“Sure, give us Pad 13” I said….
Here you see the moment of the first motor CATO. Then it all went crazy…
Here is the flight video compilation, including the HD cam on the rocket.
My son designed and simulated this rocket from scratch, and he wanted a rocket motor at each fin tip because it would look really cool – like a wide cylinder of fire coming from a skinny rocket.
It is a surprisingly robust design. It will fly straight with any one motor failure, each a rare event. On Saturday, we had two for the first time. Just after ignition, one of the single-use Aerotech G75 metal storms exploded, and simultaneously, as the on-board computer fired the igniter in the central J140 moon burner, the e-match failed to ignite the pyrogen dip as provided by CTI.
So, on this flight, we had two of three fin motors lit, and no thrust from the heavy central motor. So the rocket went into a death spiral overhead as soon as it left the launch rail. (photos below)
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