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2 Stage Rocket
These are
photographs taken of the first launches of the 2 stage
rocket.
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| This is it on its
side with the 2 stages separate, showing the
rigid tube. Note that the booster stage (right)
does not have any fins - this is because it does
not need any. |
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On the launcher, showing the
gantry in all of its glory. This is another
reason why the booster stage doesn't need any
fins.
On this occasion, the rocket took for ever to
pressurise and I only managed to get around 45
psi pressure in it. Not really enough to get a
good launch.
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This is it when I finally gave
up pumping and, in a state of partial exhaustion,
pulled the release string to see what would
happen. The two stages worked quite well
although a little underpowered. The photograph on
the left shows the two rockets just after
separation and the jet of water coming from the
front of the booster (lower rocket in picture) is
the water that collected in the skirt section
during pressurisation and was then flung forward
by the decelleration of the booster following
separation.
Unfortunately, the second stage was extremely
stable and although the front section did empty
of water as anticipated, this was not enough to
destabalise it enough to make it float to earth
on its side
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A few days later and it snowed
so, in the still air of the morning, I took out
the second stage on its own to do some stability
tests. I tried it with various amounts of
water, in the end trying it empty and even that
was stable. I ended up fastening some pennies to
the rear end in order to try to destabalise it.
This worked and the rocket flew a most peculiar
path. It made me realise just how stable all of
the finned rockets I have built have been.
As a result of this testing: I need to use an
active deployment system such as the speed flap
or a timer; and, I need to have some method of
pressurising the large rockets using something
other than a pump powered by a human being (maybe
two? ).
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