At this weekend’s LUNAR rocket launch, someone found my Expediter rocket, last seen shooting supersonic into thin air, nine months ago. That means it survived the winter snow and rain in the foothills of the Sierras!
Woot!! It’s like the waywardly return of an embattled merchant ship. I had been hoping for this day, but losing hope as the months passed.
(I’ll post photos of the rocket and launch video below)
It appears that the parachute did not deploy, and I have been told that the flight computer is trashed, so we will probably not get forensic data or verification that it hit the 950MPH airspeed predicted by computer simulation.
I had made numerous modifications to this rocket to prepare it for this flight, wrapping it in Kevlar and fiberglass composites. It looks like the fins survived the supersonic transition, and the body survived the ballistic lawn dart reentry. The upper section is probably embedded deep in the ground at Snow Ranch.
It flew with a strap-on videocam, which I recovered separately, and unharmed. The Cesaroni Aerospace L730 motor looks like it is unharmed as well (silver tube in foreground). I may be able to saw off the coupler and reuse this booster (which consumed 80% of the rocket assembly work).
The recovery team noticed that some field mice had nibbled on the fins but stopped at the fiberglass. Looks like they survived, and now I know that they also have rat abatement properties. The forward coupler used to be wrapped with Kevlar integral to the booster body. Much of that looks chewed away, but I’d have to do a forensic bite inspection…. Perhaps Kevlar tastes better. Good reason not to use it. =)
Photo by the LUNAR Lost & Found Dept. Thanks!!!
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