Parachute Drift Affect on location altitude

[BenjMason]

Hey guys. I was wondering how to account for the change in ground altitude when a rocket drifts off course while descending. For example, if the altimeters are turned on at a ground altitude of 500 ft above sea level, and the rocket drifts off to somewhere with a higher ground altitude, how do I make sure that the main chute will deploy in time?

Thanks for any help.

 

[mikec]

You have to increase the main deployment altitude to account for any possible changes due to topography. If there's a 1000-foot mountain adjacent to the launch site and you don't want to crash into it, you need to set the main to deploy at 1000+whatever you wanted.

Short of having something that senses the true altitude AGL, like a radar altimeter, this is your only option.

 

[BenjMason]

You have to increase the main deployment altitude to account for any possible changes due to topography. If there's a 1000-foot mountain adjacent to the launch site and you don't want to crash into it, you need to set the main to deploy at 1000+whatever you wanted.

Short of having something that senses the true altitude AGL, like a radar altimeter, this is your only option.