Unique launch opportunity

[BDB]

The city of Providence, RI, hosts festivals downtown nearly every weekend during the summer. They are called WaterFire, and they have a cool, artsy vibe. On July 20 the theme for the WaterFire will be "The Moon" in celebration of the lunar landing.

RIMRA was contacted by the Director of the RI NASA Space Grant to help with the occasion. One of the options is to launch a large Saturn V from a barge in Narraganset Bay. This could be a logistical nightmare, but it is also a really cool opportunity. I immediately thought about building a LOC Saturn V kit, but it would likely be a one-off since it would land in the water. There also might be an issue with the range of our Wilson FX launch system.

What do you guys think? I need to order a kit/parts and start building right away. Is something like this logistically feasible? Any suggestions on how to pull it off?

 

[Nytrunner]

Absolutely bathe the thing in superglue?
Repeater pad in a dinghy?

Can a waiver be had?

 

[heada]

If the city is willing to put up some funds to help cover the cost of the now single-use SatV, do it. Have it on display before the launch so people can get a close up look.

 

[jqavins]

Spitballing here; don't take this too seriously unless it sounds good.

If you paint the rocket inside as well as out with a lacquer or enamel, and fill all available space with packing peanuts or some such, then it will float and just might survive a brief dunking.

Contact a pro fireworks company and see if you can find a way to use their remote firing system with with rocket igniters. And how much they would charge.

 

[NateB]

What range do you need? I use a Cobra system and have reached a mile in optimal conditions. I think they advertise 500 yards.

 

[ECayemberg]

I have found that Loc tubes withstand water landings just fine when you A) paint or cover the outside and B) seal the ends of the tubes with thin CA. My Magnum has had water landing(S), is plain jane cardboard, and lives to tell the story to this day. In April, it floated atop the water for several hours prior to recovery.

On the Loc Saturn V for example, as a precaution, I'd coat the OD of the 7.5" coupler in CA or thin epoxy, paint or cover the exterior of the rocket, and if you feel so inclined, coat the ID of the 7.5" booster tube in thin CA or epoxy if concerned. The rest should be good!

Also, at Rockets for Schools in Sheboygan, WI, we've been launching off the pier and intentionally landing in the water for 20+ years now! Though we typically use phenolic airframes, I've personally flown paper rockets there before!

Your mileage may vary...but a little sealing here or there makes cardboard airframes impressively stable in wet environments.

 

[BDB]

Eric, Do you have any insider information on what motors work well with the LOC Saturn V? I just downloaded the rocksim file from the LOC website, but my OpenRocket is behaving strangely on this computer after the latest Java update. I'm thinking I would want to fly a single 54 or 75 mm DMS motor to about 1500 ft.

 

[boatgeek]

If your Wilson FX is a radio control, you should be able to use it from a support boat. You will need small boat access to the barge anyway to get everything set up, motor installed, rail lifted, etc. You'd just do all of that and then decamp to a boat rather than walking to the flight line. The organizers would need to set you up with teh boat if you don't already have access to one. I'm sure you could get volunteers to be that close to the launch, though!

 

[ECayemberg]

Eric, Do you have any insider information on what motors work well with the LOC Saturn V? I just downloaded the rocksim file from the LOC website, but my OpenRocket is behaving strangely on this computer after the latest Java update. I'm thinking I would want to fly a single 54 or 75 mm DMS motor to about 1500 ft.

We flew the proto on a K550W to about 2500'; it is built light but the glass parts on the production version are lighter than the plastic on the proto. If you're concerned about losing the hardware, the K535W is the same grains, just in the DMS casing. Doing some quick math, and sticking with White Lightning, an Aerotech J570W provides the roughly the same average thrust with ~68% of the total impulse, so that would put apogee around 1600'. In the same 38/1080 hardware, the new J520W has good kick off the pad, and only 47% of the total impulse of the K550...putting apogee in the 1200' arena. Of course, CTI and Loki make nice equivalent motors too!

Neat project here; looking forward to hearing how it all plays out!

 

[pondman]

Also consider a non-water based sanding sealer for the inside of the air-frames. I do it and so do a couple of our local fliers with excellent results.

 

[BABAR]

If the city is willing to put up some funds to help cover the cost of the now single-use SatV, do it.

Maybe just me but there seems to be something wrong about celebrating the anniversary of the trip to the moon with a rocket which is knowingly going to either sink to the bottom of the bay or wash up trashed on the beach.

There may be a middle ground however. Perhaps a motorboat can recover the rocket assuming it will float which it probably will. The rocket likely will not be flyable again but maybe adequate for a static display ..... perhaps in the local library as a commemorative piece?

For recovery maybe some very long pink streamers. Not to slow it down but to make it more “findable” in the water

 

[Nytrunner]

Maybe just me but there seems to be something wrong about celebrating the anniversary of the trip to the moon with a rocket which is knowingly going to either sink to the bottom of the bay or wash up trashed on the beach

If that's the only place to do it, they don't have much option.

Sometimes symbolism can be taken too far