I'm thinking about building a PARALLEL-STAGED rocket, whereby 3 ea. strap-on boosters lift a central rocket that air-starts when the boosters stop burning. The 3 ea., strap-on boosters would be ignited simultaneously on the launch pad, and would lift the central rocket body tube upwards. When the boosters finish their burn, a long-burn motor in the central body tube would air-start and continue the rocket upwards as a "second stage."
The boosters would fall away from the upward-climbing central rocket, using hardware from HAKO Ballistics (see the story and pictures on the web sites https://www.maxthrust.net/displayarticle197.html and https://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=30253388&f=0 ).
The booster motors would get the heavy rocket moving off the launch pad quickly. The boosters would have their own individual recovery streamers for a soft landing. The central motor would be a LONG-burning H45, I95, or something similar. The long-burning motor (by itself) would not have enough "Oomph" to lift the rocket off the pad by itself -- it relies on the 3 ea. boosters to provide punch and airspeed.
I know that electronics would be needed for air-starting the central motor. I believe that such a rocket COULD fly. Unfortunately, I don't believe RockSim has a way of modeling PARALLEL-STAGED rockets, so I may just have to figure out stability using the old "cardboard cutout" method.
Any ideas or words of wisdom concerning this "dream project" of mine?
The boosters would fall away from the upward-climbing central rocket, using hardware from HAKO Ballistics (see the story and pictures on the web sites https://www.maxthrust.net/displayarticle197.html and https://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=3009006&a=30253388&f=0 ).
The booster motors would get the heavy rocket moving off the launch pad quickly. The boosters would have their own individual recovery streamers for a soft landing. The central motor would be a LONG-burning H45, I95, or something similar. The long-burning motor (by itself) would not have enough "Oomph" to lift the rocket off the pad by itself -- it relies on the 3 ea. boosters to provide punch and airspeed.
I know that electronics would be needed for air-starting the central motor. I believe that such a rocket COULD fly. Unfortunately, I don't believe RockSim has a way of modeling PARALLEL-STAGED rockets, so I may just have to figure out stability using the old "cardboard cutout" method.
Any ideas or words of wisdom concerning this "dream project" of mine?