https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.433083206788888.1073741827.122541217843090&type=1
All Systems Go! Houston REVISED, we do not have a problem!
It's been over 7 years since I first decided to try and build a 3X Mars Lander. Saturday marked the end of that journey (and the beginning of another?). At about 11:45am I launched the 3X Mars Lander for the second time. The first launch in September '12 crash landed and I had to completely rebuilt the rocket again over the winter. I made a few small improvements, dropped the overall weight by about 1 1/2 pounds, changed the nosecone profile a bit - but mostly it was the same rocket. The weather was not supposed to be great, cloudy, at times only a 3000' ceiling, 25% chance of rain, winds 6-10mph, 62 degrees. I promised myself I would not launch if the conditions were not good. Arriving at the sod field the sun was out, the winds were calm, the clouds moving in and out, the temp was nice - things were looking up.
The plan was to launch between 10 and 11am. Of course prep never goes as planned, but I was ready by 11:30. Had a good crowd and a decent contingent that came out just for the 3X. Many people approached me and said they were there last year for the crash and wished me luck this time.
11:45 or so the button was pushed and she came alive. The launch was straight up, no arc, no rotation - perfect! I programmed the Raven 3 for an apogee deploy with a back-up apogee plus 2 seconds, but it turns out I wired it to the "Main" channel - so I had no charge at apogee. Fortunately she was still drifting up for a moment after the altimeter detected apogee and the back-up charge fired real close to the top of the arc. This time around I put the nosecone on its own 36" Rocketman chute attached to the main chute deployment bag. This worked perfect. The nose cone pulled the main out and pulled the deployment bag off. The 96" Iris Fruity Chute opened immediately - what a sight and a relief! She drifted a ways in the wind. Looks like winds aloft were around 10mph. That was worth the trade off - a long jog for a soft landing. The 3X landed perfectly upright as planned, but was pulled over by the chute in the wind. Next time might try the device that disconnects the chute at landing.
It was a perfect flight and landing and I got my Level 2 in the process!
The Videos:
GoPro - real time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-O2cJ-hVs
GoPro - slow mo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRscWu2yQg
HD full flight - real time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHAeDb2MkM
HD full flight - slow mo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmYeL3YjQxY
The data:
Final weight loaded - 23lbs 13oz
Final weight unloaded - 20lbs 15.8oz
Decent weight (no nosecone) - 18lbs 13.2oz
Motor - K650SS
Burn time - 2.7s
Apogee detected - 9.57s
Apogee charge - did not fire
Back-up charge - 11.57s
Motor Eject - 13.0s
Altitude - 1784'
Max Velocity - 265 mph @ 2.54s
Rocket Height - 38.5"
Rocket Footprint - 41"
CG - 20.86"
CP - 34.82"
All Systems Go! Houston REVISED, we do not have a problem!
It's been over 7 years since I first decided to try and build a 3X Mars Lander. Saturday marked the end of that journey (and the beginning of another?). At about 11:45am I launched the 3X Mars Lander for the second time. The first launch in September '12 crash landed and I had to completely rebuilt the rocket again over the winter. I made a few small improvements, dropped the overall weight by about 1 1/2 pounds, changed the nosecone profile a bit - but mostly it was the same rocket. The weather was not supposed to be great, cloudy, at times only a 3000' ceiling, 25% chance of rain, winds 6-10mph, 62 degrees. I promised myself I would not launch if the conditions were not good. Arriving at the sod field the sun was out, the winds were calm, the clouds moving in and out, the temp was nice - things were looking up.
The plan was to launch between 10 and 11am. Of course prep never goes as planned, but I was ready by 11:30. Had a good crowd and a decent contingent that came out just for the 3X. Many people approached me and said they were there last year for the crash and wished me luck this time.
11:45 or so the button was pushed and she came alive. The launch was straight up, no arc, no rotation - perfect! I programmed the Raven 3 for an apogee deploy with a back-up apogee plus 2 seconds, but it turns out I wired it to the "Main" channel - so I had no charge at apogee. Fortunately she was still drifting up for a moment after the altimeter detected apogee and the back-up charge fired real close to the top of the arc. This time around I put the nosecone on its own 36" Rocketman chute attached to the main chute deployment bag. This worked perfect. The nose cone pulled the main out and pulled the deployment bag off. The 96" Iris Fruity Chute opened immediately - what a sight and a relief! She drifted a ways in the wind. Looks like winds aloft were around 10mph. That was worth the trade off - a long jog for a soft landing. The 3X landed perfectly upright as planned, but was pulled over by the chute in the wind. Next time might try the device that disconnects the chute at landing.
It was a perfect flight and landing and I got my Level 2 in the process!
The Videos:
GoPro - real time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iT-O2cJ-hVs
GoPro - slow mo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeRscWu2yQg
HD full flight - real time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHAeDb2MkM
HD full flight - slow mo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmYeL3YjQxY
The data:
Final weight loaded - 23lbs 13oz
Final weight unloaded - 20lbs 15.8oz
Decent weight (no nosecone) - 18lbs 13.2oz
Motor - K650SS
Burn time - 2.7s
Apogee detected - 9.57s
Apogee charge - did not fire
Back-up charge - 11.57s
Motor Eject - 13.0s
Altitude - 1784'
Max Velocity - 265 mph @ 2.54s
Rocket Height - 38.5"
Rocket Footprint - 41"
CG - 20.86"
CP - 34.82"
Last edited:
:headbang:
