payload protection

[lonewolf1898]

what would be the best way to protect an egg for flight:eyeroll::grin:

 

[GDJ]

Bubble wrap lining in the capsule
Foam rubber on the bottom and top of the capsule, holding the egg in place
Glue egg carton sections inside the capsule.

As far as I know, you can't wrap or tape anything to the egg, but I'm fairly certain that constructing the capsule with protection is allowed.

 

[Worsaer]

Isn't the idea to use your creative juices to figure this out? You might come up with something no one else has thought of.
(by the way, flight usually isn't usually the problem. Landing, however, is another thing....)

 

[Rocketbuilder]

Make the capsule watertight, and suspend the egg in water or another liquid... This should protect the egg pretty from sudden accelerations/decelerations during flight and landing.

 

[mikec]

Eggs are surprisingly robust as long as they're evenly supported and can't rattle around. A tight-fitting egg capsule or bubble wrap are all that's needed, as long as your chute is large enough and deploys correctly. All of the broken eggs I've seen in TARC and egg-loft competitions were from tangled chutes, late delays, and similar issues.

 

[JAL3]

A strategy that sometimes works is to minimize protection at the expense of duration. George Gassaway has published plans for the 2 Minute Egg, available through the NAR website.

Basically, the egg is wrapped in a balloon and forms the nose cone. The conical shape of the rocket body lets you get a big chute in. That keeps it up longer and, hopefully, brings it down slow enough to survive hitting the ground. I have used this with some success but you need to know your field. Landing in soft grass is good. Landing on concrete not so good.

 

[JPVegh]

what would be the best way to protect an egg for flight:eyeroll::grin:

It depends on how much room you have in your rocket. If you have alot of room then a layer or two of bubble wrap is pretty darn good protection. I've used partially inflated balloons as cushions to good effect. Even a few wraps of Saran Wrap in a tight egg capsule helps some.

A few details on your rocket and the purpose of the egg loft would be a help in coming up with answers but as others have said bringing it down slowly is the best way to protect the egg.

 

[Barracuda]

All great ideas..just don't forget to put it in a baggie

 

[kenstarr]

Along a similar line, last year I helped with a student egg drop contest which was the entire 3rd grade at my wife's school. Each person was given the task to build a contraption that would keep the egg safe when I tossed it off the roof of the school. Each student had the same selection of items to work with. About 75% built a parachute with a trash bag that worked extremely well but some were just crazy. My favorite was a random looking box made of popsicle sticks with the egg wrapped with something and suspended inside. When I threw it off and it hit, the box basically annihilated itself but the egg was OK! I don't know what the student had in mind but I was thinking of an Indy car wrecking and blowing apart while the driver goes tumbling away in a little roll cage. Obviously that wouldn't work for an egg lofting rocket but I found the thought/concept quite interesting. Being all grown up and having lost far too much of my childhood creativity, I would have never thought of that! It was a blast just looking at what crazy things the kids thought up. Made me feel a bit younger that day. So, the take home message: take some paper and consider some really outlandish ideas to get the creative juices flowing, you just may well come up with something novel AND successful.

 

[Timothy Allen]

Bread works really well just cut an egg shaped hole an then put the plug back in on top.

 

[Barracuda]

Hard boil it or forget to put it in..just saying

 

[ProjectHighFlight]

Quick question: I'm currently working with Project High Flight at Miami University on a project to send a helium balloon to the edge of space (~100,000 ft). My group is sending bacteria samples up with the balloon and we are currently researching a method with which to protect these samples. We have used styrofoam in the past and are looking to improve upon this method. The material must be water resistant, shock absorbent, and easy to drill through. Anyone know of any products that fit these specifications?

 

[AlexK]

Quick question: I'm currently working with Project High Flight at Miami University on a project to send a helium balloon to the edge of space (~100,000 ft). My group is sending bacteria samples up with the balloon and we are currently researching a method with which to protect these samples. We have used styrofoam in the past and are looking to improve upon this method. The material must be water resistant, shock absorbent, and easy to drill through. Anyone know of any products that fit these specifications?

Try the pink foam boards they sell at home centers - it's extruded polystyrene, so much more robust than the expanded polystyrene foams, plus it's easy to work with. We use it at work for padding vibration test cells when we test space flight hardware.

If you want something a bit squishier, try polyethylene foam. It's a bit harder to find, but it's VERY rubbery and will take multiple hits really well.