4000 rocket launch

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I like how they end up dodging falling rockets just after they fire everything.


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Wow ! Good show on raising the 20 Grand. Hope nobody took a hit. Wonder why the short launch rods ?
 
you can see the rockets basically going ballistic close to them. At least no one got hurt.
 
I'd gues they used 1/2 an 1/8" launch rod.
Looks like they were all the "Make it, Take it" kit.
Some flew apart, wrong glue, not glue?
No matter.
For kids to undertake such a great task of handling everything on there own,
I'd say they need to recognized in many different aspects of the show.
Can you imagine what 4000 kits costs? 4000 engines? 2000 1/8 launch rods? All those 2/4's? All that wire, modules, ect?
Get the fire dept. to ok, city police, block streets, crowd control, etc. etc. etc.?
Plus all the time it took to build, load motors, igniters, wadding, pack chutes, hook up 8000 micro clips?
And still raise $20.000!!! (To put your name on one of those rockets, what would you think it must have cost?)
For that one Second of ignition and maybe 10 seconds of flight?
Yes, I say there is a bunch of young adults, with a most worthy cause, that did not give up.
I'd bet that those involved will go far in life.
Thanks to everyone that made that possible for all of us to see.

And as a second thought, who knows somebody that has or had breast cancer?
I was at the doc's office today on my back. Very young nurse there is recovering, had a real bad time w/recovery)
had both removed earlier this year. Not because she had breast cancer, but because her family history was so potent with it.
She is a really nice, gool looking young woman whom didn't want to bet her life. Everyone must praise one so brave to undertake such drastic measures when not needed. She may never have gotton it, but there was an 82% family history against her. Could YOU do it? I often wondered about that myself.
 
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That's awesome! It's crazy when you see the Rockets coming in under Thrust back at them! Lucky nobodies Eye got poked out!
 
Pretty Impressive stuff these darn teenagers come up with these days!!!

Learn more about it >>>> HERE
 
Launching 4000 rockets is impressive, but I think they should have taken better safety precautions. The picture below shows many rockets under thrust that were heading in a downward direction, and the video showed at least one rocket that almost hit one of the boys. Assuming they used A motors, 4000 rockets would have the equivalent impulse of an M motor. It looks like launch control was way too close to the rockets for this level of impulse.
Rocket-launch1.jpg
 
totally agree, I like the event and the purpose. But I would have establish safety as HPR launch. Am wondering if the rockets that are downwards are due to crashing to other rockets or due to the low launch rod.
 
It was a cool event, and for a good cause, but they did play fast and loose with safety.

Launching that many models that close together, with normal-range rod whip, collisions soon after launch were inevitable. The 'launch rods' don't appear to be more than a foot long, ensuring most rockets would wobble considerably after liftoff.

The launch setup should probably have been very different -- in particular, in Dave Hein's pic above you have about 20 people in the frame -- about 16 of them should have been ordered to haul butt behind the safety lines 250' or so away.
 
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I would describe that photo as "Glorious." I think that's the first time I have actually ever used that word.
 
The launch was glorious, but it could have turned out differently if someone at launch control would have been hit by a rocket. This frame from the video shows how close they came to being hit. The rocket ended up landing in the cart behind the boy that was standing, and the ejection charge went off a few frames after it got stuck in the cart. From my calculations it was only going 40 MPH when it passed by the boy, so it probably wouldn't have injured him if it hit him, but it might have stung a little bit.
dart.jpg
 
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The boys did approach a member of our local NAR section, but we have little experience with mass launches of this scale and were not involved with the launch.

If you read the articles about it (I'll post a link later), the boys ended up working with a fireworks company to build the launch systems for such a large quantity of rockets. The article also mentions that they also obtained their own insurance - this was not a NAR sponsored event. All in all - it looks like it went really well.

I think the boys should be praised for their perseverance - not a common trait these days - in addition to raising the awesome $22k donation.

Cheers!
 
I think is awesome what they pull off, but there is a lesson learns about mass launches and safety issues. So am glad that the whole NAR community is aware, safety is the most important thing in rocketry, lets keep it safe.
 
I think is awesome what they pull off, but there is a lesson learns about mass launches and safety issues. So am glad that the whole NAR community is aware, safety is the most important thing in rocketry, lets keep it safe.

Absolutely - safety first! In hindsight (and in my opinion - maybe not shared by all), this launch was a missed opportunity for our NAR section. I don't think we realized how serious the boys were when they approached us, and we backed off from further involvement when we could've engaged them and found a way to participate and steer the effort from a safety perspective based on our collective NAR experience. We could've also gained some valuable experience with a true mass launches (way different scope than 20-30 scouts).

Cheers!
 
I sponsored some rockets in honor of two family members who are breast cancer survivors. After the launch I sent a note to the boys who ran it asking if by any chance they could send me a couple of the stickers they put on the rockets. I wanted to build a couple of Make-It-Take-Its with the logos for the survivors I sponsored.

Here's the response I received the next day:

Hello Steve,

First, thank you again for sponsoring 10 rockets! We appreciate your support! Hopefully you had a chance to see the video of the launch. If not, visit our website at www.rocket4thecure.org and view it!

We would be glad to mail you a few decals with the logo so you can add them to your own rockets as a keepsake. We will get them in the mail to you soon.

We wish both T... and L... the best of luck in battling their breast cancer and we hope a cure is found soon!

Sincerely,
Sanzio and Dylan


Wow! These two high school kids just put a lot of very big name professional outfits to shame. I took a bunch of grief from some friend who really don't like the Susan G. Komen foundation, but I am REALLY glad I helped sponsor this. What a great couple of kids!
 
Launching 4000 rockets is impressive, but I think they should have taken better safety precautions. The picture below shows many rockets under thrust that were heading in a downward direction, and the video showed at least one rocket that almost hit one of the boys. Assuming they used A motors, 4000 rockets would have the equivalent impulse of an M motor. It looks like launch control was way too close to the rockets for this level of impulse.
Rocket-launch1.jpg

It would have been real cool if an NAR section could have monitored the launch and also gathered some data on the mass launching, on ignition reliability, CATO frequency and a whole mess of other things.

From the photo posted here it looks as if a significant percentage of the rockets launched did deviate from a vertical flight path shortly after ignition, including more than just a few in nearly 180-degree opposite flight (i.e. a mid-air flip).

Maybe additional analysis of this and other photos might provide some more info, but I am not sure how valid or reliable it might be.

Again, from the launch videos, it did not appear that the launch rods (if any) were any longer than the rockets themselves, meaning the rockets would lift off under zero stability conditions and would not acquire stability until they generated enough air speed for the fins to become effective stabilizing surfaces.

In that case it would be normal for a significant number to take off in non-vertical directions, and that isn't even accounting for possible collisions with other launching rockets in the first feet of flight.
 
From the vids and pre-launch pics over on that other form you can see some of the rockets tilted at about 45 degrees before launch. Maybe the rod was just bent and not straightened before launch, 4000 is a lot. You can see some of those 45 degree smoke trails in the photo above. I was recently at a mass launch of 50 and 47 went straight up off a tight rack with no issue.
 
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