Creative Payloads for High Power Rockets

[Ccolvin968]

I need some help here...

I have a project that I am working on that has been my dream to build for a while.
The design gives me a large payload bay in the nose, and again by design, not being used by any electronics.
I'll be posting more in the coming week or two about the design.

To the main point of the post, I have a wide open space in my nose that can be used for a payload.
The dimensions are 3" wide and 6.5" long.
Do any of you have any fun ideas of creative (or even useful rocket related) payloads?

I've already thought about altimeters and that sort of thing.
Thank you!

 

[dhbarr]

Spit out a cansat payload maybe?

 

[K'Tesh]

I don't know the dimensions, but I launched a can of Diet Coke in my L1 bird... Makes for a refreshing walk back to the pad.

 

[JohnCoker]

There's the ARLISS project, which launches student projects yearly at Black Rock in September.
arliss.org/

 

[cherokeej]

There's a company called Magnitude IO that makes small cansat kits. We fly 'em in 3" Arliss-K's for students. At Black Rock, we deploy the payloads at apogee, using K550's. At Snow Ranch, we hold the payloads captive in the bird, flying various 54/1280 loads.

You might look 'em up. Tell Ted that James sent you.

 

[BDB]

My daughter and I have beeen talking about building an upscale egglofter for launching watermelons.

 

[jlabrasca]

https://www.arborsci.com/voyager.html

 

[Padseven]

The majority of flying I do is experimental payload based. This includes static and dynamic payloads. The most used payload is some thing we call Flight-Lab. Flight-Lab is an on-board "laboratory" that is capable of recording in-flight experiments on video. These experiments range from effects of compartment pressure on fluids to operation of servos under G-load. Look for a future article in a rocketry publication that explains this much more in depth. We have a list of over 160 payload experiments that range multiple science genres. If you would like the entire list pm me. If there is a lot of interest here for this deep nerd stuff we could also start thread on it as well.

 

[Ccolvin968]

All of these are excellent! Thank you. Will be looking more into each of them. Padseven, sending pm.

 

[Nytrunner]

My daughter and I have beeen talking about building an upscale egglofter for launching watermelons.

This must be accomplished and documented.

How old is she? That could be a hilariously fantastic highschool project

 

[BigDuphis]

I'm working on a raspberry pi zero to go in mine. It will have the mini camera and a mic attached to record the flight, and a baro sensor to act as an altimeter and backup DD computer. The Pi's are cool because you can continually tweak/modify/change/add-on to them with all of the gpio ports. I'm writing a basic php web interface for it so it can be setup/configured at the pad using any device with wifi and a web browser.

 

[MikeyDSlagle]

I'm working on a raspberry pi zero to go in mine. It will have the mini camera and a mic attached to record the flight, and a baro sensor to act as an altimeter and backup DD computer. The Pi's are cool because you can continually tweak/modify/change/add-on to them with all of the gpio ports. I'm writing a basic php web interface for it so it can be setup/configured at the pad using any device with wifi and a web browser.

This would be pretty neat. I really want to get into Pi/Arduino but don't know beans about programming. I have a project in mind that will utilize a Pi or Arduino computer.

 

[markkoelsch]

I think a politician might fit if we pushed hard enough. They tend to be very compactable as they do not have bones- only cartilage.

 

[Ccolvin968]

I'll try to fit my pi3 into the fairing without a case.
Good idea!

 

[jsdemar]

Here's a reply I posted a few years ago when students were asking about payload/project ideas. Some of this might be useful for your own "fun" payload projects.

The challenges in making a useful rocket experiment payload are:

• Defining the experimental goals and specifying the physical inputs you need to measure.
• Selecting sensors and interfacing them with the correct gain, offset, and filtering.
• Chosing a microcontroller platform with sufficient analog inputs, resolution, and speed to handle the data you need.
• Learning how to program the microcontroller board to log the data and control your experiment.
• Understanding the bandwidth requirements and sampling rate to capture the information.
• Post-flight processing of the data to extract the information in a format for analysis and presentation.
• Building, testing, and integrating a system that has to work under flight conditions.
• Organizing & managing a team that will be dedicated to making regular progress and completing everything on time, within budget.

Experiments could measure:

• Characteristic of the rocket structure (strain, flex, vibration, heat);
• Characteristics of the rocket flight (dynamics, altitude, attitude);
• External environment (atmosphere, particulate sampling, radiation, solar);
• Ground observation (mapping, infrared, UV, radar);
• Internal payload (observing an experiment under high g's or low g's)
• Deploying an active payload (robotic recovery on ground or in air, homing, or longer datalogging under parachute)

Skills needed:

• Organizational skills to define tasks, follow a schedule, and integrate lots of details.
• Presentation skills to communicate with your team, your mentors, and the judges.
• Math and physics to work through the details behind the sensing, measuring, and analysis.
• Electronics theory and fabrication to design build quality hardware.
• Programming (especially "real-time embedded") to develop the software needed to interface to the sensors, control experiments, log data, and communicate with other components or equipment.
• Analysis tools, such as MATLAB, or at least Excel, to post-process the raw data and extract information to support your results and conclusions.

 

[dr wogz]

Barbie Doll in a Bikini & parachute..

Have a small flag (on a string with a weight at the end) with the club's logo (or a sponsor!) tied to her leg.. SO, when you launch her to XX feet, she deploys & floats down advertising your club (or sponsor) a la "California bikini adventure babe"!

Put a JLCR in her back pack, to get some 'free fall / abstract sir dancing action'!!

 

[jlabrasca]

Barbie Doll in a Bikini & parachute..

Have a small flag (on a string with a weight at the end) with the club's logo (or a sponsor!) tied to her leg.. SO, when you launch her to XX feet, she deploys & floats down advertising your club (or sponsor) a la "California bikini adventure babe"!

Put a JLCR in her back pack, to get some 'free fall / abstract sir dancing action'!!

Surely there is a more suitable figure to go into a rocket than a "bikini adventure babe"?

(Arguably less awful than the "Math class tough" talking Barbie, but the description of this play set on the website still manages to be simultaneously hilarious and infuriating)


Do kids still play with action figures, or do they only exist for collectors now? How about a Naomi Nagata figure? Somebody must be working on one.

EDIT -- tried to embed an image -- with no success.

 

[dr wogz]

I once did a bunch of parachute pigs in an LPR. (dollar / candy store item, 6" square of plastic for the chute, the pig was barely 1" long. But I got about 5 or 6 in the tube!)


There's one guy on the boards who's done some amazing rockets with Chester Cheeto as the pilot. Maybe do something similar, but integrate the flight computer readout onto his dashboard..

 

[Handeman]

Here's a reply I posted a few years ago when students were asking about payload/project ideas. Some of this might be useful for your own "fun" payload projects.

• Analysis tools, such as MATLAB, or at least Excel, to post-process the raw data and extract information to support your results and conclusions.

That list was great until I got to the last line and was reminded of my collage Statistic course final. Analyse data to support a statement, then do another analysis of the same data to support the opposite statement. The sad part was that it was one of the easier finals.
I think that last line should read, to post-process the raw data and extract information to determine your results and allow you to make supportable conclusions.

"To support your results and conclusions" sounds too much like what the Republicans and Democrats (and any other group with an agenda) do with any survey data they refer to. And then they wondered why the last election didn't go the way the poll data said it would. </soapbox>

That really is a good list for students.

 

[SteveThatcher]

I think a politician might fit if we pushed hard enough. They tend to be very compactable as they do not have bones- only cartilage.

that would only be good if it could break orbit and head toward the sun... you will need a lot of rockets...

 

[GalantVR41062]

I will be looking into the payloads and getting my daughter I involved with helping. Thank you for the ideas.

I ended up with a Bailout! kit from a garage sale and it came with a action figure. We launch this on a c6-3 and is fun to track the 3 parts.

 

[lowga]

I've got two suggestions. U.S. Mail--this is a real thing--google the term "Rocket Mail." Collectible "covers" or envelopes can be designed to promote your club, event, etc. Those that have actually be flown on a rocket and then mailed (canceled) become an instant collector's item.

The other is a Major Matt Mason action figure. Mattel's Man in Space makes a perfect pilot for your rocket. This one appeals mostly to men of a certain age (50's and 60's)

 

[rocketaholic]

The majority of flying I do is experimental payload based. This includes static and dynamic payloads. The most used payload is some thing we call Flight-Lab. Flight-Lab is an on-board "laboratory" that is capable of recording in-flight experiments on video. These experiments range from effects of compartment pressure on fluids to operation of servos under G-load. Look for a future article in a rocketry publication that explains this much more in depth. We have a list of over 160 payload experiments that range multiple science genres. If you would like the entire list pm me. If there is a lot of interest here for this deep nerd stuff we could also start thread on it as well.

This is definitely something I am interested in exploring further.