Very nice! Good luck with the flight!
Alcubierre Upscale (a Neil_W design)
- Thread starter SDramstad
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First flight! Flew it today on an Aerotech H669 warp-9 motor. I love these for first flights. High thrust short duration motors get it off the pad fast and if things go sideways its only under power for .3 seconds...
The drogue charge went off right on the money but the main chutes charge never went off. First time that has ever happened to me. The lighter for that charge opened up. No continuity on it after I recovered it. No bad damage, just the nosecones tip hit hard enough to bend the bolt holding it in. Should be an easy fix.
The drogue charge went off right on the money but the main chutes charge never went off. First time that has ever happened to me. The lighter for that charge opened up. No continuity on it after I recovered it. No bad damage, just the nosecones tip hit hard enough to bend the bolt holding it in. Should be an easy fix.
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Was there continuity before? That's disconcerting. But looked good on the way up! Man, that really left the pad in a hurry. Glad to hear it will be an easy fix.
The altimeter showed good continuity on the pad. I have set up charges this way for years with no problems. Not sure what caused this one to fail. Repairs should be easy enough though. We have another launch scheduled for the 25th. Will try again then. And yes, Warp-9 makes it leave in a flash. I love it!
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Recovered, repairable, no one hurt, short walk.
I’d put it in the win column.
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View attachment SD Alcubierre Upscale 1st Flight 2020 July 11_Low.mp4
Sorry - I was too chicken to put somebody else's GoPro any closer to the pad.
Sorry - I was too chicken to put somebody else's GoPro any closer to the pad.
That sure did have some giddy-up...
Warp- Nine Baby!!!
And a few more shots of the flight.
Really nice shots! It's amazing that you can see the red aerotech cap in the first picture, and it looks like the entire blast deflector is just flame. Caught the deployment as well.
With a 38mm warp 9 load the burn time is only .3 seconds. Its amazing to get a shot of it anytime after ignition and still on the pad.
Quick update. Flew Alcubierre on an aerotech J350 last weekend. Just got the pictures.
Duplicate post
That last photo is a beauty. For whatever reason I find the view from behind of the large tail ring to be really cool, thought that on my own flights as well.
I guess it's because that ring tail is most visible that way, and the ring with an exhaust plume in the middle is more cool than the same angle static.
I was quite pleased with it. It only went to 2500 feet. that ring makes for a lot of drag..... One of our club members takes the photos and posts them on smugmug. Does a great job on them. Thanks Chris!!!
https://cia-rocketry.smugmug.com/Local-Launches/2020-Launches/October-242020-CIA-launch-at-Rantoul/
https://cia-rocketry.smugmug.com/Local-Launches/2020-Launches/October-242020-CIA-launch-at-Rantoul/
Truly a thing of beauty.
Yeah, I'd love to see it fly in "real life".
What part of the country do you fly in? I do travel some....
I'm in SE PA, I usually fly at MDRA (Maryland - Delaware), but I have family in Wichita and have thoughts of trying to fly at Argonia one of these years. I also have family in Michigan and I've flown in Muskegon once.
Are you in central Illinois? I was at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign a few years ago for a thing.
Champaign Il. May go to Airfest next year and always try to go to Midwest Power and mini Midwest. Will bring it to all of those if I haven’t crashed it....
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Well, I hope to see it fly at MMWP next spring assuming I can make it there. Fingers crossed...
