Well we flew!
We got started a little late and had everything ready to go on the pad at 11:30am
After 35minutes of trying to figure out the launch controller, we got a good igniter burn, but no motor ignition.
After pulling the bad igniter out we found that the igniter had slipped into the supplied soda straw which inhibited part of the burn.
Luckily I brought an igniter from a CTI L motor I have, and after ensuring it was at the top of the motor we retreated back to the bunker, and attempted the launch again.
IT WORKED!
With a 30:1 Thrust to weight ratio it screamed out of the hardly 3ft tall launch tower and into the 20mph winds. Surprisingly the flight was bullet straight.
Our GPS gave lock nearly the entire boost phase
About 2.85miles away we lost GPS signal, my first thought was that the nose had separated and dived into the ground. One of the reasons I love the Garmin GPS is that if you loose lock for any reason, it will keep your last know point and take you there. So after an hour of hiking we get to the last known point, then we receive lock for a second and about 50m down from where we were was the nosecone and payload tube. Unfortunately I was right, separation... With no booster in sight, we continue search for about 2 hours till the sand, dust, and wind, were getting unbearable.
We head back and are pretty upset not to find any altimeters, or our expensive motor case.
Here are some photos from the launch:
Group picture of the team, with Tom (Tominator2), and Jared (Edwinshap)
Just our team!
We have lift off!
The video taken by Tom is up on youtube, but be warned it does include a nice word by Jared, I think
[YOUTUBE]iJnXsX-MXWM[/YOUTUBE]
So I was really upset that we wont get data that shows how high we went, since the altimeters were in the booster, so I did some research after hearing that I may be able to get data from the GPS.
So with some new free ware and a lot of luck, I give you:
36,477ft :clap::clap::clap: 500ft shy of 7miles!
Again I'd like to thank the vendors who helped out this team project.
I will be heading out next weekend to go and spend some time searching for the rocket. (I won't let it go that easy) So hopefully we will find the booster.
A great way to end my high school career.