The radiant plume of a thermoplastic propellant from Canada, burning clean, with Black Rock in the distance.
(Most of the white “smoke” behind a rocket is actually water vapor like a cloud condensed on the hyrdrochloric acid micro-droplets in the exhaust. And the yellowish color near the ground is playa dust kicked up from the blast.)
Shock diamonds visible at full size
This weekend, I will launch this fiberglass rocket with my strap-on-videocam and test a breakaway parachute (since it will approach Mach 1).
For this launch, I have a pad cam in the left foreground. Here is the video, part of a RocketMavericks medley: first, I launch this Nike Smoke rocket on a Cesaroni L1030. Then Tom launches his scratch-built carbon fiber rocket on a home-brew N1000 motor to 17,500 ft. Finally, Erik launches his Bullpup on a M1500 Green Mojave motor from Aerotech. His rocket then drifts softly back to the pad in the same video frame as the launch, for an easy recovery.
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