Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a good flying day at the Pawnee National Grasslands where Northern Colorado Rocketry is hosting a launch with 20,000 AGL standing waiver and call-ins up to 35kft. Yesterday, thinking about what I should fly, I thought, maybe I should go for a 2-stager. I am 0-for- at least 5 so far for having a clean multi-stage flight, but maybe tomorrow will be the day I get it right. 2 of the 3 stages of Stratospear, my 2022 BALLS attempt, are still flyable, so today I'm getting to work repairing, modifying, and prepping.
Based on the motors I have on hand, I settled on an AT H999 to CTI J150 combination. This is a 99% J impulse.
RASAero predicts about 23,000 feet so far, but I still need to re-weigh components. If I have a successful flight, it might qualify for the J complex record (currently sitting at 18k and change) depending on what the powers that be think about the head end ignition I'm doing.
The sustainer will fly in the configuration I was going for at BALLS last year, including the motor. The second stage has a broken fin, due to a last-minute assembly mistake last fall, but my StratoSpear 1st stage booster is still intact so I'm going to use that again as a first stage It is designed for a LOKI K, so it's hilariously oversized for the H999. I had to make a trip to the hardware store for some 5/16-18 nuts to help make a spacer between the AT 360 case and the innards of the rocket that hold up the sustainer motor during boost.
I also re-molded the tip of the nosecone, which broke off at BALLS due to a shorted e-match in the apogee deployment. So I think I have all the necessary pieces. Still to come tonight are some electronics modifications so I can turn the trackers on remotely, a bunch of Blue Raven programming, testing and simulation, lengthy prep and then packing so I can leave first thing tomorrow. It might be a long night, but I'm excited.
Based on the motors I have on hand, I settled on an AT H999 to CTI J150 combination. This is a 99% J impulse.
RASAero predicts about 23,000 feet so far, but I still need to re-weigh components. If I have a successful flight, it might qualify for the J complex record (currently sitting at 18k and change) depending on what the powers that be think about the head end ignition I'm doing.
The sustainer will fly in the configuration I was going for at BALLS last year, including the motor. The second stage has a broken fin, due to a last-minute assembly mistake last fall, but my StratoSpear 1st stage booster is still intact so I'm going to use that again as a first stage It is designed for a LOKI K, so it's hilariously oversized for the H999. I had to make a trip to the hardware store for some 5/16-18 nuts to help make a spacer between the AT 360 case and the innards of the rocket that hold up the sustainer motor during boost.
I also re-molded the tip of the nosecone, which broke off at BALLS due to a shorted e-match in the apogee deployment. So I think I have all the necessary pieces. Still to come tonight are some electronics modifications so I can turn the trackers on remotely, a bunch of Blue Raven programming, testing and simulation, lengthy prep and then packing so I can leave first thing tomorrow. It might be a long night, but I'm excited.