Marvin the Martian from the Kaboom Krewe

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I heard there was a 15lb bowling ball on the nose?

Any news on the arc over? Rail catch? Low exit speed?
 
Found another video of the launch (about first 5 or 10 seconds). Makes me wonder if the arc-over issue was related to the launch rails?

 
Here is a video of several launches at LDRS 38, including several splendid aerial (drone) views. [Edit: 15 minutes]

At 1:08, there is a drone view of Marvin's Rocket, but not the launch. At 4:42, there is another ground view of Marvin's entire flight.

 
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It looks like the exhaust may have gotten to one of the parachutes?

It did.

I finally reviewed the onboard footage with Dan Welling, and together we agreed on a few things. I hope to be able to make a video that shows normal onboard footage, then a subtitled set of footage showing the different events as they occur. We've not released the footage yet because I didn't want to fuel speculation (any more than it has now), but since we are in agreement in the sequence of events, we can move forward.... As we have time.
 
Looks like Marvin's second attempt to get home will be at Red Glare this year. The tentative plan is to fly Saturday April 4.
 
WHERE IS THE ON BOARD VIDEO

DON'T MAKE ME DRIVE TO SAINT LOUIS AND START WHIPPING PEOPLE WITH WET NOODLES
 
Yay!

This makes me happy.

Really though, this entire project makes me happy. :D So happy to see it make another appearance.
 
Yay!

This makes me happy.

Really though, this entire project makes me happy. :D So happy to see it make another appearance.

We are excited to give it another go. Making a few tweaks to the rocket, as well as propulsion and recovery.

I am hoping to be able to attend. I enjoyed the avionics portion of it, even if all four of my RRC3's fried at LDRS. Jim is going to look at those. I have a backup alternate if needed.... Hopefully I can get feedback from Jim before Red Glare.
 


The onboard footage should help folks understand what happened. I duct taped the camera onto the rocket ~5 mins before we vacated the pad, aimed it at the hatch for a nice view. Seemed to work in my favor!
 
Wow, happened across this today... Basically I believe that the weight of the chutes to one side of the rocket led to it going hatch-down, and the #2 shear pins failed to hold the hatch in place. As a result, the hatch came off, and eventually the chutes just came out. You can hear the charges pop after the chutes are coming out. Those were like 7-10 grams apiece. The "oh $#!+" charge never went off due to a malfunction of the RRC3... Probably for the better. I think it was like 30 grams LOL

We've up sized the pins and we have ground tested the charges used to pop the hatch (we literally blew the hatch 20ft into the air) - no concerns there.

Marvin will next fly in Elsberry, MO hopefully this fall (late Oct, Nov 2021), COVID and weather permitting. We want our families to be able to witness the spectacle of Marvin the Martian's return home!
 
Wow, just wow!

Honestly, though, it looks like that's Marvin's launch from Mars to Earth based on the color and texture of that soil!

Awesome project and hope to see more in the future.

Sandy.
 
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