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It flew up beautifully on an Aerotech G64 motor, and popped the yellow chute. While we did not feel any winds at the sea, there were plenty aloft, and off she went, over the Ritz 17th fairway, and then the tennis courts, and then the putting green, and pond, and Mullins restaurant, and then the wedding tent, and then another fairway, and then a row of homes, and across the 1st fairway to nestle in the top canopy.

We triangulated well to find it straight away, but the recovery took an hour. This is after I climbed up almost 30 ft. to dislodge the body from an upper limb. And this is the 2nd of three progressively larger ladders we borrowed from the wedding tent team to finally get it down… and she’s ready to fly again!

Here is a video compilation of our four successful launches this weekend (no repairs needed on any of the airframes).

9 responses to “Rocket Tree Magnetism”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    and the golf ball rocket almost went into the sea…
    IMG_0528

    Preparing the fire pit for S’mores
    IMG_3937

    and a night launch of an Ethernet cable spool
    Screen Shot 2013-08-25 at 5.03.38 PM

    Reply
  2. hallowed bicycle Avatar
    hallowed bicycle

    The tree caught the rocket to volunteer as an astronaut. (In the form of clippings, grafts, or seeds, obviously.) Who can blame it?

    Reply
  3. Rain Sun Avatar
    Rain Sun

    what a story!!!! just how precisely can you aim the rocket? thank goodness it landed where it did and it didn’t hit anyone. an interesting landing site, what kind of tree is it? surely not a rocket tree……

    Reply
  4. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    The relationship between rockets and kites was unknown to me, but seeing it, it is obvious.

    Reply
  5. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/48331433@N05] — similar magnetism?

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/trailertruckdriver] — We aim at the sky and try not to miss! The recovery problem arises from the winds and the desire to have a large enough parachute for a soft landing… Not sure of the tree type, but the branches snap off easily, and it’s covered with little spikes. My bike gloves saved my hands during the climb, but my forearms and legs are covered with little perforations… a constellation of small scabs today. =)

    Reply
  6. seatonsnet Avatar
    seatonsnet

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson] I think the reasons are probably more mystical than scientific

    Reply
  7. posamentier Avatar
    posamentier

    Time for a quad-copter powered operation sky-hook.

    Reply
  8. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I like the way you think. One of of the kid’s dads had the same idea. We tried a quadcopter out there for launch videos from above (like SpaceX does with the Grasshopper, but we ended up getting the ‘copter stuck in a tree! Doh! It was an easy recovery that time, but we had do do some gear repairs.)

    A skyhook that can snag the parachute should work (often the parachute is up high, with the body stuck in trickier parts below). I can imagine the progressively larger rescue craft needed for this operation… As it was, we were amazed we pulled it all off without the golf course personnel noticing… We hid our bikes in the shadows of the tree and scurried about between golfers…

    Reply
  9. Matthew W Cooper Avatar
    Matthew W Cooper

    For simple "short" reaches ….keep a light bulb changing rod (telescoping) handy until you get the "flight choreography" of the skyhook figured out. My two cents.

    Reply

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