good article here on many of the different types of Rocket recovery. I’m kind of glad I rediscovered this as I really want to try building a backslider.
https://www.apogeerockets.com/education/downloads/Newsletter447.pdf
if you Google “horizontal spin model recovery you will not come up with very much.
https://marsclub.org/mars-challenge/mentions it but nothing about a working model.
also, as I understand Magnus Effect, it requires not only a SPINNING CYLINDER but also a flowing air Or fluid runnning along a vector perpendicular to the spin axis. So baseball players throwing curve balls and old time cannons with spinning balls and Tennis Players do indeed encounter the Magnus effect, but it shifts the trajectory perpendicular to the current vector. Since in a falling rocket that vector is DOWN, the Magnus effect moves the rocket LATERALLY to its downward trajectory, but provides NO UPWARD LIFT to slow the rocket. The next question is, “So why do you want to do it?” The answer is that while the Magnus Force Doesn’t slow the rocket, the physics of acceleration of a spinning body force it to fall horizontal, presenting an axis 90 degrees from ballistic. So you get the full lateral face of the rocket, fins and all, creating drag.
In fact even in the Apogee article above there is a minimal discussion of it with one picture.
design
I can also tell you based on looking at that picture (figure 13) and building my first horizontal recovery spin rocket that that will only work for one flight. There is a reason for this. The horizontal spin that is imported makes the Rocket fall in a horizontal organization orientation but it is rapidly spinning. If you have fins that are like that, as soon as they hit the ground spinning they will break off at least one if not all of the fins. I learned this with the first one that I built. Tried to figure out how to avoid the impact problem and came up with the idea of using a ring fan. Then kind of thought about it for a while and came up with the water wheel concept where the windows are placed near the fin struts all either clockwise or counterclockwise.
To my (admittedly limited) knowledge mine are the only working models that have use this concept. I am sure there are some more experienced guys and gals out there to correct me and I would really LIKE to see some other models.
this technique is most definitely NOT that of the Quinstar or Blurzz or Blenderzz or whatever else you‘ve probably seen. Those are basically (I think) spinning saucers.
biggest downsides of the Horizontal Spin models that I make
1. So far they are all two pieces, with a nose cone dropping separately either by chute or by streamer. This can be consider a downside because you have to track two parts, or making lemonade an UpSide “Hey, I have a Parachute Man!” or “Hey, let’s see who can get the nose cone streamer closest to the pad!”
2. The spinning piece comes in a bit hot, definitely NOT BALLISTIC and critically NOT POINTY END DOWN. I would say the drag component is likely equal to or slightly better than tumble recovery, as the rocket presents its full LATERAL SURFACE (as would be seen on the pad) to the airflow. I don’t think tumble gets better than that.
the APOGEE article DOES mention Magnus recovery, I didn’t understand it and don’t know how to replicate it.
I may do an easy horizontal spin build here soon, need to finish Piroutte first.
