With the unusual perspective of a camera strapped to the tip of one of the wings, up above the fins. And an interesting glow at the tip of the advancing shadow (I leave that as a physics question to the viewer =)

More photos below, and flight video compilation from the three cameras on the rocket and two on the ground (It’s great in 1080p full-screen, or here’s the non-HD version)

The rocket weighs in at 65 lbs. and 9 ft. tall flying on a long-burning M840 motor with footage from four HD video cameras. I really like that moonburner motor from Cesaroni Aerospace. Also onboard are HCX and LCX flight computers and a RF tracking beacon, which proved essential to the recovery.

12 responses to “My Massive Moonburner Rocket Launch”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    for a sense of scale…IMG_2569
    Ignition!
    Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.29.39 PM
    Deflecting off the angled blast-plate:
    Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.30.06 PM
    Climbing
    Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.31.02 PM
    The upward-facing pad cam was a bit too close to the pad… Oops!Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.07.45 PMScreen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.34.52 PM
    Arcing over…Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.45.30 PM
    Popping the nose cone
    Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.49.16 PM
    and out comes the laundry…Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.49.58 PM
    The descent… seasonal creek and canal Screen Shot 2013-05-30 at 4.02.43 PM
    Cool shadow moments before impactScreen Shot 2013-05-27 at 5.59.27 PM
    Impact!Screen Shot 2013-05-27 at 6.00.19 PM
    Without the RF tracker and beacon we would never have found it. It was much, much farther away than we estimated from watching it descend…IMG_2581
    As found in the vineyard…IMG_2583
    Thanks Ashlee for the help in setup and recovery!

    Here is the flight video compilation from the three cameras on the rocket and two on the ground (non-HD version)

    Reply
  2. KryptonHeidt Avatar
    KryptonHeidt

    Wow. That’s way too cool. Is this something you do as a hobby?

    Reply
  3. AndrewNZ Avatar
    AndrewNZ

    @KryptonHeidt – it is – take a look at the ‘rockets’ set this is part of.

    Reply
  4. Broken Toy Shop Avatar
    Broken Toy Shop

    Probably one of the more interesting things to have ever happened in a vineyard.

    Reply
  5. obskura Avatar
    obskura

    I noticed this round glow around the shadow of my FPV aircraft as well. I believe it is due to the reflectivity profile of the ground, particularly that water droplets and possibly other things reflect light back to where it came from. Around its own shadow, the sunlight that passes the airplane gets reflected back to its origin more than in other directions, so the observer on the aircraft sees a glow around that location that moves with the shadow.

    Reply
  6. KaR]V[aN Avatar
    KaR]V[aN

    I wish there were more people interested in rocketing here in spain 🙁

    Reply
  7. gsikich1 Avatar
    gsikich1

    The smoke trail makes it look like a fissure in the earth – nice shot

    Reply
  8. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/obskura] – Bingo! The texture of the ground is key, but I don’t think there were any dew drops in the heat. I have never seen this effect with a rocket before, but an "opposition glow" was seen by Cernan on the moon. Here is a description of the phenomenon…

    And here is the G-Wiz HCX flight computer log:
    Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 7.53.30 PM

    The blue parabola shows a very late deployment of the chute. I am downloading data from the other computer, but it seems that either this pyro channel failed (and the other computer deployed the chute), or it took an unusually long 12 seconds for this chute to unfurl (it was the first flight of this new parachute, as I shredded the GLR TAC-9B stalwart that I used on the prior 7 flights on a different airframe that disintegrated at Mach 2.5).

    Details:
    Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 7.50.51 PM

    Looking at the first 9 seconds of this moon burner, the red acceleration curve…
    Screen Shot 2013-06-01 at 8.32.41 PM

    …matches the thrust curve
    simfile1914_650x350n

    Reply
  9. Mr Fruitychutes Avatar
    Mr Fruitychutes

    Steve, I think that downward spike in altitude about 6800 the pressure spike from the first deployment charge. Then the chute delays opening some some time. Kind of strange really. It could be the first charge did not kick it out. Then a very late backup did. In one of the pics the rocket man chute risers are seriously twisted, which is not good. That can cause serious opening issues.

    Reply
  10. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Very good catch! The photo above labeled "out comes the laundry" shows the shroud lines twisted together tightly, which retards inflation of the parachute. And in subsequent frames, I can see the parachute ball handing out there for a while before finally inflating with a powerful yank. This would explain everything. (And yes, zooming in, the baro-sensor caught the BP-charge spike at 18 seconds precisely at the "pyro-on" white triangle on the graph. I normally look for that.)

    So, how did they get twisted like that? It was a first flight of the chute, and so I’m pretty sure I remember each of the lines being nicely separate, and I aired it out in advance to make sure it did not stick to itself. (My son did play with the chute in the heavy winds and could have induced a twisting, but I think that was after the flight).

    If it was packed OK, perhaps it stayed wadded up for some reason post-deployment (with a horizontal velocity component due to weather cocking into high winds aloft), and since it has its own swivel, it may have quickly spun itself tight…

    So I should count my blessings that it unfurled at all! And better packing next time.

    Reply
  11. the_other_ben Avatar
    the_other_ben

    I like the term heiligenschein over "opposition glow", German words make everything more fun. I’ve seen it on rocket flights above 100kft, it’s a neat phenomenon.

    Reply
  12. Jim Rees Avatar
    Jim Rees

    I thought opposition glow had more to do with the fact that you can’t see any shadows when looking opposite the sun rather than anything about ground reflectivity. I know you have to be at a high enough altitude that your own aircraft (or rocket) covers a smaller arc than the sun as seen from the ground.

    Reply

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