Axion G2 flights

A few photos from this weekend's launch of the Axion G2 rocket with the lower half of the Polaron G2 boosters. This configuration represents only about half of the final Polaron G2 capacity.

 Ready for launch

Boost phase - This rocket was launched at full pressure.

Near apogee shot from sustainer. 

The cars (in the lower center left of image next to the rocket) were at the launch site. 

I'm still working on full flight report and highlights video from the launch weekend.

G2 update

As we continue development of the Polaron G2 rocket, we are preparing to launch a smaller version to test the launcher at full pressure with both the main stage and boosters. We have tested the launcher release mechanisms individually at full pressure, but this will be the first time we do a high pressure synchronized release.

The boosters in this test are only the lower half of the final flight hardware G2 boosters. Each of the boosters in this test has a capacity of 5.25L. We are using a rebuilt Axion G2 rocket for the main stage with a capacity of 8.2L. All up for this test the we will use 8.6 liters of water per launch.

We are also testing the new booster retention mechanisms that will be used on the final rocket. We have previously tested half the mechanism on the main stage, but now we're testing the booster half of it as well.

We'll be launching this rocket at our high power launch site in about a week and a half.

Polaron G2 Progress Update

We've been continuing with the Phase 2 development of the Polaron G2 rocket over the last couple of months. I've added a number of photos to the build log here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/polaronG2.htm#_171013

I've also included a video of how we reinforce the spliced bottles with fiberglass. All the fiberglassing is now done so next we need to do some pressure testing on the segments. We have also been making progress with the new launcher we are building for the rocket.

Here is a mockup of the final rocket configuration, with the boosters just taped to the side because the retention mechanisms are not finished yet. ... we're going to need a taller ladder, or use the tree.

Quick update

Although we haven't done an update for a while, we've been continuing to work slowly in the background on a couple of projects. The delays with the updates have been mostly due to not being able to launch at the regular Doonside launches with our local rocket club because of the total fire bans here in Sydney. There have been many bush fires in the area recently. We could launch at the local park but the launch site is a little too small for comfort.

My wife also spent a week in hospital after surgery and so I've had to do more work around the house with the kids and helping them with their school activities. Life is settling back to a more relaxed pace now so I'll have time to do updates on a more regular basis again. When I have limited time for rockets, I prefer to build them than write about them.

We've been fiberglassing more spliced-quads for the Polaron G2 rocket over the past week and have been discussing with dad about the launcher modifications we'll need to make for the rocket. We'll post more on this in the Polaron G2 build log in the coming days.

Last month we also did some static tests on another rocket as a part of the upcoming test flights at the next launch. We'll post the video of these tests at the same time as the flight tests when we've had a chance to actually launch the rocket.

Gravity Mechanisms

We had a great launch weekend last week with beautiful weather conditions. We also finally flew an experiment that we've been wanting to do for a while.

One of the things that we see quite often are designs for parachute deployment systems based on "gravity" mechanisms that attempt to detect apogee when the rocket tips over.

So we flew a couple of experiments that show what actually happens to these mechanisms in flight:

The full write up of the experiment is here:
http://www.AirCommandRockets.com/day136.htm

This includes photos and a highlights video from the whole day. We also had a go at using the 240fps mode on the GoPro which turned out quite well. We're not quite game yet to put the GoPro on a rocket. We could probably protect it from impact, but the real danger is getting it stuck up in a tree.

We are going to fly a few more mechanisms in the coming weeks to demonstrate how they behave.

7 Years of ....

In order to celebrate 7 years since our very first launch we've put together a video of some of the valuable lessons we've learned over the years. Unfortunately hundreds of bottles were harmed in the making of this video.

http://youtu.be/cROVwjIZa1Q

We've also had another good launch last weekend with the Inverter and the Axion G4 rockets. Here is a full update with a highlights video:

http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day134.htm

Finding Rockets and Projects update

We have updated our main website with the progress of what we have been up to over the last couple of months.

LaRF (Laser Rocket Finder) 
We have successfully tested a simple laser device for helping to find lost rockets in tall grass. It is mostly designed to find small pyro rockets that typically don't carry other forms of trackers or GPS transmitters, but it is equally useful for finding water rockets. Full details of how the LaRF works are here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day133.htm

Shadow II Repairs
The Shadow II has been repaired and is ready for flight again. We still need to do a pressure test to make sure everything is good. The Shadow II build log has been updated with the more photos:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/shadow_2.htm#_210413

Launcher Upgrades
We have upgraded our quick launcher to be completely tool-free now so it is easy to quickly change configuration depending on the types of rockets being launched. The update includes a video.
 http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day133.htm

Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night
We again helped out with the NSWRA stand at the open night. It was a very busy night with lots of people to talk to.

Sydney Observatory
NSWRA also had a stand at the Sydney observatory this year. There was also great turn out for this event.

Painting The Sky

This week we launched the Inverter rocket again a couple of times. This time though, we filled the middle 3 spliced-pairs with different coloured water to see if we could change the water stream colour mid flight. (As opposed to 3 simultaneous colours as we sometimes fly in boosters) The results turned out fairly well and we were able to get the colour to change from pink to blue to green.

Here is the full flight report from the day:
 http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day132.htm

We also attempted the Materials challenge again, but this time with fins that were attached better. We were happy with the results, and achieved a flight time of 8.8 seconds. More details are also available in the flight report above.

Materials Challenge and Clark Cable tie launcher

Almost two weeks ago we had a go at one of the 10 challenges we set a while back - the Materials Challenge. Basically you have to build a water rocket using only PET plastic bottles. You are not allowed to use any glue, tape or any other materials! It was a fun challenge and things didn't quite work out as we planned but we'd like to visit it again to improve a couple of things in order to get more performance.

The full report with details of how the rocket was made is here: (video included)

http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day131.htm

Because we couldn't use our regular nozzles for the challenge (they are not made of PET), we also built a Clark Cable-tie launcher to launch the rocket. We've also put together a tutorial on how to make the launcher. It fits a standard Gardena release head so it can be used it with our regular launchers.

The tutorial is here:  http://www.aircommandrockets.com/construction_9.htm

Shadow II CATO, Good Inverter flight

I've put together the most recent flight report of the last launch day.

http://www.AirCommandRockets.com/day130.htm

We only had two launches on the day. The Shadow II had fun scattering itself around the launch pad, but it's unusual CATO was interesting to see and has given us some more insight into possible failure modes of high pressure water rockets. It also drives home how much energy is inside these rockets and why it's important to remain at safe distances at all times. The report goes into some detail about what we think happened.

The Inverter rocket behaved itself this time and had a great flight. The flight report contains lots more photos and two videos from the day.

Shadow II and Inverter Flights

Last weekend we had the opportunity to launch the Shadow II again. The Shadow had a couple of minor issues. One was a small launcher leak where the hose quick connector screws into the launcher, and the second was that the on-board camera didn't record. The flight went really well though and we ended up with a new altitude PB. We will have another go at the next launch.

We also flew the Inverter rocket for the first time. It also had some issues and ended up getting some damage when it hit hard. Overall though we were very happy with the flight as a lot of things did work.
We learned that the overall concept works especially with all the internal restrictions. It flew nice and stable and the rocket segments didn't twist around the rocket axis. We are already half way through the repairs and should be ready to fly again in a couple of weeks.

The full flight report with pictures and highlights videos is here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day129.htm

.

Projects Update

We've updated our main website with the state of some of the current projects as well as a couple of new projects. One of these is the Inverter rocket that we hope to fly this upcoming launch on the 26th. We have made up a separate build log for this rocket here: http://www.aircommandrockets.com/inverter.htm


The projects update is here: http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day128.htm In the update we also describe and show the damage done to a rocket that had been stuck in a tree for around 392 days. It had been exposed to rain, wind storms, cold and hot temperatures. It even survived a grass fire a few months ago.

We also talk about our recent visit to ANSTO with the NSWRA to do some demonstration flights.

Fairing Construction Tutorial

Happy New Year Everyone!


It's been quite a while since the last blog entry, so we thought we'd get this year started with a simple tutorial on how to make fairings that fit between bottles joined with tornado tubes. The step-by-step tutorial including video is here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/construction_8.htm

We haven't been sitting too idle (well maybe a little) during the holidays, but we have a few new projects to present this year. There are some new and some big rockets being worked on. We'll do running build logs for these again like we did for the Shadow, which makes it easier to follow progress. There are some new experiments to be flown in the MicroLab and some high pressure static tests to be done that we hope will show some interesting results.

We are planning to launch the Shadow II again on the first available opportunity this year which is Jan 26th (weather permitting). We will attempt to launch it at a higher pressure than last time.

We wish everyone all the best for the new year and good luck with your projects!

Hat-trick and Launch Procedure

I've updated our main website with a flight report from a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit of a slow day so we put together the hat-trick video. It took us a couple of goes to get the right shot:

We've also had a few people ask if we could put together a video of our typical launch procedure, so that has also been included in the update. A third video of the flight highlights from the day has been added.

Lastly the update also includes some photos from the Macquarie University Astronomy Open Night where NSWRA had a stand, and did some demonstrations.

The update is here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day126.htm

Chase and Boom cams

We had a good launch this weekend at Doonside. We only flew a couple of small water rockets, but wanted to get a couple of different camera angles for the flights. The first one was the classic chase cam with two rockets launched following each other with the first filming back towards the second.

 
The second was boom cam with a high speed camera attached to one end of a boom which was pivoted at the other end. The camera points back towards the pivot point.

Both shots turned out fairly well.

The full flight report with videos is here: http://www.aircommandrockets.com/day124.htm

TV commercial, Servo Timer II

Two weeks ago we were contacted by an advertising agency filming a TV commercial here in Sydney. They required some water rockets and a launcher for some of their scenes, and so we helped them decide on the design and ended up making the rockets for them as well. Dad and I got to come out on the day of the shoot to help set up and launch the rockets. It was a fun and very interesting day.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos: http://www.AirCommandRockets.com/day123.htm

Servo Timer IIs

We have also started making another batch of the Servo Timer IIs as we have had quite a few requests for these over the last several months. The servo timers are now available for purchase from here:
http://www.aircommandrockets.com/servo_timer_V2_0.htm#_BUYNOW

They are a little cheaper than the last batch as we were able to get better volume discounts on the components.

 Timers Ready for testing

Using Scuba Tanks

This week we have put together an article on how to use scuba tanks to make an air supply for your water rockets. Although scuba tanks won't be suitable for everyone, the article tries to go into some detail about what components you can use and how you can connect them together. There are also a number of tips and things to look out for when assembling your own air supply.

Since we are often asked about how many launches you can get from a scuba tank, we have also included a calculator that will work it out for you.

The full article can be found here: http://www.aircommandrockets.com/scuba.htm

Shadow II flies to 1,239 feet (377m)

We had a fun launch this weekend at the NSWRA launch at Doonside. The weather was almost perfect for rockets with calm conditions and blue skies. We took the repaired Shadow II for a spin on two flights. The first flight was at 400psi and reached an altitude of 1173 feet (357m). We then set it up again for a second launch at 420psi. This time the rocket reached 1239 feet (377m). Both of these altitudes were our new personal best. We are happy the rocket survived both flights and it also took some nice video in the process.

I have uploaded the full flight report to here:
http://www.AirCommandRockets.com/day121.htm

The report includes pictures and a highlights video from both launches.

 Chris launching the rocket. This was the second launch of the day.

Apogee photo from flight #2

ARB Test flights

Last week we did an experiment to compare how a launcher fitted with Air Reservoir Boosters (ARBs) performs vs. one without them. We had to build a new launcher for this experiment so that we could fit the ARBs to a full bore launch tube. The launcher is based on the Clark cable-tie release mechanism. We also worked on an improved splice that is lighter and has more volume than the ones we have been using. We still use the Asymetric #5 technique, but with a narrower sleeve and less overlap. We did 9 test flights for the experiment plus one more for the new splice. Thankfully they all came back safely and no repairs are needed.

The full write up of the experiment and splice info is here:

http://www.AirCommandRockets.com/day120.htm

New Launcher fitted with two 2L ARBs.

6 Years

Today it's been 6 years since our very first horizontal launch in the back yard. Water rocketry certainly continues to be a very rewarding engineering challenge and has allowed us to meet many new like-minded individuals from both the water rocketry world as well as the dark (pyro) side of the universe. It's been fascinating to watch how the hobby has developed over the years and how many new individuals and teams have helped to perpetuate the water cycle in the lower troposphere.

Very first Launch 4th June 2006

Here are some statistics about the last 6 years of operations:

Total Number of rockets launched or statically tested: 639

of these there were:
- 494 single stage water rocket flights.
- 47 multi-stage / boosted water rocket flights.
- 34 single and multistage pyro rocket flights.
- 64 static firings in tests and experiments (we don't count burst or pressure tests)

- 685 separate stages flown (pyro and water) and of these there were 74 crashes or CATOs. This gives an average failure rate of ~10.8% (In other words about 1 crash in 11 launches.)
- Only 1 lost rocket that is still stuck in a tree. (We may still get it back.)

- The highest launch pressure to date has been: 360psi (~25 bar)
- The highest water rocket altitude achieved: 1017 feet (310 m)
- The highest pyro altitude achieved: ~2500feet (760 m)
- total volume of water used: ~812L (217 gallons) = ~5 bath tubs full of water.

Other fun facts:
- We have never flown a full bore nozzle on a bottle. (19mm is the largest nozzle to date)
- We have never flown a Tomy timer deployment mechanism.
- We have never built or used a Clark cable tie launcher.
- We have never used a bicycle pump to pressurise a rocket. (we have used a car tyre inflator though)

We now have so many unfinished projects that we need to go back and start ticking some of them off. The status on some of the projects we currently have under way include:

Shadow II - We are slowly making progress on this front. We hope to have this rocket fly again soon.

Polaron G2 Phase 2- The progress on this has stalled for the time being. Currently the main technical challenge is holding down the entire rocket. The neck by which the rocket is going to be held down needs some serious reinforcing. We need to work out how to do this. The alternative is to hold down each of the boosters individually but this will be a lot more work. Attaching the pins and tubes to the rocket and boosters will also be a challenge for the higher pressures.

Acceleron V with a high pressure sustainer. This has been on hold for quite a while. We need to do a range of tests at the higher pressures on the whole staging mechanism. We are targeting pressures of around 220-250psi for the sustainer while keeping the boosters at the lower 120psi. Currently this is low priority.

Software - I've been working on a software application for the past year that is mostly aimed at pyro rockets, but is also very applicable for water rockets. About two months ago I started a complete re-write to make it much more versatile and the application is currently in Alpha. I will be posting a lot more on this in the coming months when it is released. This is also the main reason we haven't been doing too many updates lately. :)

More experiments - We have a long list of experiments we would like to fly. If the weather holds up we intend to fly one this weekend.

We would like to thank everyone for their great support over the last 6 years. We're looking forward to the next 6.

- The Air Command team.