It was unsuccessful. It made it most or all of the way through the burn berfectly straight and beautiful, then bad things. So close.
But it was freaking spectacular nonetheless. The carnage is evidence of how brutal the N5800 is.
So what happened? Based on visual evidence from several people with binoculars, the nosecone failed, which removed the fins. But it's hard to say, really. Many projects like this end with a chicken or the egg problem. Did the nosecone failure remove the fins, or vice versa.
But the condition of the nosecone seems to support that it's failure that started the chain of events. I was one of a few failures of the Wildman high temperature nosecone at this Balls. Mine faired much worse than some previous N5800 flights with normal nosecones. That is, well, strange. But that aside, I don't think any off-the-shelf component is really up to the challenge. All the filament wound stuff has the wrong wind angle for the loads place on it. Too much hoop, not enough axial. It's probably too thin, temperature resistance aside. The thickness and temperature resistance are really only an issue fie crazy high impulse flights like this.
I was able to thoroughly obsess over the next attempt for the whole 17 hour drive home. I'm aiming for Balls 32. I have made a nosecone that survived a similar flight profile, and making a 4 inch version is step one. There are a few other improvements I'd like to make as well, and there's lots of CAD work to do. Luckily(?) Half my life is spent in a hotel and I'm excited to use that time buried in Fusion 360.
I welcome all questions, suggestions, opinions and snide remarks.
Here's some pictures of the carnage.
But it was freaking spectacular nonetheless. The carnage is evidence of how brutal the N5800 is.
So what happened? Based on visual evidence from several people with binoculars, the nosecone failed, which removed the fins. But it's hard to say, really. Many projects like this end with a chicken or the egg problem. Did the nosecone failure remove the fins, or vice versa.
But the condition of the nosecone seems to support that it's failure that started the chain of events. I was one of a few failures of the Wildman high temperature nosecone at this Balls. Mine faired much worse than some previous N5800 flights with normal nosecones. That is, well, strange. But that aside, I don't think any off-the-shelf component is really up to the challenge. All the filament wound stuff has the wrong wind angle for the loads place on it. Too much hoop, not enough axial. It's probably too thin, temperature resistance aside. The thickness and temperature resistance are really only an issue fie crazy high impulse flights like this.
I was able to thoroughly obsess over the next attempt for the whole 17 hour drive home. I'm aiming for Balls 32. I have made a nosecone that survived a similar flight profile, and making a 4 inch version is step one. There are a few other improvements I'd like to make as well, and there's lots of CAD work to do. Luckily(?) Half my life is spent in a hotel and I'm excited to use that time buried in Fusion 360.
I welcome all questions, suggestions, opinions and snide remarks.
Here's some pictures of the carnage.