Lost at Blackrock

[DabCat]

Lost at BALLS 31... the sustainer to my 2 stage project. Flew Sunday morning on an EX J500 slow white to an EX J420 reliant Robin. Simmed to 23k in RASAero. Last GPS pin was 40.87729 -119.04161 at 10,000 ft MSL. 12" Recon drogue with a 48" orange and another color PML main with a big spill hole. Booster was successfully recovered. I'll give a reward to anyone that finds and returns the sustainer. We spent nearly the whole day Sunday from launch to riding back by the light of the moon looking for it on dirtbikes. No joy.

 

[Cameron Anderson]

I saw your booster on the playa, I'm glad you recovered it. I spent a good portion of Sunday looking unsuccessfully west and north of the flight line for a friend's rocket, never saw your sustainer.

 

[DabCat]

Purely based on the calculated descent rate and the 10k MSL pin, the sustainer should be near 40°52'55.80"N 119° 0'19.67"W. I'm fairly certain we covered that area on dirtbike, but I know we did search a lot North of that suggested point.

I would love it if someone a bit more savvy could check my math and offer ideas as to where it could have landed. Weights (with motor hardware and propellant) below. The J500 was about 660 grams of propellant (38/1320 case) and the J440 540g (reliant robin load for the 38/1080 case). Booster had a 24" top flight thin mil.


Booster landed at 40°52'12.03"N 119° 6'15.73"W, launch site at 40°52'3.56"N 119° 6'52.98"W

If nobody finds it at the UROC launch out there in a couple weeks, I'm considering making the long trek back up to Blackrock and go looking again. If I'm pretty confident I have a good search area.

 

[Cameron Anderson]

I have spent more time scouring that desert than I care to remember...good luck out there.
If you do go out, check which ways the winds have been blowing since the launch. The usually westerly winds grab chutes and drag rockets east until you hit the mud dunes by the Quinn River inlet and that area is very very muddy currently. If you can get a drone, that helps too.

 

[DabCat]

Some new updates. I had the wrong coordinate for the pads. The new BALLS 2023 pin is the pin from the pad it flew off. I also got a landing pin from a friend who flew just before me on the pad next to mine. His went to 18k.

 

[mdostby]

Lost my inter-stage transition at Black Rock, XPRS 2023. Last seen traveling south from the XPRS launch site. Painted silver. 3" to 2.6". Contains a Raven 4. Separated during flight. Has a multi colored chute and a chute release attached...maybe...
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