This blog covers the day to day progress of water rocket development by the Air Command Water Rockets team. It is also a facility for people to provide feedback and ask questions.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

NSWRA and Polaron IV Main Stage

Yesterday was a fantastic day for rockets. We are now members of the newly re-grouped NSW Rocketry Association (NSWRA) and went to one of their launch events at Doonside. There were many rockets flown on the day and we got a chance to fly three of ours.


We ended up finishing the Polaron IV main stage rocket at about midnight the night before and so we got a chance to test it. We flew it twice with the full payload (new camera, altimeter and flight computer). Both flights were very good and the new parachute also worked well.

The Polaron IV rocket is now pretty much ready to be fitted with the boosters and ready to go. We will probably run some tests first on the boosters being launched from the new launcher with a dummy main stage.


Full details of the flight day will be published shortly with pictures and videos.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

does the polaron iv have three or one nozzle(s)
Also if i join the culb do become a member of the water rocket society too

George Katz said...

Hi Asher,

The Polaron IV main stage has only one nozzle as was flown on this day. We flew it with a 9mm nozzle in order to get enough thrust off the ground. Next time it flies it will have 3 drop away boosters (each booster has a single nozzle) The main stage will use a 7mm nozzle and fire at the same time as the boosters. The boosters will get it up to stable flight and the main stage will continue to thrust for another 6 seconds or so.

Which water rocket society are you referring to? There are a number of groups of water rocketeers that help organize rules for competitions. NSWRA has no associations with any water rocket societies that I know of. But I'm sure that joining NSWRA would enable you to launch your water rockets at their launch events.