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.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

In-line deployment mechanism

We've updated our main website with the rest of the flight day report from 10th January 2010.





The update shows more details of the lightweight deployment mechanism we have been recently testing. The Tomy timer version weighs 35grams.

The update also includes a highlights video from the day.

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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Very nice combination of features. I like this design because it makes it easier to add and maintain a payload below it, without wasting space and weight. With a side deploy getting into the spare spaces is a bit harder.

Any idea yet what might be causing the unexpected delay?

Cheers
Steve

George Katz said...

Hi Steve,

Although I couldn't see it originally in the DV camera footage, when I reviewed the slow-mo video tonight I could see that the parachute was out and dragging behind the rocket. So it looks like it deployed around when it should have, but might have been tangled and took a second or two before it fully opened.

I'll be putting it through a few more flights to see how reliable it is. I want to fly it with the Tomy timer as well to see how it performs.

You are right the side deploy does waste a bit of space. This nosecone is about 30% shorter. There is still plenty of room in there for an altimeter as well.

Cheers

- George