24 responses to “What’s That? Puzzle 56”
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Bingo JKaljundi from Estonia! This is a High-Performance Rocket with a big engine going completely haywire at night.
In this case, Victor has set up a wide angle shot (to try to get the Big Dipper in the background). Luckily, that setting perfectly captured the full trajectory of this chaotic flight of instability. The rocket had too heavy a motor in the back, a J-class motor in this case if I recall.
For those of use who have set off a bare Estes rocket engine as kids and watched it skip randomly through space, you have a sense of what happened here. You can add a nose cone and some fins to a motor, and it will be still be unstable. You need a proper balance of weight and thrust vectors.
It’s Rocket Science redux! »≈≈≈≈►
CP < CGTo be stable, the rocket’s CP (Center of Pressure) should be one or two body diameters behind the CG (Center of Gravity).
The fins are there to streamline the flow of air and provide a large surface area and help to keep the center of pressure below the center of mass of the rocket.
For a good set of diagrams and description of dynamic instability, check out this page.
At high power launches, like this one at XPRS 2005 in the Black Rock Desert, random dances, landsharks, and supersonic rocket shreds are more common as people push the envelope a bit….
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also a good observation. Check out this description
Rezaka and Rocketeer (relevant name, eh!) win the prizes for most creative and warped visions respectively….
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This week the successor to the Pink Floyd Laser Light Show–The Jackson Pollack Experience!!
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I just posted a video of a supersonic shred on Revver. The rocket screamed to Mach 2 on a L-size motor, and the pressure wave ripped the fins off making it temporarily unstable (corkscrew). You can hear the warning siren (something I was used to hearing by that point… =) and the chatter of people spotting the fins and other chunks as they rained down around us. A classic URD – “Unscheduled Rapid Disassembly”.
Other videos:
• Russian Roar ending with “Remember, mortgage before motors.”
• Big Rocket with N2000 motor
• Videocam on Rocket launched near Stanford
• My first launch… with Baking Soda & Vinegar
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seems more spectacular in the dark? I’ve just viewed the video, and it was actually quite exciting, (never having seen anything quite like that) thanks for the link 🙂
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