MWP14: Looking for feedback on potential new rocketry products

[Ravenex]

As many of you know I have been working toward on several new products for the rocketry community. At this point I’m in need of some feedback to continue moving forward, I’m hoping to discuss with flyers about pricing and options and what level of kit / preassembly these items will be offered at. I will be at MWP 14 Saturday and Sunday at my father’s Python Rockery tent and will have the prototypes of these items with me (except for the steering bay that was lost a Bong). I will also be looking for some flyers who would like to beta test the stabilization system in the upcoming flying season.


These products include a streamlined composite ogive camera shroud and mount:




A active stabilization system:




And a system for steerable and guided “return to home” recovery:

 

[ksaves2]

Active stabilization certainly makes for a nice camera platform and was achieved in the past with R/C gyros. The fellow of Dr. Rocket fame had a big cumbersome device that flew in a large rocket some years ago.
The solid state stuff certainly makes miniaturization more possible and mass production more economical. Steerable parachutes would have the benefit for shortened recovery distance. One could do the R/C control thing but
the military has been using GPS guided chutes to deliver payloads for quite some time now. I suspect they just have to get into a cone shaped area where the item can be dropped and it can "glide" to it's destination. Kurt

 

[cerving]

If you could design the "return to home" chute so that it could be installed in an existing rocket without modification you'd have a serious product. I think John Beans has demonstrated this with the Chute Release... if you can add some functionality without having to build your rocket around it then you'll have a winner.

 

[Onebadhawk]

If you could design the "return to home" chute so that it could be installed in an existing rocket without modification you'd have a serious product. I think John Beans has demonstrated this with the Chute Release... if you can add some functionality without having to build your rocket around it then you'll have a winner.

+1.....
Listen to this man......

Teddy

 

[ksaves2]

If you could design the "return to home" chute so that it could be installed in an existing rocket without modification you'd have a serious product. I think John Beans has demonstrated this with the Chute Release... if you can add some functionality without having to build your rocket around it then you'll have a winner.

I don't believe either stabilization nor steerable para wing could be integrated "easily" in an already built rocket. Both require electronics and the stabilization will need to be integrated into the build unless the canard fin/electronics bay is supplied for a
given tube diameter. Yeah, then it could be "dropped-in". Same thing with the para wing. Will require R/C electronics bay and I venture it would be tough to pull off in a "drop-in" fashion. Plus one would have to learn to fly it. Not so bad as most
rocket people have "dabbled" in or are current flying R/C stuff. Flying a para wing would be a piece of cake as long as it deploys nominally and doesn't tangle. Autonomous flying descent I venture would really take a longer development time if
starting from scratch. Kurt

 

[patelldp]

If you could design the "return to home" chute so that it could be installed in an existing rocket without modification you'd have a serious product. I think John Beans has demonstrated this with the Chute Release... if you can add some functionality without having to build your rocket around it then you'll have a winner.

Agree wholeheartedly. A deployable canister that has the brains and necessary mechanisms inside it so you can drop it in to your existing parachute bay along with the steerable chute. The canister tracks the GPS coordinates on the pad and during the early part of descent and returns the rocket to that point, or even one 20-30' away from there so as to not interfere with other rockets. The entire arrangement gets ejected at apogee, the real issue to figure out is how to rig it to keep it from tangling.

 

[Thorfire]

I'll be looking at the stabilization system at MWP. I've been looking at Jim Jarvis's work and toying with the idea of a 75mm MD staged Balls project ;-)

 

[TangoJuliet]

Get the steerable recovery system down to a size useable in MPR and I'd be highly interested. R/C Skydivers have been around for a number of years now and can be operated pretty reliably.

 

[Nick@JET]

Hope to meet you and checkout the steerable chute and active stabilization system. Probably Sunday when everything calms down