Itokawa Explorer Post 1010
Lockheed Martin Exploring Program
Launch - December 13, 2014
Orion Spacecraft

Project Home

On Saturday, December 13, members from all four teams traveled to the Great Meadow VA launch site for test flights. The day was relatively nice, some gusts around 10mph. We used the NOVAAR launch rails. We conducted 10 flights. We also flew some large rockets with G motors.

We had some great results which may lead to qualification launches in January.

Objectives

  • Test flights of all our team rockets.
  • Team 15406 will try an F44 motor.
  • All the other teams will use a variety of E motors.
 Turquois Rocket Orange Rocket Gold Rocket Blue Rocket
Recovery from Creek

    Lessons

  • Team 15265 needs to focus on one rocket. They need to focus on why both rockets have spiral flights.
  • Team 15266 had three nice flights. All three had great altitudes and good descents, except the last flight had the chute and streamer tangled.
  • Team 15267 had two nice flights but had problems with tangled recovery.
  • Team 15406 tried an F motor and when way to high, them tried an E motor and was too low. They added 80g to the F44 and got a much better altitude. They are planning to add 100g. Their descents were a little fast.

Launches

Rocket Engine Rail Cargo Recovery Weight Results Comments
Gold 1
Team 15265
E20-7W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
15" Round
6x60" Streamer
371g
201g
810ft,
21sec
video, squirrely ascent, limited deployment, stuck in tube
Green 1
Team 15265
E20-7W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 6
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
355g
190g
816ft,
60sec
video, squirrely ascent, slow descent
Orange 1
Team 15266
E30-7T 6t 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 8
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
358g
181g
806ft,
43ec
video, nice flight
Orange 2
Team 15266
E30-7T 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 8
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
358g
181g
821ft,
49sec
video, nice flight
Orange 3
Team 15266
E30-7T 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 8
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
361g
181g
799ft,
36sec
no video, nice flight recovery tangled
Turquoise 1
Team 15267
E20-7W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 4
12" Round
10" Round
354g
153g
806ft,
36sec
video, nice flight recovery tangled
Turquoise 2
Team 15267
E20-7W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 4
12" Round
10" Round
368g
153g
831ft,
52sec
no video, altimeter spike
Blue 1
Team 15406
F44-8W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 7
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
380g
184g
1062ft,
61sec
video, too high
Blue 2
Team 15406
E20-7W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 7
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
370g
184g
756ft,
37sec
video, sputter igniter, wind cocking, descent too fast
Blue 3
Team 15406
F44-8W 6ft 0d 1 egg,
altimeter 7
12" Round
6x60" Streamer
460g
264g
843ft,
40sec
video, a little high, descent too fast

Altimeter Data (Excel format)
Flight Data Chart

Pictures

  Team 15265                                                                               Team 15266
  Team 15265     Team 15266

  Teams 15267                                                                              Team 15406
  Team 15267     Team 15406

  Loading                                                                              Team 15406
  Loading a Rocket     Loading a Rocket

  Recovery                                                                                                  Tangled
  Recovery    Recovery   
Tangled Recovery

Copyright 2015 Explorer Post 1010
Updated: January 12, 2015