MythBusters "First Rocketeer" this Wednesday night

[georgegassaway]

Coming up on Mythbusters Wednesday night (9 PM EST):

"Jessi, Tory and Grant take on the world's first rocketeer"

https://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-crash-and-burn/

(see "Rocket Man" link on that page)

Some Screenshots from the Rocket Man preview video below.

I know nothing else about the myth or the rocket than the preview video showed. Though maybe they were doing a "Modern Day" update of the Chinese Emperor story, with something a whole lot more stable than the rocket powered chair (The Emperor's Chair is one they did a long time ago).

This seems to have flown from White Sands Missile Range, not far from the old V-2 Launch Complex 33 (the shot of that confirms they were at WSMR).

- George Gassaway

 

[billspad]

I predict a bad day for Buster.

 

[HotRod Rockets]

I perdict lots and lots of students asking if we can do that after class?:y:

Is there a "needless explosion" pool? This is mythbusters there must be a needless explosion.
How much gassoline did they put in the rocket this time?

.

 

[MKP]

I perdict lots and lots of students asking if we can do that after class?:y:

Is there a "needless explosion" pool? This is mythbusters there must be a needless explosion.
How much gassoline did they put in the rocket this time?

.

I'm sure the needless explosion is almost a certainty. The only way it would be more certain is if the show were Time Warp. :roll:

 

[shrox]

I perdict lots and lots of students asking if we can do that after class...

I want to go that after work.

 

[georgegassaway]

I predict this. Assuming the motor is good, that it’ll be stable (aerodynamically). But Buster is leaning “forward”, and not perfectly aligned, so the result is that Buster’s CG is not thru the thrustline. So, I predict the rocket will pitch in the direction that Buster is facing (assuming it is not an incredibly windy day that could have more of an effect on pitching than Buster's leaning).
BTW - when it is NOT usually bad day for Buster, anytime he gets “flying” in the air? IIRC, DaVinci had not yet sketched out his Parachute concept when this emperor “flew” (if indeed that is the myth they are doing), so I’m not so sure they would have bothered to give Buster a recovery system for this one anyway.

“Needless explosion”? Well, sounds like the “Crash and Burn” part of the show, with the car will suffice for that in this episode. Usually when they do rocket stuff, they do not do any “needless explosions”. Sometimes things explode that were not planned. Like the huge engine purchased for the updated Jato Rocket Car, that exploded. Or the “Salami Hybrids” that kept blowing out the nozzles or aft closures when the Salami fuel sloughed off and plugged the nozzle, but the Mythbusters never realized what was happening and confused the nozzle blowouts with "thrust".

But they only do explosions on purpose when the MYTH mentions an explosion, so I do not think this “first rocketeer” myth would call for that.

- George Gassaway

 

[roadkill]

I still think that salami would work
it it'd be properly aged and dried first....

 

[shrox]

I predict this. Assuming the motor is good, that it’ll be stable (aerodynamically). But Buster is leaning “forward”, and not perfectly aligned, so the result is that Buster’s CG is not thru the thrustline. So, I predict the rocket will pitch in the direction that Buster is facing (assuming it is not an incredibly windy day that could have more of an effect on pitching than Buster's leaning)...

Mythbusters often seem kind of sloppy like that, when they had the peeing on an electrified rail episode, I knew that streams of liquids break up into droplets, how did they not know that? Ever squirted a garden hose in the air?

 

[daveyfire]

I still think that salami would work
it it'd be properly aged and dried first....

(1) Soak in LN2 bath to solidify
(2) Machine to appropriate dimensions
(3) Re-soak in LN2 to harden
(4) Quickly load and fly

The regression rate is be higher than the thermal wave penetration rate, so nothing should slough off. Problem solved :roll:

 

[georgegassaway]

I still think that salami would work
it it'd be properly aged and dried first....

And I was thinking if they had FROZEN it and tested before it thawed, that might have solved the problem (depending on fast it melted when firing). Would have been pretty ironic considering the “Frozen Chicken thru airplane windshield” myth they had so much trouble getting right.

I do enjoy the show and like them. They get the stuff right most of the time. But once in awhile they do not, like the Salami hybrid (or that it took 4 totally different test set-ups to finally get the frozen/thawed chicken thru windshield thing right). And sometimes seem to be too easy to call a myth “busted’ when their attempts to replicate a complex chain of events is only tested a handful of times (or even only once). When the nature of some of the myths is not that it could be repeated every time tested, but whether it could ever happen.

- George Gassaway

 

[DAllen]

I love Mythbusters but I cringe every time the Mythbusters take on a myth involving rockets. The confederate rocket episode for example had them testing what I think was a L sized hybrid inside the shop. Whoever the safety person was at the time was passed out at the wheel.

Here again, I see something rather silly that will invariably result in mayhem and absurdity. Of course I will be watching because it will be funny TV.

-Dave

 

[DexterLB]

I love Mythbusters but I cringe every time the Mythbusters take on a myth involving rockets. The confederate rocket episode for example had them testing what I think was a L sized hybrid inside the shop. Whoever the safety person was at the time was passed out at the wheel.

Here again, I see something rather silly that will invariably result in mayhem and absurdity. Of course I will be watching because it will be funny TV.

-Dave

I don't even watch these episodes... Launch a rocket HORIZONTALLY!? Launch a rocket with no fins!? Launch a cluster of 60 HPR rocket engines under buster's chair!? That's not mythbusters. That's rocketbusters! They always want a big boom and destruction!

The episodes that don't involve rockets are great though

 

[Pantherjon]

DVR set..

 

[Mikus]

I want to go that after work.

Wait, can't YOU do that... AT work???

 

[shrox]

Wait, can't YOU do that... AT work???

The parking lot would make for a hard landing

 

[georgegassaway]

Last reminder, less than an hour away, starting 9 PM EST (repeats at 12 Midnight EST).

- George Gassaway

 

[DAllen]

That's rocketbusters!

Then they are also house-busters, ultra-light busters, archery busters, rifling busters, etc.

What they do is not a threat to rocketry. I cringe 'cause I don't want to see anyone get hurt. Except when Adam suffers at the hands of Jamie. That's just funny.

-Dave

 

[jim fustini]

Lets not forget the rocket thruster brakes on the semi truck.:roll:

 

[DAllen]

They're calling it busted?! The Aerojet motor cato'ed!!!!

:confused2:

-DAllen

 

[Bazookadale]

They're calling it busted?! The Aerojet motor cato'ed!!!!

:confused2:

-DAllen

Clearly flames coming from the forward end of the rocket - a cato or the parachute pyro going off early

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I'd say there was either a seal failure of some sort or a flaw somewhere in the case/nozzle assembly that they made.

 

[Bazookadale]

BTW I missed the first part of the show - which one of those guys got Kari pregnant?

 

[georgegassaway]

They're calling it busted?! The Aerojet motor cato'ed!!!!

Yeah. Sigh. Sort of like a forward closure failure, if this had been an RMS casing. Seems like the top plate that bolted onto the front end of the motor case had some sort of blow-by, before the rocket even leaves the end of the rod. And eventually flame shoots straight out of the side of the rocket, right about at the level where the plate was bolted to the flange. Plus in one of the post-crash views you can see about a 6 inch or so diameter hole melted thru the side of the body.

I guess that one has to be set alongside their never understanding the cause of the Salami Hybrid failures, that in this case the motor failed.

I also wonder about the 15 pounds of modern APCP being equal to 140 pounds of Black Powder as in the myth. That would assume some incredibly terribly inefficient nozzles during the ancient days. I know, there was not much rocket science back then, but that seems to be far too little APCP to equal the same total impulse as 140 pounds of black powder in ancient rocket engines.

I will say that having done flex-wing gliders, that it was sure a good call NOT try to do the winged recovery. Also too bad that in the show they claimed the chute didn’t work since, well, it never got a fair chance to.

Edit - well, on further review, just before the rocket portion hits, it looks like the drogue pulls out the main, but it hits before it could open. Also, falling separately to the left of the rocket is Buster, trailing smoke, because he got roasted inside the Cato inferno. So it would seem that the lines connecting Buster to the chute got burned off.

Sometimes they do not have the time or budget to test something more than a handful of times, or even more than ONCE. This was a one and only, and when the rocket motor failed they just did not acknowledge that and branded it “Busted”. Again I like the show but it really bugs me when they declare a “Busted” on something that was not thoroughly tested. Or in this case not properly tested since it was doomed by the time it got about 6 feet off the ground (when the engine started to fail)

Maybe a good challenge for Plaster Blaster next year would be for some team, or several teams, to take on this myth (without going nuts about it).

- George Gassaway

 

[Donaldsrockets]

Yeah, I say that using the method they used to seal off the forward end of the motor is not the best way to do that!!!

I'm sure if they used a commercial motor, AT, CTI, etc, the project probably would have worked better for them.

 

[NjCo]

Lets not forget the rocket thruster brakes on the semi truck.:roll:

This was already done (kind of) by the military with a C-130.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YOtm9UCQEc

 

[madmax]

Aerojet knows how to make motors, Grant does NOT know how to make a casing. Had they used a complete setup from Aerojet or failing that, AT or CTI, I'm certain that at least the up part would have been successful since the rocket appeared quite stable oddly enough for them.

 

[DAllen]

Aerojet knows how to make motors, Grant does NOT know how to make a casing. Had they used a complete setup from Aerojet or failing that, AT or CTI, I'm certain that at least the up part would have been successful since the rocket appeared quite stable oddly enough for them.

Correct. I should revise my original post...

They're calling it busted?! Grants CASING cato'ed!!!!

Fixed.

lol

-Dave

 

[gpoehlein]

I'm wondering why the didn't pull Erik in on this one. Ah well - fodder for the next "Myths Revisited" show!

 

[Mikus]

I'd say there was either a seal failure of some sort or a flaw somewhere in the case/nozzle assembly that they made.

Looked just like every forward closure blow-by that I've seen... 'cept much larger.

Looks like somebody didn't build that motor very well. But then everybody looked out of their league in that segment. I laughed at how they didn't even question that big hole in the side of the rocket.

They busted nothing. op:

 

[Mikus]

Maybe a good challenge for Plaster Blaster next year would be for some team, or several teams, to take on this myth (without going nuts about it).

- George Gassaway

I think that's totally doable. :2: