Hi
I have been doing research on sounding rockets used in the 60s and I found three of specific interest: Skua2, Petrel 1 and the INTA 100. All of them reached an apogee of 100Km using AP based propellants that provided less than 25KN of thrust. They used old technology, steel construction, have similar empty weights to what can be achieved today while using AP fuel which is readily available in O motor form. As O motors can provide anywhere between 20 and 40KN then surely a 40KN motor rocket if well designed could easily reach 100KM, yet I see very few O motor flights achieving an apogee of over 90,000ft. Why is this? Thanks
I have been doing research on sounding rockets used in the 60s and I found three of specific interest: Skua2, Petrel 1 and the INTA 100. All of them reached an apogee of 100Km using AP based propellants that provided less than 25KN of thrust. They used old technology, steel construction, have similar empty weights to what can be achieved today while using AP fuel which is readily available in O motor form. As O motors can provide anywhere between 20 and 40KN then surely a 40KN motor rocket if well designed could easily reach 100KM, yet I see very few O motor flights achieving an apogee of over 90,000ft. Why is this? Thanks