RocketMavericks 2009 Project?

12 responses to “RocketMavericks 2009 Project?”

1. 

   David G Photography

   Jan 9, 2009 at 4:08 am

   Instead of building your own, did you check to see if the Army wants to sell some cheap – Army surplus can be a bargain 🙂

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2. 

   rocketmavericks

   Jan 9, 2009 at 7:31 am

   Actually, the motor in Wedges 1/3 Nike Ajax booster was identical to the QPDoll, which is one of the four motors in the Hercules. Mavericks needs to step up in the engineering and reliability of the nozzle technology, as the uniform graphite nozzles used for both the QPDoll and the P-Ref.1 all failed due to thermal gradient expansion problems. Taking that to an S, means a whole new generation of technology.

   The Nike Veterans Association and the Nike Historical Society, as well as the National Park Service would like to see us fly one of these cold war relics, but the question I have is whether the public is supportive of such an effort?

   I have thought that we could tie this to a science and educational partnership with high schools, but the risk might be too much for our current educational system to endure for high school students to participate in. I can just hear Nancy Grace on CNN now.

   That said, I would have killed in high school to participate in such a program, and it would have sealed the deal for my career in technology and engineering, which our society really needs an incentive for our youth to pursue.

   Thoughts, public gawkers and followers of this photo blog? Do you think the Flickr community would support this effort?

   Yes we can?

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3. 

   .schtieF

   Jan 9, 2009 at 8:00 am

   did i understand it right this rocket was build during the cold war for carrying nuclear weapons? and you want to fly a replica?
   for me thats to much symbolism, why not design a new rocket with latest state of the art knowledge.

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4. 

   rocketmavericks

   Jan 9, 2009 at 8:07 am

   Yes. This rocket was used to deliver a nuclear warhead in front of an approaching Soviet nuclear strike group. It detonated, and removed the strike threat to each city the system protected. You can watch the corny cold war movies here:

   http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/asf/nike_herc_01.asf

   That is the point. Build a cold war replica, with state of the art knowledge, minus the nuclear warhead. Cost should be less, performance better, reliability better, same great taste but with todays technology. A step towards a space shot, as we need to develop the booster technology.

   I love the cold war movies. Reminds me of 2nd grade duck and cover movies.

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5. 

   schoschie

   Jan 9, 2009 at 2:44 pm

   You’re crazy! And I love it.

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6. 

   conformation_change

   Jan 9, 2009 at 3:21 pm

   It would be awesome to see a Nike launch in person! I would also love to see the Rocket Mavericks engineer a large hypergolic rocket. I have been reading John Clark’s "Ignition! An informal history of liquid rocket propellants." I can’t believe some of the fuel/oxidizer combinations early rocket scientists used! I’ve never been to a Balls or Mavericks scale launch so maybe this has already been done, but if not you could open up a whole realm of rocketry to amateurs!

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7. 

   rocketmavericks

   Jan 9, 2009 at 5:23 pm

   Di-nitrogen Tetroxide is very nasty stuff, and requires a lot of servicing because of the fuming nitric acid it produces. Solid propellants are much better in terms of simplicity, safety, and and cost and reliability. The only usage now for this technology i sin thrusters and even that is being replaced with cold gas and gas generation systems because nobody likes the hazmat issues around it.

   Why the interest in hypergolics? I think this stuff is just too dangerous to work with.

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8. 

   jurvetson

   Jan 9, 2009 at 5:46 pm

   Reminds me of Neil Armstrong’s biggest worry for Apollo 11

   :

   I just read an interesting tidbit in a book that landed on my desk this morning:

   "During the cold war, the code to unlock nuclear missiles was 00000000. Strategic Air Command thought the eight-digit combinations necessary to launch ICBMs were for candy-asses, the kind of fraidy-cats who engage the safety on their personal firearms. So the combination for all the missiles was kept at 00000000. The locks were finally given legitimate combinations in 1977."
   – 100 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know, p.173.

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9. 

   conformation_change

   Jan 9, 2009 at 6:20 pm

   I was interested in liquid rocket capabilities such as the ability to control thrust and to restart in space. I thought that hypergolic liquid fuels might simplify the design, construction, and control of a liquid fueled rocket made by private individuals. Recently, there has been some interesting work on non-toxic hypergolic fuels (http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~rusek/papers/nawcbiprop.html). I also thought with your group’s rocketry expertise your group could push the technological envelope and could develop even safer fuels. These developments could open up a new realm of possibilities to the rest of the amateur rocketry community. I have only built mid power rockets so my knowledge of what is practical is limited, but it is fun to think of exciting engineering challenges on a snowy Wisconsin day.

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10. 

    jurvetson

    Jan 9, 2009 at 7:00 pm

    Hydrazine 2.0

    N2H4 Fertilize the fly-over states…

    I know someone who wants to pursue it as a jet fuel, claiming that it was recently downgraded on its toxicity…

    

    Happy to connect you if it’s something you want to explore.

    Reply
11. 

    rocketmavericks

    Jan 9, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    I will have to look at the paper you posted. I was not aware of this effort. Thanks for the link.

    There is a lot of work going on now with restartable solid propellants, including both electrical and magnetically controlled oxidizers that I am aware of. Aerojet and ATK are working the usage of pintel nozzle system to vary thrust. I have felt a restartable solid propellant would be the holy grail in propulsion technology, but we need to understand the electrochemistry of solid materials to make it a reality.

    Lots of good opportunities to challenge the thinking of the status quo.
    Reminds me of the early days of the computer industry in the valley, where every commercial application required a mainframe. God I miss VM, the 360 and keypunch machines!

    Reply
12. 

    Rocketman8911

    Jan 15, 2009 at 2:30 am

    I suggest keeping this project out of the high school’s because kids are too immature to handle the scope of a project this big. But good luck on the project and I may just have to make a special trip up to the desert to see this thing fly.

    Reply