Supersonic Rocket Launch

I finally broke Mach1 with my Firestorm54 fiberglass rocket.

It screamed off the pad so fast that Erik and I both missed the takeoff. The data log comes from the on board G-Wiz computer with barometer and accelerometer sensors.

Prior attempts came close, at .98 Mach on a K185 motor, and .96 Mach on a J350 in the Black Rock Desert. My first attempt with a K550 at Snow Ranch almost destroyed the rocket as a computer jumper error ejected the nose cone at launch.

Here is a 4-second video of the successful launch on a K550 motor on Saturday at DairyAire. This is just the first couple seconds of the burn.

839MPH, Mach1.1
9,258 ft. altitude
11 G’s of acceleration.

Next step: 2x the impulse yet again with a L730 motor imported from Cesaroni, a Canadian aerospace & defense company. That should provide an extreme stress test at 30 G’s… and send her three miles up.