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After the largely successful testing of my first steerable recovery prototype I have decided it is necessary to rebuild my test vehicle ExPAC (Experimetal Platform for Advanced Concepts). This rocket will be used to develop my project into a commercially viable recovery and control kit that builders and kit manufacturers can incorporate into their designs to add stabilization and steerable recovery functions. This thread will be used to document the vehicle build and the development of the advanced control systems.
For a little background on this project see these threads:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...or-Advanced-Concepts-quot-design-build-thread
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...light-computer-development-C-Developer-Needed
This new rocket will be a 4 in x 8.5 ft fiberglass rocket with 1/8" fiberglass thru the wall fins and a filament wound ogive cone. It will have a 75mm motor mount with room for a 4G CTI.
The rocket will be brought down under a 2.5 sq. m Ragallo wing type kite with the ability to steer and control decent rate. There will also be a 54" Spherachute as a backup in case there is a failure of the kite.
As you can imagine the electronics for this project are a bit complex. It will have two av-bays. The first a traditional bay to hold standard altimeters for deployment and to deploy the backup chute in the case of a failure of the steerable chute. The other is a control bay that will house my flight system and the recovery steering servos. The control bay will also hold two cameras for recording the recovery, one forward facing, and one upward facing. The rocket will also contain a canard bay near the nose that will have fours servo driven canards for stabilization. Initially I will be using Jim Jarvis' electronics but will eventually drive them from my flight system. There will be a third camera above the canards to record the canards during the boost and separation.
The flight control system will include a flight computer with barometer, 3 axis accelerometer, 3 axis gyro, compass, 250mw 900Mhz telemetry, advanced GPS, and power conditioning and monitoring. I plan to supplement it further with power distribution, expandable deployment electronics, e-match resistance / current monitoring, and a single axis high G accelerometer.
This rocket is intended to last the duration of the product development as well as demonstration fights so it will be a bit over built. It will feature cnc cut phenolic bulkheads, threaded inserts for all screws, a custom Aeropack tail cone, and all stainless hardware.
In the morning I will post screen captures of the design models and pictures of the collected parts.
For a little background on this project see these threads:
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...or-Advanced-Concepts-quot-design-build-thread
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showt...light-computer-development-C-Developer-Needed
This new rocket will be a 4 in x 8.5 ft fiberglass rocket with 1/8" fiberglass thru the wall fins and a filament wound ogive cone. It will have a 75mm motor mount with room for a 4G CTI.
The rocket will be brought down under a 2.5 sq. m Ragallo wing type kite with the ability to steer and control decent rate. There will also be a 54" Spherachute as a backup in case there is a failure of the kite.
As you can imagine the electronics for this project are a bit complex. It will have two av-bays. The first a traditional bay to hold standard altimeters for deployment and to deploy the backup chute in the case of a failure of the steerable chute. The other is a control bay that will house my flight system and the recovery steering servos. The control bay will also hold two cameras for recording the recovery, one forward facing, and one upward facing. The rocket will also contain a canard bay near the nose that will have fours servo driven canards for stabilization. Initially I will be using Jim Jarvis' electronics but will eventually drive them from my flight system. There will be a third camera above the canards to record the canards during the boost and separation.
The flight control system will include a flight computer with barometer, 3 axis accelerometer, 3 axis gyro, compass, 250mw 900Mhz telemetry, advanced GPS, and power conditioning and monitoring. I plan to supplement it further with power distribution, expandable deployment electronics, e-match resistance / current monitoring, and a single axis high G accelerometer.
This rocket is intended to last the duration of the product development as well as demonstration fights so it will be a bit over built. It will feature cnc cut phenolic bulkheads, threaded inserts for all screws, a custom Aeropack tail cone, and all stainless hardware.
In the morning I will post screen captures of the design models and pictures of the collected parts.