An Update on Grizzly Aerospace

[jordan.jacob]

Yes, I was blissfully unaware of the chaos and accusations made in our GoFundMe thread. Allow me to help clear the air as to what happened.

1. Since May 2022, Grizzly Aerospace has flown five designs of our Project Luna concept. As @cwbullet pointed out, not all of them went as planned.
   1. Luna Mk I suffered a broken body tube in flight near a coupler (likely during ejection or parachute opening).
   2. Luna Mk II suffered a catastrophic failure of the aft body tube at motor burnout, including all fins.
   3. Luna Mk III was 100% successful and solidified the proof of concept.
   4. Luna Mk IV suffered a hard landing and broke the aft body tube and centering rings.
   5. Luna Mk V included a larger parachute that got stuck during deployment. The rocket fell at a speed of 76 ft/s and was considered a total loss.
   6. All videos of the flights can be watched at Project Luna Videos.
2. All donated funds were allocated to the following ($1,761.19 in donations).
   1. 2023 Spaceport America Cup Entrance Fee - $300.00
   2. 2023 Spaceport America Cup Rocket Fee - $700.00
   3. AeroTech M1297W Motor and Cleaning Brush - $389.94
   4. 3D-Printer Filament for Rocket - $172.20
   5. Cables and Connectors for GPS/Telemetry Equipment - $42.08
   6. Motor Mount and Recovery Components - $96.89
   7. Transmission Antennas for GPS/Telemetry Equipment - $67.77
3. I myself, spent $602.90 on additional supplies and equipment for the project that I have not been reimbursed.
4. I'm a non-traditional student who works full-time and only attends school part-time. Due to illnesses earlier in the year, I ran out of time off from work and was not going to be able to attend the competition. As the chief engineer/project manager of Project Luna, the team needed me to attend the competition.
5. Even if we had been able to attend the competition, the Wednesday before the competition, I received a phone call at 2 AM letting me know that my father unexpectedly passed away. I had to travel to Florida to assist my mom with settling his affairs and ensuring she had a means to live.

It is unfortunate that select individuals choose to claim that our fundraising efforts involved "grifters," considering one of the said faculty members is my wife that I met before returning to school.
Our team is continuing Project Luna this year and intend to perform a full-scale test flight at GRITS in November if we can secure an L3 Flyer of Record. We will also be reentering the 2024 Spaceport America Cup and will continue to "Soar with a ROAR!"

 

[kuririn]

Best of luck to you and your team, Jordan.
And just ignore the haters. They are a very small minority in this forum.

 

[cwbullet]

Yes, I was blissfully unaware of the chaos and accusations made in our GoFundMe thread. Allow me to help clear the air as to what happened.

1. Since May 2022, Grizzly Aerospace has flown five designs of our Project Luna concept. As @cwbullet pointed out, not all of them went as planned.
   1. Luna Mk I suffered a broken body tube in flight near a coupler (likely during ejection or parachute opening).
   2. Luna Mk II suffered a catastrophic failure of the aft body tube at motor burnout, including all fins.
   3. Luna Mk III was 100% successful and solidified the proof of concept.
   4. Luna Mk IV suffered a hard landing and broke the aft body tube and centering rings.
   5. Luna Mk V included a larger parachute that got stuck during deployment. The rocket fell at a speed of 76 ft/s and was considered a total loss.
   6. All videos of the flights can be watched at Project Luna Videos.
2. All donated funds were allocated to the following ($1,761.19 in donations).
   1. 2023 Spaceport America Cup Entrance Fee - $300.00
   2. 2023 Spaceport America Cup Rocket Fee - $700.00
   3. AeroTech M1297W Motor and Cleaning Brush - $389.94
   4. 3D-Printer Filament for Rocket - $172.20
   5. Cables and Connectors for GPS/Telemetry Equipment - $42.08
   6. Motor Mount and Recovery Components - $96.89
   7. Transmission Antennas for GPS/Telemetry Equipment - $67.77
3. I myself, spent $602.90 on additional supplies and equipment for the project that I have not been reimbursed.
4. I'm a non-traditional student who works full-time and only attends school part-time. Due to illnesses earlier in the year, I ran out of time off from work and was not going to be able to attend the competition. As the chief engineer/project manager of Project Luna, the team needed me to attend the competition.
5. Even if we had been able to attend the competition, the Wednesday before the competition, I received a phone call at 2 AM letting me know that my father unexpectedly passed away. I had to travel to Florida to assist my mom with settling his affairs and ensuring she had a means to live.

It is unfortunate that select individuals choose to claim that our fundraising efforts involved "grifters," considering one of the said faculty members is my wife that I met before returning to school.
Our team is continuing Project Luna this year and intend to perform a full-scale test flight at GRITS in November if we can secure an L3 Flyer of Record. We will also be reentering the 2024 Spaceport America Cup and will continue to "Soar with a ROAR!"

Thank you for clarifying this. Most of the acquisitions were made by a member who is no longer a forum member.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Chris Short (Chris' Rocket Supplies) may be able to help. I recommend contacting him. He normally attends GRITS with his trailer full of merchandise.