Rocketry Payload Ideas

[garlicsnapper]

I recently purchased and am starting to build a Public Missiles SWR-300 rocket kit. It is a 2.6 diameter rocket that boasts a generous 14.75” internal payload bay.

I’m planning to use a Jolly Logic Chute Release for recovery which means I will not be employing any dual-deployment electronics.

I’ve already plans to mount a couple of external DVR’s to the rocket. What’s out there and available for interesting payloads and/or electronics that could be flown in her?

 

[waltr]

Not much that I know of to just buy and run execpt altimeters. However, there are many sensors that could be used along with many different processors, SD cards, etc that can easily be put together.

Useful sensors are:
Baro to determine altitude
Accelerometer - Motor thrust, Calculate Cd during coast, Ejection forces
Gyro- calculate spin and tilt.

A good place to look for and learn about these is Adafruit. They have very good tutorials to learn from and all the part on easy to use modules.
I used an ESP32, Accel, Gyro & Baro from Adafruit to build a logger that records flight details. Then post-flight process to analysis the flight.

 

[cls]

sparkfun has a series of gas detectors, for all kinds of atmospherics. consider recording gas samples on the way down, you will be able to detect all sorts of pollution, particulates, etc.

 

[smstachwick]

I recently purchased and am starting to build a Public Missiles SWR-300 rocket kit. It is a 2.6 diameter rocket that boasts a generous 14.75” internal payload bay.

I’m planning to use a Jolly Logic Chute Release for recovery which means I will not be employing any dual-deployment electronics.

I’ve already plans to mount a couple of external DVR’s to the rocket. What’s out there and available for interesting payloads and/or electronics that could be flown in her?

I’ve always liked seeing rockets set up with lights to fly at night. The bay might be a convenient place to rig up battery packs and wiring for really bright ones.

Other ideas:

A thermometer, to collect temperature data from altitude

RF, GPS, or sonic screamer recovery aids

You can also always fly non-electronic payloads like parasite gliders, eggs (multiple), liquid containers, or anything else that captures your interest. Some of these could be plenty interesting and challenging