Q power on the East Coast!

The pics and video of the MDRA Liberty Project are up!

https://www.mdrocketry.org/photos/LibertyLaunch/Liberty.html

1 'P' + 2 'O' + 2 'N' = 1 baby 'Q'

Tnx for the link Dick. Great pics and the videos are very clear. That is one "size large" rocket!

Did one of the motors blow a nozzle or something? There was a lot of sparks near burnout.

very cool, I had been following this story for a while, I really want to get ddown to MDRA this summer, looks like a great club

I hope they write a flight report. I saw the event you saw Doug and would be interested in knowing. I also lost track of the final specs...weight, height, altitude expected (er, I guess actual is all that matters now )

I dont think any of the nozzles blew, notice in the picture of the booster post-flight they are all there. Maybe the propelllant fractured during the burn due to too high pressure, and those were peices falling out.

BTW I love how quickly those motors came up to pressure nice igniters

Originally posted by n3tjm
Did one of the motors blow a nozzle or something? There was a lot of sparks near burnout.

Click to expand...

Yes, one nozzle fractured and lost pieces of the expansion cone. That's most likely what we saw at burnout, though it's hard to be sure.

The central P and the two outboard Os were Loki motor hardware, by the way

Originally posted by rstaff3
I hope they write a flight report. I saw the event you saw Doug and would be interested in knowing. I also lost track of the final specs...weight, height, altitude expected (er, I guess actual is all that matters now )

Click to expand...

Total weight = 1400 lbs
Altitude = 3150 ft (Missileworks), 2996 ft (ARTS)
and 3000ft (BlackSky)
Max velocity = 270 mph
Max acceleration = 13 G
average acceleration = 9 G
velocity off rail = 130 ft/sec
Propellant weight = 106 lbs
Mass fraction = 7.8%
Motors = One P10500 (43500Ns),
two O8200 (20500Ns),
two N5400 (14000Ns)
Total Impulse = 112500 Ns
Thrust = initial 11000 lbs and peak 17000 lbs
Average Thrust = Q45000 (44% Q)
Burntime = 2.5 seconds (The P motor burned 1.5 sec. more or so)

Propellant was characterized, designed and made by MDRA members Bob Utley, John Ritz and Neil McGilvray using a variation of a blue formula by Bob Utley, Darren Wright and Jim Mitchell,
the formula was named Liberty blue. An article will appear
in HPR and Extreme Rocketry Magazines sometime.

THX, John Ritz

Thanks for the info John, I hadn't heard all the details. I noticed the pics page has been updated and now has the correct 'pad cam' footage!