Off Grid Gecko
Well-Known Member
So, yeah, it's a long way off and I'll probably never have the extra cash to get there, but I have been working on some "secret plans" for an L3 project I'd like to someday realize. It involves a separation of the nose cone and payload section after burnout to coast as high as possible while the booster drops away and deploys its own recovery system independently.
Been digging around the forums here and not really finding what I need. The coast stage of the rocket will have gyro stabilization as part of its pack, but this is mostly for killing rotation near apogee and I'm not sure it will do so well with a heavy booster attached, or for replacing stability of the coast stage, so that aside. I keep going over the numbers and it looks like the top part of the rocket will need fins. I'm sure even with rotation that unstable is still unstable (i.e. the CP is ahead of the CG), but I'm trying to figure out a way to rip the fins off the dart part to minimize drag.
Curious about how stability changes when one is solidly supersonic, and so far the answers point to the CP moving forward due to lower air pressure.
My drawing at the moment is a 60" dart with 3" tall fins (5.5" diameter blue tube body), and while it passes the checks on the Cambridge simulator, it looks ugly as sin as I envision this giant atop a 50-60" booster stage.
Since they are the same diameter pipe, I'm wondering if a separation (either by drag or by pyro) is even worth the trouble. It does make the rocket horribly complex, and at some point I'll be adding another booster stage below for the sounding rocket attempt.
Anyway, would love to hear thoughts on detaching a NC payload from the main rocket. Rules of thumb, past experience, etc. Anything you want to say. I had one idea of strapping 3-4 rods to the outside of the upper section that might stabilize it bottle-rocket style, but I'm not sure that's a good idea for tons of reasons.
Been digging around the forums here and not really finding what I need. The coast stage of the rocket will have gyro stabilization as part of its pack, but this is mostly for killing rotation near apogee and I'm not sure it will do so well with a heavy booster attached, or for replacing stability of the coast stage, so that aside. I keep going over the numbers and it looks like the top part of the rocket will need fins. I'm sure even with rotation that unstable is still unstable (i.e. the CP is ahead of the CG), but I'm trying to figure out a way to rip the fins off the dart part to minimize drag.
Curious about how stability changes when one is solidly supersonic, and so far the answers point to the CP moving forward due to lower air pressure.
My drawing at the moment is a 60" dart with 3" tall fins (5.5" diameter blue tube body), and while it passes the checks on the Cambridge simulator, it looks ugly as sin as I envision this giant atop a 50-60" booster stage.
Since they are the same diameter pipe, I'm wondering if a separation (either by drag or by pyro) is even worth the trouble. It does make the rocket horribly complex, and at some point I'll be adding another booster stage below for the sounding rocket attempt.
Anyway, would love to hear thoughts on detaching a NC payload from the main rocket. Rules of thumb, past experience, etc. Anything you want to say. I had one idea of strapping 3-4 rods to the outside of the upper section that might stabilize it bottle-rocket style, but I'm not sure that's a good idea for tons of reasons.