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.
Despite the bitter cold of Melbourne's Winter, Sunday's Tripoli launch at Serpentine was a huge success! By the end of the day, 15 flyers had launched 17 rockets between them with most returning to Earth in the same condition that they left.
Karl had a super flight to achieve his Level 2 certification and received the appropriate 'Ooohs' and 'Aahhhs' from the crowd that had gathered to watch.
Karl's L2 Launch - Click to embiggen
A new Tripoli member, Tim, had three good launches. His upscale Yankee popped a fin upon landing but his upscale 4" scratch-built Goblin put in a superb performance and came down unscathed.
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
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!
Flying this weekend was not only cold (being Winter here in Australia) but cloudy, too! While there were some good flights put in, we were restricted to about 8,000' and by the end of the day, a the last couple of rockets punched holes in the cloud at 2,000' so we called it a day.
Click to Embiggen
I launched my LOC Weasel for a great flight, unfortunately a really crappy parachute (from Semrock) completely let go causing the weasel to fall from about 2,200' into the hard ground. A bit of dirt on the tip of the nose and a cracked fin fillet was the only damage, now fixed. The parachute? Well, it was last seen heading North towards NSW...
A picture, by all accounts, tells a thousand words.. This picture, on the other hand, tells a thousand pieces... Continuing his run of bad luck, Glenn managed to CATO another big bird
For the last few months I've been working on a secret project. Just a handful of people have had any idea what I've been up to. After the weekend, the cat's out of the bag and time to make an announcement!
I'd like to present to you Australia's first rocket kit - the Orbital Decay!
I flew the prototype twice this weekend and some adjustments are needed before I start taking orders.
Rocketry 
