EDF Rocketry

[Richard Dierking]

Quick update for today. Unfortunately, the rocket was destroyed this morning. This was my 3rd trip out to what I call Area 52 to conduct the test. Today, the wind was 0 to 1.2 mph, so the launch was a go.
It came off the 6' mini rail slower than I anticipated, went up a bit and took a sharp turn and went south, I mean it really did go south. The very slight wind was from the north, so at least I can say it was not wind cocking. Also, unfortunately the pad camera had a SD card issue and the file is corrupted. No launch video. So wow, any good news? LOL

Well, the Raven saved the data and it and all the rest of the electronic components and the batteries seem to be OK. The parachute deployed, but the rocket was going too fast and too low to make a difference. The parachute is OK too.

But, the airframe is destroyed. I'm not really surprised that this happened btw. I was already thinking about the next version on the way to launch it today. I'll post more a bit later along with what is going to be a very short video.

 

[jqavins]

My condolences.

 

[Richard Dierking]

Yes, may it rest in pieces.

 

[David_Stack]

Any thoughts on what caused the deviation from the vertical flight path; precession perhaps? How much roll was evident once the rocket left the rail?

Nice to read that you've already got ideas on how to improve the model...

 

[Richard Dierking]

Yes, the next one will have either a couple rocket motors (29 mm) or thrust vectoring using the internal control surfaces, or both. I still have a lot to learn about active flight control, but I would like to land the next one and have no launch pad.
I will post some more later. I asked a friend who's good at interpreting Raven data to look at the file. So glad the Raven was added; particularly because the launch video didn't work out.
Sometimes, failure is indeed an option. We learned a lot during this process. The second version will be a good summer project for me.