Canon EOS 5D
ƒ/4.5
100 mm
1/4,000
500

With experimental motors flying all weekend, several were bound to provide spectacular failures.

And as one of the photographers wandering the range, I was closer than usual to a number of N-sized motors vaporizing rockets on the pad or soon after liftoff.

In this example, a home-brew motor mixed with 8 pounds of black powder hit a bit of a burp right after takeoff.

As the solid propellant motors rapidly rise to full pressure and sufficient heat to melt aluminum, a motor casing rupture can burst a rocket apart from within… leading to a shower of rocket confetti overhead.

There was so much going on… I took 1000 photos in 24 hours. It will take a few days to look through all that…

(best viewed large)

30 responses to “Spontaneous Combustion”

  1. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    Whooooww A Super Star Dust Nova !

    You never loose time..as soon back home..back in the stars.. ; )
    Have fun surfing over all the 1000 picture lol.

    Reply
  2. Anthony Will photos Avatar
    Anthony Will photos

    really cool shot… thanks for sharing

    Reply
  3. KoRaYeM Avatar
    KoRaYeM

    WoW…excellent timing. The particles blurb after the explosion looks amazing.

    Could you share a tip with us? Were you have your camera in continuous shooting mode?

    —
    Seen in my contacts’ photos. (?)

    Reply
  4. gdsanders Avatar
    gdsanders

    Cool.

    I bet the weekend was big fun. I always enjoy the post-event photostream.

    Reply
  5. Vanita Avatar
    Vanita

    Forgive a downer of a comment, but I can never stop myself from first briefly seeing the Challenger shuttle disaster in these exploding smoke trails against blue-sky images.

    Reply
  6. Etep Avatar
    Etep

    Even though the rocket blew up, this is a great photo. Good job!

    Reply
  7. schoschie Avatar
    schoschie

    Stunning! Is there a video?

    Reply
  8. Jaako Avatar
    Jaako

    You have amazing shutter-timing, SJ.

    Reply
  9. Chris Anderson Photos Avatar
    Chris Anderson Photos

    That’s a heck of a burp! Thanks for sharing Steve.

    Chris

    Reply
  10. Erik Charlton Avatar
    Erik Charlton

    Great capture…Whoa!!!!

    Reply
  11. snowbear2006 Avatar
    snowbear2006

    Oh, was that you that was showing us the photos on your camera right after the explosion? I was really busy and didn’t get to drop off an e-mail address for you to send photos to and then – here they are on Flickr. The Sky Bowler photo is awesome too. We really appreciate you sharing these pictures with us.

    Did you get any photos or video of "Black Mach" shredding. I downloaded the altimeters this morning – it was doing 4000 feet per second only 5 seconds off the pad when the fin can failed. I swore I wouldn’t let cameras distract me from watching it fly, but now everyone is asking me for a photo. It was the Black carbon fiber minimum diameter P with a blue fin can that shredded about 12:30 Sunday afternoon if you happened to get it. We flew right before the big Q motor hybrid. Oh, and please tell me you have photos of the Q hybrid tumbling to earth still burning…

    Reply
  12. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I am heartbroken to say that I had to leave at noon on Sunday to catch my flight… =(

    If you do find anyone with photos of those launches, please let me know at SteveJ@boxbe.com as that big bolus of nitrous oxide was something I wanted to see lit up. I got a lot of pad-prep shots. It was a gorgeous bird.

    KoRaYeM: yes. And I found that 1/4000 timing priority is plenty fine to freeze the action. I have played with 1/8000 sec exposures on the Mach flights, but it’s not needed (lower ISO and lower noise is benefit of dialing back from "bullet-time" exposures).

    schoschie: I will post a Q motor launch, but I don’t have video of this one. I find tripods too limiting to catch the action… and I can only pan well with one hand. =)

    PhotonQ: yeah, it was an unusual trip from Provence to Black Rock… It was great to see you at Paris CDG.

    Reply
  13. PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE Avatar
    PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE

    @Steve : It was great to see you too. A crazy trip you had, indeed !

    Let me know, when you have time, about the picture in front of the "Space CDG board". Hope it looks "SpacyCool" =)

    Reply
  14. paranoidroid Avatar
    paranoidroid

    I have plenty of photos of the Sunday launches and a video of the Q motor hybrid. Add me on flickr, and on youtube (mosh1). Will need to spend a few days to process everything…

    Reply
  15. Gwênlyn Avatar
    Gwênlyn

    Expensive fireworks, eh?

    Reply
  16. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    a labor of love…

    Just saw this nice blog for teachers. Thanks Wesley.

    Reply
  17. Wesley Fryer Avatar
    Wesley Fryer

    Thank YOU Steve! 🙂

    Reply
  18. wadetibb Avatar
    wadetibb

    Great timing.
    >>>seen on
    1-2-3 group

    Reply
  19. Saledargento (Roberto Esposti) Avatar
    Saledargento (Roberto Esposti)

    Great shot!

    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  20. Steven Ford / snowbasinbumps Avatar
    Steven Ford / snowbasinbumps

    very cool shot. A FAV
    Seen in: :

    Reply
  21. [Magec] Avatar
    [Magec]

    puM!

    Reply
  22. madhaus Avatar
    madhaus

    Excellent shot!!!! Love the debris clouds. Too bad about the rocket, though.

    I was not there but the spousal unit was and I’ve put up a few of his Nike Smoke pix showing that 9.8 m/s**2 is pretty nasty without a recovery system.

    Reply
  23. jaymcgavren Avatar
    jaymcgavren

    Love it love it love it! A mix of photographic skill and a dash of luck.

    I flashed back to the Challenger disaster – very glad no one was aboard this one.

    Reply
  24. Dyche Avatar
    Dyche

    BOO-ya! Very sad for the guys who put all their time into building this thing but it did provide a beautiful image.

    Reply
  25. Trees growing Avatar
    Trees growing

    Bit of a burp!
    Great capture!

    Reply
  26. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I just discovered a video from the distant flight line of this CATO…. The sound is nice and you get a sense of how fast it all happens…

    @mahhaus: Yeah, that was wild. Rockets Magazine published a pair of shots I took of that inbound Nike, 1/3 seconds apart…

    Nike Ballistic Lawn Dart

    Reply
  27. CatDancing Avatar
    CatDancing

    What an awesome capture!
    ‘ACTION’ Theme at:
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  28. kayodeok Avatar
    kayodeok

    Lovely timing in capturing this

    ‘ACTION’ Theme at:
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  29. lively taste Avatar
    lively taste

    Incredible image! You (and all of the commenters above) obviously had a fascinating time.

    ‘ACTION’ Theme at:
    The World Through My Eyes

    Reply
  30. jeco Avatar
    jeco

    seen via goo.gl/S8oazM

    Reply

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