Hello All!
I'm posting here because I'm in one of those life-situations where I can't tell if I'm looking into the Abyss or just staring at a wall with my eyes closed. Don't worry, this is totally rocket related, not spam. But it will probably be a bit wordy.:eyeroll:
I'm thinking I'm SUPPOSED to build more rockets, but I'm not sure if this is just another passing whim, which I must admit happens, I have a spare bedroom full of junk to prove it. Through my life the only "hobby" that has been consistent has been Full Size Jeeps. You know, the ones that were BIG from the factory, like the Gladiator trucks and Grand Wagoneers. But there was a time, before puberty, back in the 1980s when I was all about rockets! I saved my allowance to buy Estes kits and bigger and bigger motors to compete with my cousins in who could build the coolest or highest flying rocket. Once I hit puberty I became all about cars and girls, so rockets were left by the wayside.
So here it is 25 years later. I'm 35, I've found my dream girl (a 6 foot redhead Environmental Engineer) and built my dream car (a 1979 Jeep J-10), and I'm an Automation Engineer for a specialized materials company (a big one, seriously, our stuff is on Mars, in your cell phone, in the monitor you're reading this on, in every single soda fountain in the world, etc). I was given the task of finding Christmas presents for an 8 year old and 10 year old boys, nephew-in-laws, if that's even a thing. I though back to that age in my life and what I loved; Rockets. When I was that age you could launch rockets in any reasonable sized lot or city park in western Colorado and the only thing anyone would say is "wow! that's really neat kid!". Since I haven't seen a rocket launched in a public park since I got out of the military, I wasn't sure rockets were still a thing or if they'd been regulated out of existence.
In my research (it started as just youtube videos, which is why I have to admit that this might just be a whim) I see that hobby rocketry has gone well beyond anything I ever dreamed it would, people are hitting 60 miles AGL, with on board video cameras to boot! This lead me to get in touch with a local rocketry club, Northern Colorado Rocketry, and I ALMOST made it to a launch with another local club, CRASH (Colorado Rocketeers And Space Hobbyists), but unfortunately got stuck "watching the purse" for a 5 hour shopping session on Saturday instead. Needless to say, all the kids in my life already have rockets for Christmas, except my dad (a big kid in his own right) who insisted on a quadcopter.
Now I've got rockets on my brain, and let me tell you what really interests me. Well, except for the obvious: I want to put something beyond the atmosphere. As I've been day dreaming and researching, what I want to do is make a rocket land safely exactly where I expect it to, consistently. I'm an Automation Engineer. This may be out of my wheelhouse, but if so, it's immediately adjacent to my wheelhouse! Think about it, we've all seen the videos of amateur rockets leaving the atmosphere, as things get smaller and smaller as the rocket ascends, but every single one only shows the DECENT until the whole mess starts spinning and swinging so bad the camera can't keep a single image in frame. Imagine an up and down video that is smooth, uncut, and ends with the launchpad in frame. That would be epic.
So the two questions I'm wrestling with are, do I owe my 12 year old self fulfillment of ambitions forgotten for over 20 years? And if so, where do I start? I heartily subscribe to the scientific method so I need to start from a known point, but would that be rebuilding the last rocket I ever flew? Or is it to build the most advanced pre-engineered kit that's within my scope?
I've puked this out of my brain and on to the interwebs because I'm earnestly interested in some external influence here. If you've the constitution to read through this entire post, then anything you have to offer in opinions or experience are of value to me. Please feel free to tell me what you would do in my shoes! Thanks for reading!
Matt
I'm posting here because I'm in one of those life-situations where I can't tell if I'm looking into the Abyss or just staring at a wall with my eyes closed. Don't worry, this is totally rocket related, not spam. But it will probably be a bit wordy.:eyeroll:
I'm thinking I'm SUPPOSED to build more rockets, but I'm not sure if this is just another passing whim, which I must admit happens, I have a spare bedroom full of junk to prove it. Through my life the only "hobby" that has been consistent has been Full Size Jeeps. You know, the ones that were BIG from the factory, like the Gladiator trucks and Grand Wagoneers. But there was a time, before puberty, back in the 1980s when I was all about rockets! I saved my allowance to buy Estes kits and bigger and bigger motors to compete with my cousins in who could build the coolest or highest flying rocket. Once I hit puberty I became all about cars and girls, so rockets were left by the wayside.
So here it is 25 years later. I'm 35, I've found my dream girl (a 6 foot redhead Environmental Engineer) and built my dream car (a 1979 Jeep J-10), and I'm an Automation Engineer for a specialized materials company (a big one, seriously, our stuff is on Mars, in your cell phone, in the monitor you're reading this on, in every single soda fountain in the world, etc). I was given the task of finding Christmas presents for an 8 year old and 10 year old boys, nephew-in-laws, if that's even a thing. I though back to that age in my life and what I loved; Rockets. When I was that age you could launch rockets in any reasonable sized lot or city park in western Colorado and the only thing anyone would say is "wow! that's really neat kid!". Since I haven't seen a rocket launched in a public park since I got out of the military, I wasn't sure rockets were still a thing or if they'd been regulated out of existence.
In my research (it started as just youtube videos, which is why I have to admit that this might just be a whim) I see that hobby rocketry has gone well beyond anything I ever dreamed it would, people are hitting 60 miles AGL, with on board video cameras to boot! This lead me to get in touch with a local rocketry club, Northern Colorado Rocketry, and I ALMOST made it to a launch with another local club, CRASH (Colorado Rocketeers And Space Hobbyists), but unfortunately got stuck "watching the purse" for a 5 hour shopping session on Saturday instead. Needless to say, all the kids in my life already have rockets for Christmas, except my dad (a big kid in his own right) who insisted on a quadcopter.
Now I've got rockets on my brain, and let me tell you what really interests me. Well, except for the obvious: I want to put something beyond the atmosphere. As I've been day dreaming and researching, what I want to do is make a rocket land safely exactly where I expect it to, consistently. I'm an Automation Engineer. This may be out of my wheelhouse, but if so, it's immediately adjacent to my wheelhouse! Think about it, we've all seen the videos of amateur rockets leaving the atmosphere, as things get smaller and smaller as the rocket ascends, but every single one only shows the DECENT until the whole mess starts spinning and swinging so bad the camera can't keep a single image in frame. Imagine an up and down video that is smooth, uncut, and ends with the launchpad in frame. That would be epic.
So the two questions I'm wrestling with are, do I owe my 12 year old self fulfillment of ambitions forgotten for over 20 years? And if so, where do I start? I heartily subscribe to the scientific method so I need to start from a known point, but would that be rebuilding the last rocket I ever flew? Or is it to build the most advanced pre-engineered kit that's within my scope?
I've puked this out of my brain and on to the interwebs because I'm earnestly interested in some external influence here. If you've the constitution to read through this entire post, then anything you have to offer in opinions or experience are of value to me. Please feel free to tell me what you would do in my shoes! Thanks for reading!
Matt