Since the start of the year, I've been working on several projects. One of those projects is currently sitting on the back of a boat, due to dock in Melbourne on Friday! In fact, it's on this boat, the Safmarine Meru:
According to the Customs agent, I should take delivery in about a week's time. So, what's in the box? |
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Official I Build Rockets merchandise is now available on CafePress.
I Build Rockets - CafePress |
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After months of designing, building, testing, redesigning, rebuilding, testing, painting and more testing, the Orbital Decay had it's final test launch. My original plan was to design a good solid transition rocket. Something that you can build and fly on Mid-power but also solid and stable enough to fly it for a L1 certification flight.
This weekend's flight was on an Aerotech RMS H128 motor. The wind was blowing but not enough to cancel the day and while smaller rockets were suffering, the Orbital Decay punched a hole in the sky. Now the work begins on production.
Click to embiggen
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I presented my scratch-built SLAM Missile to the RSO at the Tripoli launch this weekend. "Where's the sim on this?" was the first question (I was armed with a printout from Rocksim) and "Where's the CP?" was the 2nd (I had marked the CP!). Lots of frowning, but it was stable. "That's going to do a loop!" but I was approved to fly it as a "head's up" launch...
The time came to press the launch button - money was changing hands at a furious pace 'How many loops will this do before it plows into the ground?'
Click to embiggen
But all went well - in fact, it was a flawless flight! Rocksim predected 1,000' on the E9. It had a good majestic boost and then coasted to apogee. The 4 second delay was perfect and recovered no more than 300' from the launch pads. |
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Work has been progressing on the Orbital Decay. It's now painted and ready for it's final trial flight. More information can be found in previous posts here and here |
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   Some time ago, I read an article on This is Rocket Science. It talked about a crazy nuclear powered rocket and was illustrated with the image to the right:
Back in the mid 1950's, nuclear powered cruise missiles were being studied and in 1957, development was initiated as Project Pluto. The reactor for the missile was to be developed by the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, with the ramjet being built by Marquadt. Ling-Temco-Vought was awarded the contract to develop the airframe for the missile itself, which was known as SLAM (Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile).
Read more at This is Rocket Science (Image and text used with permission)
And I thought to myself (and anyone else in ear-shot at the time) that I had to have a go at building one!
I built this up in Rocksim. It seems stable and an E9 should push it to about 1,000' and an F21 to about 1,900'
If the weather is on our side this weekend, it should get a launch! |
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