recovered no problem. Flights to extremely high altitude, 50,000 feet and beyond, frequently fail during thrust, at max Q, on recovery, or they get lost somewhere on the ground. It is very difficult to get everything working perfectly.

Discussion and information can be found at The Rocketry Forum.
Also check out other videos (inc. construction details) at the tfish38 channel.

Hydrogen peroxide engine on Ebay

2012-02-05T21:04:00.000-05:00

Thrust - nominal 50lbs with 85-90 % hydrogen peroxide
Design Chamber Pressure - 300psi
Material - seamless 347 high temp columbium stainless steel.
Weight - 380 gram +/- 1 gram
Outside Diameter-- 1.500 inch +/- 0.002"
Inside Diameter -- 1.365 inch =/- 0.005"
length ~ 4.5 inches total

Listing

Formula 75 rocket kit has arrived

2012-02-05T15:24:00.008-05:00

This kit will be my level 2 certification rocket. The Formula 75 is about 75mm x 48 inches with a 38mm motor mount. It is all fiberglass, including the highly impressive nosecone (more on that in a moment.) The kit arrived in a bag with the basic parts only: a nosecone with shoulder and bulkhead plate, pre-slotted airframe, motor mount tube, and two centering rings. No parachute is great, I already have too many. But it also lacks any Kevlar cord, motor retainer, rail guides, fin bevels, or most importantly any nosecone hardware such as an eye bolt. This is the price you pay to get a large fiberglass kit so cheaply, $95 shipped in this case.

I plan to get the additional hardware at giant leap, at a not insignificant cost (about $35) including 15 feet of 1/4th inch kevlar and a slimline. Even so, it would have cost more to go with the other kit I have been considering, a 4 inch dynawind kit from Giant Leap. And this kit is solid fiberglass, and comes with pigmented fiberglass. I have never loved painting rockets, largely because I live in an apartment and there isn't any great space for painting around here. With that convenience does come one condition: the fillets must be clean from the start with no hope for sanding as that may alter the smooth appearance of the airframe. Some amount of conditioning can be achieved with car wax and buffing with a rag.

The nosecone is particularly impressive. It is quite long, and made out of very sturdy fiberglass. The tip appears to be graphite composite. Aluminum tipped nosecones are also available, at a greater cost. The lack of eye bolt hardware in this kit is the only thing that surprised me. I do not think it would add much cost, and is not likely to be customized among most buyers. In any event, a trip to the hardware store should get 'er done well enough. I will go with a forged eye this time, despite never seeing the normal eye bolts fail. A recent thread over at the Rocketry Forum (not the first) has made me paranoid.

This will be my level 2 kit, but will only fly on small 38mm J motors from CTI such as the baby 648ns J285 with an 8 second delay. This motor is so close to an I, I think there is a very good chance of recovery on a day with low wind. That is important enough that I may put off a certification flight depending on the conditions of the launch day. Expected altitude is about 3,000 feet on a J, based on preliminary simulations. That is high, but not excessive for a rocket of this size. (The size affords greater visibility in the air and after recovery.) I specifically decided on a dark airframe color, which I find is better for tracking in the air. On the ground the "cherry" color - really some shade of burgundy, will not do so well. That is where the parachute and possibly a large streamer come in.

I want to built it strong as always, with an eye towards extreme, even excessive strength in some parts. The added weight will be welcome to keep apogee reasonable.

She wont fly dual-deploy, but will recover on a small skyangle that is normally reserved for the much lighter Loc Graduator and H45 kits that are only about half the weight. Extra weight will come with the use of epoxy internally, as well as foam in the fin can and perhaps the nosecone as well. I doubt that nosecone foam will add any significant strength, but I like it simply as additional weight and a way to remove the worry of air-pressure in this very large nosecone. In the fin can, I plan to drill a few holes in each fin root, and arrange to have the foam extrude through these if possible. A strong nosecone bolt, as well as a nice potting of epoxy in the nosecone shoulder and over the last centering ring should round out the rocket at 4 or even 5 lbs total. There will be further updates once construction starts. Stay tuned!

New computer and pile of hard drives

2012-02-04T10:28:00.009-05:00

This will be the last post ever made on the old computer, a P4 2.8 Win xp system. The new computer is ready, and all files have been moved over. (Yes that is the limit of my cable management.) It is interesting to see that all of the HDDs above don't even add up to the storage contained within the single new drive. I have taken the best HDD, a 500 gig SATA, and put it in the new computer for extra storage and backup. This drive is unplugged for now to save electricity and reduce noise, but perhaps it will be needed at some point.

Any ideas for the old computer? And what about the old HDDs? I hate to just break and recycle them, but I can't think they are worth enough to sell on Ebay.

A giant rocket nosecone made from sonotube

2012-02-03T14:25:00.002-05:00

Construction details at the rocketry forum.

Armadillo launches the STIG-A rocket to 50 miles

2012-02-02T20:09:00.007-05:00

Parabolic Arc

No videos yet, but I will post them as soon as they come up. For now, check out these two videos of the previous flight. Warning, the volume is loud in both. (Because they both have rockets in them.)

2012-02-01T20:22:00.003-05:00

"On March 23, 2011, two on-board cameras followed a sounding rocket on its journey from Earth to space and back again. The rocket was launched to measure solar energy output and calibrate the EVE instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. "

The spin helps keep the rocket stable through a long 2nd stage burn. You can see that stage burning even in near space where aerodynamic fins would no longer offer much stability. Late in the burn, the exhaust gasses expand noticeably. This is something that can be seen in larger rockets on the way to orbit.

You can also see individual videos from each camera:

Tumbling rockets

2012-01-30T20:55:00.004-05:00

Tumbling Rockets from Ralf Vandebergh on Vimeo.

Presentation of pioneering imagery in the project called 'Tumbling Rockets''. Contains some examples of obtained high resolution imagery of tumbling orbiting Rocket Stages using a 10 inch telescope during the years 2010/2011.

Featured objects are:

1) Tumbling Aureole-2 rocket from 1973 launch, one of oldest still tumbling objects in orbit.

2) Tumbling Soyuz rocket upper stage, launched Soyuz TMA-19 to the ISS

3) Tumbling Spektr-R rocket, a Zenit 2 seconds stage which launched the Spektr-R radiotelescope into a high orbit. This original unprocessed video of images shows a very rare capture of this rocket passing through the telescopic field of view

4) The Nanosail-D solar sail captured tumbling in Earth orbit. This is a bonus which has indirectly to do with the tumbling debris like rockets, due to its demonstration technological purposes. Nanosail is used to demonstrate future technology were sails could possibly be used to manage faster decay of satellites and debris.

Credit/Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh

A Realistic Interstellar Explorer

2012-01-30T13:32:00.005-05:00

1.0 Introduction

"For more than 20 years, an “Interstellar Precursor Mission” has been discussed as a high priority for our understanding (1) the interstellar medium and its implications for the origin and evolution of matter in the Galaxy, (2) the structure of the heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar environment, and (3) fundamental astrophysical processes that can be sampled in situ.

The chief difficulty with actually carrying out such a mission is the need for reaching significant penetration into the interstellar medium (~1000 Astronomical Units (AU1)) within the working lifetime of the initiators (50 years). During the last two years there has been renewed interest in actually sending a probe to another star system - a "grand challenge" for NASA - and the idea of a precursor mission has been renewed as a beginning step in a roadmap to achieve this goal.

Ongoing studies now being carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in conjunction with a NASA-selected Interstellar Probe Science and Technology Definition Team (IPSTDT) are focused on the use of solar sails to achieve a more modest goal of ~400 AU in 20 years with a requirement of reaching at least 200 AU. This approach, as well as all of those previously considered, obtains significant solar-system escape speeds by “dropping” the probe into the Sun and then executing a DV maneuver at perihelion. In the solar sail approach, the sail is used first to remove the angular speed of the Earth and probe about the Sun; the sail is then maneuvered face-on into the Sun at 0.1 to 0.25 AU (set by sail thermal heating constraints), and solar radiation pressure accelerates the probe away from the Sun until the sail is jettisoned (at ~5 AU in the ongoing studies). The previous approaches, and that adopted for study here, initially send the probe out to Jupiter, using that planet's gravity to remove the probe angular momentum. The probe is then allowed to fall much closer to the Sun - in this case to 4 solar radii (RS 1) - where a large propulsive DV maneuver is required over a very short time - taken here to be ~15 minutes to minimize gravity losses. At this time all acceleration is over and the probe continues on a high-energy ballistic escape trajectory from the solar system.

In the scenario studied in our Phase I work, the use of a carbon-carbon thermal shield and an exotic propulsion system capable of delivering high specific impulse (Isp) at high thrust is enabling. For the NASA/JPL case, the manufacture, deployment, and management of long-term low-thrust maneuvering with a solar sail is the enabling propulsive technology. Both implementations require low-mass, highly integrated spacecraft in order to make use of moderate (Delta-class) expendable launch vehicles (ELVs). The further from the Sun that operation is required, the more stressing are the reliability requirements for the spacecraft itself. Our Phase I concept is baselined to operate at least 2.5 times as far from the Sun as the goal for the JPL study (1000 AU versus 400 AU) and contains system-architecture elements required as next-roadmap step after the sail mission - our probe design is largely independent of the propulsion means, whether those studied previously by us, solar sails, or others. In the Phase I work we have completed an initial scoping of the system requirements and have identified system drivers for actually implementing such a mission.

In this Phase I study we began the task of looking seriously at the spacecraft mechanical, propulsion, and thermal constraints involved in escaping the solar system at high speed by executing a DV maneuver close to the Sun. In particular, to fully realize the potential of this scenario, the required DV maneuver of ~10 to 15 km/s in the thermal environment of ~4 RS (from the center of the Sun) remains challenging. Two possible techniques for achieving high thrust levels near the Sun are: (1) using solar heating of gas propellant, and (2) using a scaled-down Orion (nuclear external combustion) approach. We investigated architectures that, combined with miniaturized avionics and miniaturized instruments, enable such a mission to be launched on a vehicle with characteristics not exceeding those of a Delta III. This systems approach for such an Interstellar Explorer has not been previously used to address all of these relevant engineering questions but is required to lead to (1) a probe concept that can be implemented following a successful Solar Probe mission (concluding around 2010), and (2) system components and approaches for autonomous operation of other deep-space probes within the solar system during the 2010 to 2050 time frame."

This paper is an excellent 30 minute read. The design of a Sun diver mission, used to greatly accelerate a spacecraft on an escape trajectory from the Solar System, is clearly very difficult. There are lots of challenges, including the question of how to protect the spacecraft from exposure to the environment within several radii of the Sun. Communication is another issue, as is weight savings. A spacecraft of only 50, 75, or 100 kg is required so that propulsion demands are not excessive. Even still, a change in velocity of 10 to 15 km/sec is required in a 15 minute interval. This is massive by normal standards, and will result in a 50 km/sec or greater escape velocity from the Sun. Burning within the gravity well of the Sun, after diving into the Sun from either Jupiter or the Earth, allows for a great amplification of the delta v rocket burn. Various methods could achieve the needed thrust, but not chemical rockets. Solar sails have always been an attractive alternative, as are ion propulsion systems, and nuclear pulse (orion type) rockets. In this paper, a method of collecting solar radiation (extremely powerful at this range) to heat a gas such as ammonia. Hydrogen would work better, but does not store well on long (ca 5 years) missions particularly when the heat on approach to the Sun is taken into account. This would be an ideal propulsion method because it can achieve the high ISP of ion propulsion, but also have higher thrust. Ion engines are not likely to burn quickly enough to work in only 15 minutes. In the end, only the solar-thermal option appears to work in a sun-diver mission. Perhaps this could be augmented with the use of solar sails in a hybrid mission.

Phase I Final Report - NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts: A Realistic Interstellar Explorer

Can a lighter-than-air spacecraft enter orbit?

2012-01-28T10:01:00.006-05:00

Among many other relevant technologies, JP Aerospace is investigating the use of low thrust, high ISP ion thrusters to accelerate their spacecraft from near space to orbit. These are not traditional rockets made out of metal, but rather lighter-than-air spacecraft which float to high altitude (over 100,000 feet) and then slowly accelerate and climb to orbit using propellers and later plasma rockets. This kind of flight is slow, but also gentle and quite inexpensive once the system gets working. A minimal amount of fuel is required because much of the lift and propulsion is done using lift gas and solar power. When fuel is consumed, perhaps xenon for the plasma engines, it is burnt at a very high isp, so that only a few kg are required to orbit payloads. In addition to orbital craft, there are plans for massive high-altitude stations where astronauts can live for extended periods. Payloads can be held here for staging to orbital craft as well. Once in orbit, the craft can drop payload, and slowly return to the Earth. Because reentry is gradual, there may be ways to prevent the high-energy reentry with the requisite heat and deceleration. If this can be done, the spacecraft can reenter deep space, rendezvous with the large floating station, and pick up a new payload. Refueling can be accomplished by transferring minimal amounts, dozens of kg perhaps, of propellant.

See more about this specific project here.

Reaction research society two stage rocket

2012-01-27T11:40:00.004-05:00

One problem with having over 1000 posts is that I can't remember if this is a repost or not. I think this rocket was mentioned previously, either while talking about the never flown 4 O 10,000 to 1 O 10,000 Kosdon project, or perhaps talking about Project Farside. If anyone can remember, post in the comments. Flying such a configuration helps if you want to stick to smaller, more reliable motors rather than giant motors of new design. This comes at the cost of reduced mass fractions and increased drag.

"On 17 October, 2009 a two stage rocket consisting of a cluster of four standard RRS “class” motors in the first stage and a single “class” motor for the second stage (Figure 1) was flown at the Mojave Test Area. Pre-flight modeling suggested a peak altitude of about 45,000 feet and a maximum velocity of about Mach 2.5. Available data indicate that a partial failure of the nose cone attachment resulted in “cocking” of the nose cone and subsequent “coning” of the vehicle as it accelerated. The coning in turn resulted in a trajectory that headed approximately southeastwardly rather than in the planned southwest (downrange) direction. Analysis of video of the second stage burn allows the performance of the rocket to be constrained to a probable burnout velocity above 1700 feet / second at about 6900 feet altitude. Six DOF modeling suggests a maximum altitude of at least 13,000 feet."

More here.

Vesta!

2012-01-27T10:29:00.002-05:00

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA

Project High Jump Boosted Dart

2012-01-26T15:40:00.006-05:00

How do I always miss the great projects?

Here is video footage of the attempt:

The motor failed during burn, resulting in a shred and recovery failures. This flight was one of several proposed Carmack 100kft projects. You can read more about these projects here.

The specs for Project High Jump are:

Boosted Dart configuration
4" dia 36,000ns Booster
Case bonded
Double Taper Core
Booster 7' 4" Overall length
Welded Fin Can

Dart Configuration
1.5" dia
40" Length
Fins Welded to tube

Raven Altimeters in booster and Dart
Big Red Bee 2 meter high power GPS telemetry

A boosted dart is a small, dense dart that is attached to a larger booster. On burnout the dart flies free, and is optimally designed to coast very well. Darts are dense, thin, and usually have a boat tail on the bottom. Boat tails greatly reduce base drag in the lower atmosphere, and are something like a backwards nosecone. When a rocket has a built-in motor, there is severe base drag because the bottom is typically a flat, abrupt ending to the rocket.

Boosted dart apogees can be twice as high as a regular rocket of similar impulse, perhaps higher. In one example, the Reaction Research Society (RRS) launched an R motor boosted dart that hit nearly 100 KM altitude despite burning out at about 10,000 feet. That tiny dart coasted at 4,500 fps in dense lower atmosphere, yet almost made space despite that. The dart coasted for about 50 miles! A full-sized R motor would have been lucky to get as high as 100,000 feet if it had to fly as one unit simply because drag is so serious at low altitude. By comparison, rockets typically need to hit mach 5 and 40,000 feet to get space. Darts can do it from miles lower.

It is logical to use a boosted dart for a "simple" goal like getting electronics over 100,000 feet. It is cheaper than a giant motor (the Q motor that did break 100,000 feet) and less complex than a two stage rocket. The N5800 motor is a bit slow burning for a dart, but it would certainly be enough to get a dart above 100,000 feet under the right conditions. In this case, the booster was a thin O motor that could have done a bit better than the N5800, but reliability matters also.

More images here

Solid Propellant Burn Rate Enhancement in Rocketry

2012-01-26T15:38:00.001-05:00

A REVIEW OF SOLID PROPELLANT BURN RATE ENHANCEMENT BY MECHANICAL METHODS

DAVID REESE

Abstract. The inclusion of metal fibers in a solid propellant grain has been shown to increase its bulk burning rate dramatically, and is a technology that was applied in several early sounding rockets. This review covers historical and current applications for the technology, as well as the theoretical basis for burning rate enhancement. Though technically successful, the use of wires to achieve high burning rates has largely been replaced with the use of reactive catalysts and other high burning rate energetic materials. However, recent concern over the sensitivity of such propellants is generating interest in other means of accelerating burn rates. As such, several practical research topics involving wire enhancement of burning rates are presented to reintroduce this technology into the motor designer’s toolbox.

TDK Propulsion

http://www.aame.in/

2012-01-24T21:18:00.001-05:00

Aerospace news from India

1959 - Missile designed with HITCO in mind!

2012-01-24T07:51:00.001-05:00

Thing is, this missile has a very strange design including "blast tubes" and plastic fins.

On Ebay Now

Test your vision

2012-01-23T16:52:00.001-05:00

Try the test

RS-25 SSME

2012-01-22T05:32:00.000-05:00

The Libya Rocketry Association

2012-01-21T19:38:00.005-05:00

"I am working on a plan to make (tourist rocket sport) in Libya and open the door for the world amateur rocketry to come over and shoot their rockets with me on the Libyan desert and by the sea side..."

I have to admit that I get bad flashbacks when I think about amateur rockets in Libya considering the violence last year, not to mention the typical role of rockets in northern Africa, but if the goals of this association are to practice rocketry for the sake of science and exploration, it is a good thing. Before I hold Libya to excessively high standards, let's not forget that American rocketry started (and remains) largely a military matter. Maybe if more people flew rockets for hobby, the World would be better.

http://rocketlibyan.blogspot.com/

Post number 1000

2012-01-19T14:22:00.010-05:00

Despite being around for many years, this blog has only today arrived at the 1000th post. Most of these posts have come in just the last three years. Thanks to all the loyal readers; without your interest, the minuscule Google payments alone would not justify maintaining a regular post rate. The picture above may perhaps be the best in the history of rocketry. It is a 4 stage, 10 motor rockoon, accelerating with something like a 75 to 1 thrust ratio on it's way to space. The rocket has just flown directly through a giant helium balloon, piercing it in two places the way a bullet would pass through a soap bubble. The rocket is so fast that the balloon has not yet collapsed. This image encompasses all that is great about rocketry. The farside project was complex, risky, expensive, and damn fast. The upper stage was expected to hit more than 17,000 mph, and top out at an apogee of thousands of miles. That giant balloon contained 3.75 million cubic feet of lift gas. After getting this rockoon to work, there was a tentative plan to use an extra stage to launch payloads at the Moon!

This is the substance of rocketry. This is why rocketry and space exploration will always have a central place in my life. In other words, get ready for the next thousand posts. Soon enough, I will start a new rocket project and attempt level 2 certification in the spring.

Just because this picture is so great, I decided to throw in a Hayden Planetarium (the sphere within the glass building) for scale. It is a bit less than half the diameter, and 1/10th the volume of the balloon used for this project. (Spheres are so strange.)

You can read more about Project Farside here, here, and here.

March to the Moon image archive

2012-01-18T19:08:00.002-05:00

Gemini images
Mercury images

Google+ Hangout: Phobos-Grunt re-entry

2012-01-18T16:34:00.002-05:00

On January 15, 2012, the Russian spacecraft Phobos-Grunt re-entered over the Pacific ocean and burned up. During this time, I reported the event live with Planetary Society science journalist Emily Lakdawalla on a Google+ Hangout.

So what has Phobos-Grunt been up to?

The final landing zone was in the Pacific. If you were the gambling sort you would tend to guess the Pacific for any object crashing into the Earth simply because it is the largest single target. On an unrelated note, if you are the gambling sort and want to borrow money at 10 points vig per week, let me know.

Onboard footage from N altitude flight

2012-01-17T18:51:00.003-05:00

Video footage - lots of spin!

I bet this rocket would have broken 50,000 feet, possibly 10 miles even, without the conning and spin.

Phobos Grunt has crash-landed back to Earth

2012-01-15T19:43:00.001-05:00

The odds of recovering any pieces are slim.

Phobos-Grunt plunged to Earth into the Pacific Ocean on Jan 15, 2012 - Predicted Crash Zone

Maps shows orbital track of Phobos-Grunt on Final Orbit before crashing to Earth in the Pacific Ocean west of South America on Jan 15, 2012. Atlantic Ocean was at the center of the predicted crash zone after fiery reentry of Russia’s Phobos Grunt spacecraft. Credit: Roscosmos

The Restart Page - Reboot under different OSes

2012-01-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

http://www.therestartpage.com/

Soviet lunar landing

2012-01-15T11:45:00.001-05:00

Giant Leap Mariah 38 on Ebay

2012-01-15T11:26:00.005-05:00

This is very tempting, particularly to buy and use for my first dual deploy experiments, but even a lowball offer ($120) seems like too much. I plan to build a level 2 cert rocket next month - and it will be a 3" x 78" all fiberglass rocket for a total cost of about $140.

Ebay Listing - ending in only 9 hours.

Saturn V

2012-01-14T17:29:00.001-05:00

Al the rage?

2012-01-13T19:26:00.002-05:00

This typo has resulted in thousands of hits, possibly because people are searching for "al the rage" by accident, and this comes up first. I have since fixed the title of the post, but to keep from losing the hits, I have made the title of this post "al the rage" as in "al the rage in Japan."

Candle burning in space

2012-01-12T14:48:00.000-05:00

Explorer Aquarius Upscale

2012-01-12T14:08:00.001-05:00

More at http://www.starleopard.com/

Massive MLRS salvo

2012-01-10T21:19:00.001-05:00

USB pen camera

2012-01-10T19:11:00.002-05:00

This camera was $16 shipped from Ebay. It comes with an 8 gig internal card, and actually works as a pen if you would want to be a spy. The size of the thing, and the fact that it has a bunch of holes all over the side, may get you in trouble with the KGB or Mafia to be honest. But since my brain does rocketry most of the time, I see this as a great little parasite camera. More aerodynamic than my other keychain camera, if somewhat heavy. But better still, it points sideways while my other camera points down. So they really complement each other. Indeed it would be fun to get two videos from one flight, and run them side-by-side in a youtube video.

Two issues remain. First, it is heavy and made out of metal bits. I wonder how the RSO will feel about that? And also, there is a power switch at the top that may be engaged during flight. With some testing, it should become clear how well it works.

PS check out the two "Gum-sticd Recirder Manual" packets included! The instructions are usually very hard to follow for these cameras, but clearly that is because the person making them does not speak English as a primary language. It is still better than my guides in mandarin...

Building the SLR

2012-01-09T14:01:00.001-05:00

Fireman Rocketry

Computer parts have arrived!

2012-01-07T20:53:00.003-05:00

After a few hours, the basic hardware has been installed and Windows 7 is in also. Tomorrow I will have to get the networking up and do all of the updates, downloads, etc. The Antec Sonata is exceptionally quiet, as is the stock cooler from Intel. Things were not perfect, and as always there are some issues. Antec included the usual MOBO pegs, but one of the four pre-installed had a flaw and basically got jammed, unscrewing itself as the mobo screw went in. After installing the board, and the cpu, I had to remove the MOBO and use pliers to get the faulty peg off! That is not exactly what one wants to do with a motherboard and cpu.

Antec has added an SSD mounting point, as have other case companies. This is too close to the side, and is utterly incompatible with the two SATA cables from MSI. The cables just don't fit when the drive is installed in either configuration, so for now it is just hanging out. Lastly, the mounting clips for the optical drive had two nice holes to line things up, but they were blocked with plastic. This was fixed by melting the plastic with a small screwdriver. Again not really the way things should be, but this last problem was expected because most of the Newegg reviews mentioned it.

For anyone who is looking to install Windows 7, consider the advice here. The author talks about optimization as well as tweaks that prove useful if you have an SSD. For example, windows started out with an 8 gig hibernation file (I turned hibernation off and got it all back) as well as 8 gigs of pagefile (I took that down to 1 gig.)

Once things are all set, I will have to copy a ton (about 1.2 TB) of files. This will take days and will require swapping HDDs back and forth between two computers, and probably actually erasing one HDD and using it over again to move from an old ATA drive that cannot work with the new motherboard. And then when the computer is completed, I will post some stats, benchmarks, and maybe calculate pi for a spell and see how it does. The computer should be able to do pi to 1 billion places in about 10 minutes, using nearly 5 gigs of ram!

This Girl Snuck Into a Russian Military Rocket Factory

2012-01-06T09:42:00.002-05:00

"Her name is Lana Sator and she snuck into one of NPO Energomash factories outside of Moscow. Her photos are amazing, like sets straight out of Star Wars or Alien. Now the Russian government is harassing her.

It was easy to get in. She just went there, jumped over the fence and got right into the heart of the complex through a series of tunnels and pipes, which was very surprising. After all, this is an active industrial installation that belongs to one of the top manufacturers of liquid-fuel rockets in the world. Their engines power the modern Soyuz, the Zenit 3SL, and the Angara and Baikal launch vehicles. Heck, their RD-180 engine powers the first stage of the Atlas V, an American rocket. More importantly, they have specially strong ties to the Russian military.

And yet, she found nobody. No guards, no security. Nothing. Just a few CCTV cameras here and there in rooms packed with huge machinery."

From Gizmodo

Thanks to Derek for finding this one!

North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie engines

2012-01-05T15:10:00.003-05:00

This image from Up-Ship.com

The Valkyrie is one of the most insane jets ever made, in some ways more extreme than the SR-71. It was expensive, huge, dangerous to fly, and ultimately not particularly useful as a weapon because of ICBMs. But those are just minor reasons in the face of this:

Stats:

* Length: 189 ft 0 in (57.6 m)
* Wingspan: 105 ft 0 in (32 m)
* Height: 30 ft 0 in (9.1 m)
* Wing area: 6,297 ft² (585 m²)
* Empty weight: 128,000 lb (58,100 kg)
* Loaded weight: 534,700 lb (242,500 kg)
* Max takeoff weight: 550,000 lb (250,000 kg)
* Powerplant: 6 × General Electric YJ93-GE-3 afterburning turbojet
* Dry thrust: 19,900 lbf (84 kN) each
* Thrust with afterburner: 28,800 lbf (128 kN) each
* Internal fuel capacity: 300,000 lb (136,100 kg) or 46,745 US gallons (177,000 L)

Performance

* Maximum speed: Mach 3.1 (2,056 mph, 3,309 km/h)
* Cruise speed: Mach 3.0 (2,000 mph, 3,200 km/h)
* Range: 3,725 nmi (4,288 mi, 6,900 km) on combat mission
* Service ceiling: 77,350 ft (23,600 m)

More XB-70 images:

Silver Spur 3

2012-01-04T16:53:00.004-05:00

I think there was a post about this rocket including the video below, but I can't find it right now. What is new to this blog are some of the images from before the flight. The Silver Spur 3 flight employed some interesting construction techniques, particularly the use of ablative leading edge material on the fins. This may be considered excessive, or nearly so at "just" mach 3.3, but that is around the threshold where severe composite delamination has been occurring. As always, I push for aluminum fins in these circumstances, but there are good reasons to test out the composite fins. It is taking on extra risk for the benefit of the community. It remains to be seen how far high temperature epoxy can go (that means above the 500 degree epoxy used to date) but I have reason to expect that really smart application of high temperature epoxy should be good for sustained flight over mach 3, and even short periods above mach 4 below 50,000 feet. Beyond this, ablatives or metal parts are required. I frequently wonder about either a metal leading edge, or even a thin sheet of titanium or aluminium attached with some high temp. epoxy. But at no time can the metal be below a composite layer because, obviously, that layer would fail anyway. The huge slug of titanium on the nosecone is certainly excessive, but very cool.

"Launch of USCRPL's Silver Spur 3 at Balls 19 in the Black Rock desert, Nevada. It features an all carbon fiber motor case, ablative fin leading edges, and a titanium nose cone tip. Flying on an O5000, it flew to about 50000 ft and reached a maximum speed of about Mach 3.3."

Images at Picasa

The cosmic energy inventory

2012-01-03T09:18:00.001-05:00

Zeiss 200mm giant binoculars

2012-01-03T08:47:00.002-05:00

These were probably made by Zeiss during WWII, so that means they were made on behalf of the Nazis. It falls among a plethora of other giant things like guns, probably made with slave labor.

Ebay is actually working!

2012-01-03T08:43:00.003-05:00

Selling a minor item, mostly to get more rocketry money, and the results are a bit shocking... By the end of the listing I expect about 80 watchers and 250 views, hopefully they bid the item up to $200. I had soured on ebay recently because of items that did not sell well, and the fact that most rocketry items are overpriced, but perhaps there is reason for hope.

AVIATR

2012-01-02T13:46:00.002-05:00

AVIATR

Post rate may be slower for a while

2012-01-02T09:35:00.003-05:00

Because the following items are arriving soon:

Antec Sonata III
Antec Earthwatts 500W Power Supply
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s
GIGABYTE GV-R667D3-1GI Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit DDR3
OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-90G 2.5" 90GB SATA III MLC
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile
Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EARX 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s
LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model
DYMO LabelWriter 450 Turbo High-Speed Postage and Label Printer
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
TRENDnet TW100-S4W1CA 10/100Mbps DSL/Cable Broadband Router
Intel Core i3-2130 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz LGA 1155 65W

Alternatives for Boost-Phase Missile Defense

2012-01-01T11:55:00.000-05:00

From Google Books

Learning to fly with helium balloons

2011-12-31T10:48:00.003-05:00

Cluster Balloon.org

Forgive them lord, they know not on what kind of science blog they doth advertise...

2011-12-30T21:57:00.005-05:00

New digital scale

2011-12-30T18:25:00.003-05:00

Just picked up this digital scale, a 200 gram capacity .1 gram precision unit. There are many uses for this, but I mostly wanted it to help with the mixing of epoxy. It seems pretty good, calibrated well with 1 dollar bills (1 gram on the mark every time) and coins - a dime is supposed to be 2.27 grams give or take. Like any good scientist, I want to start weighing all kinds of things now. It would be interesting to weigh all of my D motors to check for any variations.

Thermonuclear bomb physics package

2011-12-29T22:11:00.005-05:00

I cannot confirm that this is a correct schematic for a modern fusion bomb, but it looks interesting enough to consider. Compare it to the actual image above.

The Hayden Letters

2011-12-28T18:05:00.003-05:00

"In 1950, the Museum's Hayden Planetarium began accepting reservations for the first trip into space as part of a publicity campaign for its exhibition Conquest of Space. Letters poured in from around the world with requests to book trips to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and beyond, capturing the public's passion and curiosity for space exploration. View a selection of letters from enthusiastic would-be space travelers here."
At Flickr

Phobos Grunt will reenter atmosphere in about 2 weeks

2011-12-27T11:23:00.003-05:00

That is not too shocking; we have been expecting this sad day for a while now. But the expected location of the landing is pretty interesting:

Freaking Afghanistan!

What happens when some of the most advanced technology (though perhaps not advanced enough) in the World lands in one of the most backward, ignorant countries in the World? Will they blame the jews this time, or perhaps some woman who was caught with her ankle showing?

KH-9 Hexagon - Declassified in Sept. 2011

2011-12-26T19:32:00.001-05:00

Specifications

Data source: The Encyclopedia of US Spacecraft and NSSDC
Launch vehicle: Titan IIID/34D
Total weight: 11,400 kg (25,000 lb), with mapping camera 13,300 kg (29,000 lb)
Reentry weight: 5,330 kg (11,800 lb)
max. Diameter (main body): 3.05 m (120 in)
Length (with mapping camera): 16.21 m (638 in
Orbit: elliptical, 100 miles by 150 miles
Scanners: television, radio, and high resolution camera

Yahoo

Wiki

Soyuz reentry over Europe (not a comet)

2011-12-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

Space Shuttle launch at night

2011-12-25T10:21:00.001-05:00

Unknown explosion

2011-12-25T09:04:00.000-05:00

NASA video from ISS of comet and Earth

2011-12-23T20:34:00.002-05:00

"International Space Station Commander Dan Burbank captured spectacular imagery of Comet Lovejoy as seen from about 240 miles above the Earth’s horizon on Wednesday, Dec. 21. Burbank described seeing the comet as “the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space,” in an interview with WDIV-TV in Detroit."

- NASA

The full story of Stig-A from Armadillo Aerospace

2011-12-23T18:45:00.010-05:00

"On Sunday morning, 4 December 2011, Armadillo Aerospace launched the tube rocket "Stiga" (aka STIG-A) to approximately 140,000 feet above sea level from Spaceport America. The rocket took just under 2 minutes to reach apogee and landed twelve and a half minutes after the launch. The landing point was 2.87 miles away from the launch pad and conveniently on a road, well within the 4.35 mile range established before the launch."

How great is this rocket? Only mach 2.87 and 140,000 feet! The efficiency of a slow burning rocket with active guidance is very clear. The rocket shut down more than 10 seconds early because it had passed a pre-arranged downrange distance. That is a great safety feature, and also means that it could have broken mach 3 and gotten closer to 200,000 feet if it burnt the tanks dry. (The last 10 seconds would, assuming no throttle or great loss in motor isp at high altitude, be the best 10 seconds of all.) In fact, with a bit of optimization, this rocket could carry payloads to space. That could be as simple as a slightly lighter air frame, a bit more fuel, or a better ISP.

This would be an idea booster stage to a dumb solid rocket motor, say a Q, if they are interested in getting payload to 500,000 feet + at some point. Lighting a Q at 90,000 feet and mach 2 would be more than enough to get 10kg of cameras to 500,000 feet. But that is just my gut reaction, always being obsessed with altitude. It is quite possible that they have other things in mind (such as larger payloads.)

The recovery worked well enough (damage was noticeable but not fatal) but the parachute systems are going to be redesigned in future. The drogue stage is based on a large ballute. Ballutes are ideal for high-mach conditions, but in this case the drogue was damaged, resulting in a high speed deployment for the main chute, also resulting in damage. For my 2 cents, I suggest a 6 ft rocketman kevlar 'chute or the 8 foot ballistic mach II 'chute for this purpose.

www.armadilloaerospace.com

Source:
http://rocketdungeon.blogspot.com/

High speed footage - Crossroads shot Baker

2011-12-23T16:45:00.001-05:00

Note the initial hypersonic shockwave, a dark circle propagating through the water. This hydraulic shock, initially many miles per second, was powerful enough to crush the hulls of ships nearest to the blast.

Robot

2011-12-21T18:40:00.001-05:00

Hey check out this cool robot.

Christopher Hitchens Tribute

2011-12-20T21:16:00.001-05:00

Desorption-Assisted Sun Diver Missions

2011-12-20T16:08:00.002-05:00

"Desorption-Assisted Sun Diver Missions

Gregory Benford1 and James Benford

Abstract.

Solar-driven sails which can also accelerate by "boil off" of coated materials offer new high-velocity missions. These can take advantage of high temperature characteristics of the sail by using the large solar flux at perihelion. For the near term use of beamed power, beam illumination at ~kW/cm2 in LEO can simulate conditions any solar grazer mission will experience to within 0.01 A.U. Sublimation (or desorption) thrust from LEO into interplanetary orbit can omit the several-year orbits conventional solar sails need to reach ~0.1 AU. A second "burn" at perihelion, the highest available orbital velocity in the inner solar system, and thus optimum point for a delta-V, then yields high velocities of ~50 km/s for >40 A.U. missions. The mission begins with deployment in Low Earth Orbit by conventional rocket. Then the launch begins, driven by a microwave beam (and much smaller solar photon thrust) from nearby in orbit. Beam heating makes a "paint" (polymer layer #1) desorp from the sail. Under this enhanced thrust, in repeated shots at.perihelion in steepening elliptical orbits, the sail attains ~15 km/s velocity, canceling most of its solar orbital velocity, and so can fall edge-on toward the sun immediately. (This is far faster than using solar pressure to spiral down, which takes years.) It approaches the sun edge-on, to minimize radiation pressure on it in the inward fall. At perihelion the spacecraft rotates to face the sun. Under intense sunlight ~20 times Earth insolation, the sail desorps away polymer #2, getting a ~50 km/s boost at its maximum (infall) velocity. It then sails away as a conventional, reflecting solar sail, with the final Aluminum layer revealed. Its final speed is after leaving the solar potential well is ~ 10 AU/year. Within ~5 years, it sails beyond Pluto, giving high velocity mapping of the outer solar system, the heliopause and interstellar medium."

Full paper here

Tiny fan and coin vs current

2011-12-20T15:59:00.002-05:00

"Single phase submicro brushless motor, made from rewound wristwatch coil wire and the A1442 speed controller ic chip. Magnet is .5mm x 1mm, smallest available, shaft from .007" music wire, hypodermic tubing for bearings. Propeller is 8 mm diameter, made from basswood."

"5 cents vs 200 amps"

The Shadow - a water rocket built with HPR components

2011-12-18T09:46:00.004-05:00

"This is the build log of our next rocket project called "The Shadow". This water rocket doesn't use PET bottles or FTC tubes as the basis for a pressure chamber. Many of the construction techniques are borrowed from the model rocketry world. Rather than scattering the development details of this rocket all over the flight log updates, we have decided to keep a dedicated page for this rocket's development. The flights of this rocket will still be in the regular flight log updates along with our regular development."

I would be interested to see just how fast and high a water rocket can go. For example, how about supersonic flight? Or a flight over two miles?

More about Shadow at Air Command Rockets

First posted over at The Rocket Dungeon where rocketry bloggers go to read rocketry blogs when they are not blogging.

Photography of Nuclear Detonations - High Speed - Nuclear Explosion Induced Lightning

2011-12-17T22:55:00.007-05:00

"This is an old Lookout Mountain Labs production which highlights some EG&G films of US nuclear weapons testing in Nevada and the Pacific during the 1950s.. Of special note are two views of the CASTLE BRAVO shot (I think) which show nuclear explosion induced lightning effects. Originally hosted on an MIT server. Color (cruddy). Length: ~11:33. Unrestored. Year unknown (probably mid to late 1950s). No sound. Not classified."

I have never heard of nuclear lightning, but there is some great footage in this video that is new to me, including what is clearly lighting around the early fireball of test shot Ivy Mike. (At that time, it was by far the largest explosion ever.) Here is information about this lightning phenomenon:

"We report the results of a unique study of the lightning like phenomena that were seen to accompany the MIKE shot of operation IVY on October 31 1952. MIKE was a thermonuclear surface burst yielding 10.4 MT, which took place on Enewetak Atoll. During the period of approximately 10 ms after detonation, five discrete luminous channels were seen to start from the ground or sea surface at a distance of approximately 1 km from the burst point and to grow up into the clouds. We have reexamined the original photographic records of IVY-MIKE, obtaining effective brightnesses (optical powers per unit length) for the luminous channels at different altitudes as functions of time. The absolute calibration for the MIKE records was deduced by comparison with the photographic records of other events of that era, laboratory measurements of film sensitivity, and use of atmospheric transmission data taken just prior to the MIKE event. Errors in this analysis lead to an uncertainty of a factor of ~2 in the brightnesses of the luminous channels. In the laboratory we have used laser-guided electric discharges to create long (100 cm), arclike plasma channels to simulate the observed luminous channels and to allow determination of an empirical relation between the brightness of the channel and the electric current flowing in the channel.

These laboratory discharges had peak currents up to 100 kA and periods of ~2 ms. Spectroscopic analysis showed that the luminous channels consisted primarily of normal air plasma with typical ground-level contaminants. Photographic studies showed that these long-duration discharges are unstable to the m=1 magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability and become severely distorted in less than 1 ms. By direct comparison of the luminous channels seen at MIKE and the laboratory discharges, we deduce:(1) the peak current in the prominent (brightest) channel at MIKE was between 200 and 600 kA. Here the most likely value of the peak current was 250+/-50 kA, but potential systematic errors in the film calibration and the comparison of MIKE and laboratory data make higher currents possible. (2) The rapid decline in the brightness of the luminous channels seen at MIKE is caused by a combination of the effects of the MHD instability, which eventually leads to a broadening of the current-carrying channel, and channel cooling by turbulent convective mixing."

An empirical study of the nuclear explosion-induced lightning seen on IVY-MIKE - Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 92, Issue D5, p. 5696-5712 - Colvin et. al.

Lots more information on nuclear tests found here:

http://glasstone.blogspot.com/

I cannot confirm, and honestly do not agree with many of the points in this blog. Like a certain aerospace blog, I find the posts very useful even if they are mixed evenly with a political agenda. To their credit, the agenda is never really denied. The author goes to great lengths to explain why the damage cased by nuclear blasts is actually minimal compared to what we have all come to expect from the media, government, liberals, or whomever. From years of research, I have found that sometimes the popular perception overstates the damage caused in a nuclear war, and sometimes the military and government underestimate it instead. Most interesting is the statement that attacks on urban areas would not result in a firestorm as in Hiroshima. I feel this ignores the amount of oil, natural gas, various other flammable liquids, and paper in an urban environment. Clearly a city-wide firestorm is unlikely. How could a fire spread across the hundreds of square km of a city like New York? But widespread fires of somewhat smaller-scale (yet still hugely damaging) would occur. Direct attacks on New York City would certainly damage and probably ignite the refinery oil-in system across the river in New Jersey, and possibly tankers in queue there. These fires wont kill many people, but they will have important ecological and climatological impacts.

I shudder to imagine the impact of a 100 kt attack on the Jamnagar Refinery in India, the largest in the World. Not only is such an attack more likely, due to well known problems with Pakistan, now on the verge of being taken over by Islamic terrorists, but it is also the kind of "local exchange" or "regional nuclear exchange" that can have global repercussions in climate. Cities in India are much closer to Hiroshima of 1945 than one would hope, and they are still candidates for widespread fire of very dirty fuels such as wood, coal, textiles, various oils and flammable liquids, and paper. The amount of smoke and ash created in a "local" war (with perhaps 25 detonations from each party) is staggering. There would be millions of kg of dust and ash produced as a result, not to mention fine soot particles that can be lofted into the upper atmosphere with larger detonations. I won't even get into the nitrogen oxides and ozone.

Going back to World War III, the risk of firestorm is a minor concern because a full-scale attack on a large city would physically destroy most of the city with between 3 and 15 warheads of 200 - 900 kt yield, in the instance of New York or Chicago. Not only would most buildings be damaged directly (all structures being exposed to at least one 200 kt blast at a distance of only a mile or two, followed by other blasts at greater distance) but the amount of fallout that is likely to occur after such a disaster will indeed render the urban area fatal to anyone who remains above-ground for days at the least. There is simply no way to deny this, and one can assume that anyone who has not escaped the city before or just after the blast, or who is not indoors (with intact windows and a supply of water) or underground will eventually die as a result of radiation exposure. Remember also that there will be no medical care, so LD/50 exposures will be bumped up to mostly fatal.

This is a complex topic and there are many different factors to consider. In reaction to the claim that nuclear weapons are not as deadly for civilians as expected, and are mostly a military weapon designed to target strategic forces of the enemy, I have to disagree. Nuclear weapons always have been and always will be a credible threat to civilians. Nuclear weapon strategy will never again work as a counter-force only strategy (even if, for a short time, it did.) It does little good to deny the fact that nuclear weapons are designed to kill as many civilians as possible, and in that they achieve the primary purpose of any large scale war; to destroy the social and economic structure of an enemy. Nuclear weapons achieve this in a simple way; by killing a vast number of individuals and destroying the infrastructure of their society. There is no reason to doubt the fact that a carefully executed nuclear strike would achieve this goal.

Zooming in on the center of the galaxy

2011-12-17T10:48:00.000-05:00

"This zoom sequence stars with a view of the Milky Way. We zoom in towards the crowded central region, in the constellation of Sagittarius (The Archer). By shifting to an infrared red view we see through the dusty clouds in this direction and get a close up view of the objects orbiting the supermassive black hole that lies at the centre of the Milky Way. The final views show the motion of a newly-discovered gas cloud that is falling rapidly towards the central black hole.

Credit:ESO/MPE/Nick Risinger (skysurvey.org)/VISTA/J. Emerson/Digitized Sky Survey 2"

Comet Lovejoy survives a swing around the Sun

2011-12-17T10:37:00.003-05:00

This is remarkable not only because of the intense amount of heat at .25 solar radii, but also because of the strong gravitational gradient involved. But there is no reason why a large object, made of ice and rubble, should not have a shot at surviving this flight. Imagine melting 10 meters of ice, for example, even with an acetylene welding torch. Clearly it takes time to get the job done. Additionally, the non-volatile solids may help insulate deeper collections of ice.

Mohr Rocket - Boosted dart system

2011-12-16T14:02:00.003-05:00

"Engineer Ernst Mohr of Wuppertal, under the auspices of the German Rocket Society, developed a sounding rocket that was designed to reach altitudes of 50 km. A solid rocket motor with 7800 kgf would take the separable payload section to a speed of 1200 m/s. The booster had a diameter of 0.30 m, a length of 1.7 m, a total mass of 135 kg including 75 kg of solid propellant. The payload dart was 56 mm in diameter, 1.25 m long, and had a total mass of 15 kg.

Payload: 5.00 kg (11.00 lb) to a 50 km altitude.

Status: Retired 1959.
Gross mass: 150 kg (330 lb).
Payload: 5.00 kg (11.00 lb).
Height: 2.95 m (9.67 ft).
Diameter: 0.30 m (0.98 ft).
Thrust: 76.00 kN (17,085 lbf).
Apogee: 50 km (31 mi). " - Astronautix.com

I love the shape of that booster. It is obviously not a modern looking rocket, but for a boosted dart, the extra drag imposed by the stubby first stage is minimal, particularly if there is a fast burn.

Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T09:58:00.002-05:00

Christopher Hitchens dies at 62

Also at NY Times

More Rapatronic Camera Images of Nuclear Tests

2011-12-14T21:55:00.003-05:00

"The rapatronic camera (a contraction of Rapid Action Electronic) is a high-speed camera capable of recording a still image with an exposure time as brief as 10 nanoseconds (billionths of a second).

The camera was developed by Harold Edgerton in the 1940s and was first used to photograph the rapidly-changing matter in nuclear explosions within milliseconds of ignition. To overcome the speed limitation of a conventional camera's mechanical shutter, the rapatronic camera uses two polarizing filters and a Kerr cell. The two filters are mounted with their polarization angles at 90° to each other, to block all incoming light. The Kerr cell between the filters, which changes the polarization plane of light passing through it depending on the level of voltage applied, acts as a shutter when it is energized at the right time for a very short amount of time, allowing the film to be properly exposed.

For a film-like sequence of high-speed photographs, as used in the photography of nuclear and thermonuclear tests, arrays of up to 12 cameras were deployed, with each camera carefully timed to record a different time frame." Wiki

Helium balloon from California to Mediterranian

2011-12-14T13:26:00.003-05:00

The California Near Space Project launches conventional high altitude flights, as well as long range attempts (where the balloon travels at lower altitudes for long durations.) It appears that the latest launch is still going strong, now south of Italy. You can track flight K6RPT-11 here.

Some of the high altitude flights, those that end in a balloon burst at altitude due to expansion and UV degradation of the rubber, have gone into the upper 120,000 foot range. As always, this kind of performance gets me thinking about rockoons again. An N 10,000 at 100,000 feet would probably be good enough for a camera payload to space. But that is going to take quite a few balloons to get the job done. (Or a zero pressure balloon of massive size.)

Stratolaunch - the largest airplane ever

2011-12-13T16:39:00.003-05:00

"Stratolaunch Systems is pioneering innovative solutions to revolutionize space transportation. Watch the video or visit http://www.stratolaunch.com to learn more."

It looks like a large Pegasus. The real question is the cost per launch, and they really need to get it down to a few million per launch. (At 15,000 lbs payload, I would like to see $5,000,000 per launch, compared to $30,000,000 per Pegasus at 1,000 lbs payload.) Short of a drastic decrease in price, or increase in launch rate, this type of complexity and the serious limitations imposed make it hard to justify. As always, the best solution is probably the big dumb rocket way with solid propellant in the booster stage. Reusable rockets, SSTO systems, or hybrid systems like this tend to cost too much money. The Shuttle is a key example of that problem.

This jet is unable to carry a rocket bigger than about 500,000 lbs. Will it impart enough additional altitude and forward velocity to make that worthwhile? Or are you (as is often the case) just better off going with a 1,000,000 lbs rocket from the ground?

Visitors from around the World

2011-12-12T11:47:00.003-05:00

This page, initially only a modest side project, has taken over most of my blogging time. High Power Rocketry has a daily post rate of greater than one, and is closing in on 1,000 posts. Most of the readers are from North America, but a significant number are from other parts of the World. Here are the visitors from other nations during the past 12 months:

United Kingdom 5,382
Germany 4,675
Canada 3,964
Australia 2,913
France 2,024
Russia 1,885
Netherlands 1,450
India 844
Brazil 698

Phobos Grunt update

2011-12-12T11:23:00.005-05:00

The almost inevitable end is near: Phobos grunt will be destroyed upon reentry as seen in this artist rendition. But questions remain - will Russia try again? When will humans recover a sample from the Mars system?

December 8, 2011

Dear Colleagues,

As you may already know, the launch of the Phobos-Soil spacecraft was a failure. On November 8, 2011 the spacecraft was put into the near Earth orbit, however, the booster did not turn on, and, therefore, the spacecraft did not manage to change this initial orbit and transfer to the interplanetary trajectory. The reason of this failure has not been determined yet.

Immediately after this unpredictable event all forces of the mission control team were concentrated in order to attempt to establish communication with the spacecraft. Several foreign organizations, in particular, ESOC-ESA, DSN-JPL-NASA, NORAD-STRATCOM, numerous amateur observers tracked the spacecraft to establish communication with it and determine parameters of the orbit, its orientation and attitude. However, despite people being at work 24 / 7 since the launch, all these attempts have not yield any satisfactory results. We are grateful to our foreign colleagues, who provided us with every list of information about the spacecraft which was crucial at the time.

Currently, the spacecraft is rotating [tumbling] at the near Earth orbit, lowering every day, and we expect that it is to entry the atmosphere in several weeks. Lavochkin Association specialists will continue their attempts to establish connection with the spacecraft and send commands until the very end of its existence. We are working nevertheless on the issue of re-entry and probability of where and which fragments may hit the ground (if any). There is a sensitive matter that one of the scientific instruments (Messbauer spectrometer) contains radioactive material Co-57. However, the amount of Co-57 is about few (less than 10) micrograms, so that, according to our evaluations, no significant problems are is anticipated.

At present, the next steps of the Russian space science program on the Solar system exploration are being discussed. In accordance with the current plans, the next missions are Luna-Glob and Luna-Resource. As another possible additional step, at the moment ROSCOSMOS, ESA and NASA are discussing the collaboration on the ExoMars and Russian Mars-NET missions. Moreover, the Russian Academy of Sciences would like to prepare a new mission to Phobos. However, no decision has not been taken yet.

We would like to express our deep gratitude to You and all the scientists and specialists for collaboration on the Phobos-Soil Mission, preparation of scientific instruments and provision of ground support. We are deeply sorry about the failure of the Phobos-Soil Mission. We hope in future to continue our collaboration on space science projects.

Academician Lev Zelenyi
Director, Space Research Institute
Chair, Solar system exploration Board
The Russian Academy of Sciences

P.S. Please, convey this letter to members of your team. Thank you.

The Whirlpool Galaxy

2011-12-12T10:34:00.001-05:00

A composite image of the Whirlpool Galaxy (also known as M51). The green image is from the Hubble Space Telescope and shows the optical wavelength. The submillimetre light detected by SCUBA-2 is shown in red (850 microns) and blue (450 microns). The Whirlpool Galaxy lies at an estimated distance of 31 million light years from Earth in the constellation Canes Venatici Credit: JAC / UBC / Nasa

Nuclear fireballs, rope-tricks, and isothermal spheres

2011-12-11T08:48:00.001-05:00

Many of these images were taken with rapatronic cameras.

Mythbusters cannonball trajectory map

2011-12-10T15:36:00.003-05:00

Via: PerceptionBuilder.com

Giant ship propeller

2011-12-10T09:46:00.001-05:00

Parachutes with retro rockets

2011-12-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

Shake table testing of JWST mirrors under various vibration stresses

2011-12-09T13:44:00.001-05:00

"The James Webb Space Telescope will experience intense forces as it launches into space. To ensure that the different parts of the observatory won't suffer damage during this stage of the mission, engineers shake them rigorously. These two- to three-week-long vibration tests are performed on each of Webb's 18 primary mirror segments and the secondary, tertiary, and fine-steering mirrors. Engineers test the mirror's optics before and after each vibration test to confirm that the simulated launch left the mirror surface unscathed, without deformation or structural changes."