inverted descent

I have a rocket that I would like to come down on parachute, top of body tube first. I want it to hang this way for various sensors and experiments. Due to size constraints, rear ejection is not possible.

Any ideas how to hang upside down?

The best I have so far is a metal bracket that runs the length of the tube, with a hinge at the bottom. My parachute would connect to the top of said bracket. However, it would be a little ugly as well as adding unwanted drag.

on model rockets I just run the kevlar or braided fishing line up the side of the rocket and into the tube and attach it at the middle or rear of the rocket, it prevents zipper. you have to have some way to groove the shoulder of the cone to allow the line to enter into the tube and slide the cone on. You could in theory do something similar in a larger scale.

Frank

Thanks, that is basically what I was trying to make stronger and reduce drag from with my long bracket. I keep hoping someone has a crazy idea completely different!

If the parachute is small enough to fit in the motor mount, motor eject, dragging the 'chute out with it?

Sounds like a perfect candidate for a variation of the Estes Sizzler (2127) rear ejection method (which I think Tonimus was hinting at)

I've got a .ork file for it in my .ork files thread.

What you're refering to is known as a "squid line". Rather than a piece of metal, one would attach a piece of recovery line to the base of the rocket. It's pulled taught and tucked into the nosecone. The line has to be long enough to stow in the body tube, and still give the angle you want.

Can the body tube be designed to separate farther down towards the fins?

Instead of having just the nose cone separate, you would have the nose cone and a length of the body tube. The chute would be attached to fin can so that the forward section would hang down below the fin can and chute.

RodRocket said:

Can the body tube be designed to separate farther down towards the fins?

Instead of having just the nose cone separate, you would have the nose cone and a length of the body tube. The chute would be attached to fin can so that the forward section would hang down below the fin can and chute.

Click to expand...

Yep, sure can. That's how my PML Patriot built for DD works. Until the main deploys, it's fully inverted.