Related articles:
  • Openings speech club house The speech held at our club houses opening by NAVRO's club president Gerben-Jan Ligthart is an alternative, more personal history of the NAVRO.
Ukki
Ukkie during flight at NLD9, 21 May, 1999.

1977

  • Last quarter: Gerben-Jan Ligthart and Ad de Roode write a document to raise members for the NAVRO. A transcript of this document is available.

1978

  • The NAVRO is established.

1980

  • Summer: Several motor tests were conducted.
  • August: Several model rocket launches were done with a maximum altitude of 25m.

1981

  • Winter: Several motor tests were conducted.

1985

  • Spring: Several failed motor tests with Zinc-Sulphur propellant, as this propellant can behave very explosive.

1986

  • Spring: Several more failed motor tests with Zinc-Sulphur propellant.

1990

  • 1 March: To complement the NAVRO workshop a lathe is bought.
  • 28 August: NAVRO first amateur rocket is built N1 and named Pluvius Tubus (rain-pipe). The N1 is launched at Mourmelon (France) with at French Bambi motor. Unfortunately this motor explodes and thereby destroying the N1.

1991

  • A model rocketry group is started to introduce teenagers to rocketry. Activities concentrate on teaching rocketry basics and building model rockets.
  • 1 July: The NAVRO is officially established as an association.
  • 24 August: The N2 "Vindicta Pluvii Tubi" (Revenge of the Rain-pipe) was NAVRO's second amateur rocket and was very similar to the N1. The N2 was successfully launched with a French Isard motor at FLC '91 at Mourmelon.
  • For this launch the NAVRO is awarded the Prix Joseph Mercier, a safety award.

1992

  • July: At WWLC 1992 (Mourmelon) a static test of NAVRO's own K600 Kalinitrox motor was performed.
  • 26 September: The N3 is the first rocket to fly with the K600 Kalinitrox motor. The N3 is launched at the NERO's NLC2. The K600 had worked very well, but the N3 was recovered a year later. It was also our first launch at ASK 't Harde.

1993

  • 6 August: The NAVRO organised its first own launch: NLD1 at ASK 't Harde. It features the first Midget B type rocket, the N4 is successfully launched with a K600 motor. The N3 was presented to us intact, after it had been found earlier that year.
  • 29 August: The NAVRO participated in WWLC 1993 at Bourges (France) with two rockets, the N5 "Partiarius" and the N8. The N5 was NAVRO's first private project, all other rockets were team efforts. Vincent Kouer designed and built the rocket. The N8 was the enlarged N4. The payload was an onboard computer, measuring acceleration, rotation and onboard temperature. Both rockets were launched successfully.

1994

  • 27 May: NLD2 featured three rockets: N6, N7 and N9, all with K600 motors. The N6 was a rocket intended to test if the NAVRO recovery transmitter still worked after the rocket crashed. It wasn't equipped with a parachute. In spite of the special finger print markings the project failed and the rocket was never recovered. The N7 was made by three youth members with assistance of experienced members. The N7's flight was successful and it was recovered intact. The N9, which had a two-stage parachute system, was also a success.
  • 19 August: The N9 had been modified to carry the new K1800 motor and was now the N10. The launch at ASK 't Harde, at NLD3, was successful.

1995

  • Early 1995: Launch of the original NAVRO website.
  • Early 1995: Further development of the K2000 motor, an upgraded version of the K1800.
  • 4 May: NLD4 at ASK 't Harde saw the launch of the N11. It was powered by the new K2000 and had improved electronics based on that of the N8 rocket. A barometric altimeter was present as well as measurements of atmospheric pressure, rotation, acceleration, temperature at the top of the nose cone, temperature of the rockets surrounding air and a Doppler-measurement. Unfortunately it crashed, due to problems with the parachute pyro-technical system. The N11 wasn't recovered.
  • 11 August: At NLD5 a new type of rocket was launched: the Hercules with the new K2000 motor. This N12 was of the new Hercules A type and equipped with two camera's, one faced up and one faced down. This set up wouldn't work as planned, so the N12 flew only with the down facing camera. The flight was good, but only the drogue chute deployed. Although the rocket was beyond repair the electronics and camera survived.

1996

  • 23 April: The N15 was like the N12 an Hercules A rocket, this time equipped with downward facing camera. The flight was good, but the main parachute cable broke just before landing. Although the body tube was broken at several places, all other parts were intact. Also present at NLD6 was a camera team from "Klokhuis", a popular youth science program on Dutch television.
  • Summer: The Hercules A rocket type is redesigned as Hercules A1 and is a lighter and easier to build version.
  • 23 August: The N16 was of the new Hercules A1 type. At NLD7 the N16 had a good flight. Also present was Chiel Klein with a HPR rocket from the TinTin comics. He was the first guest flyer at a NLD. Also unusual was that unlike later HPR launches the TinTin rocket received a "N"-serial: the N17. The 1,29m long rocket made a very nice flight. The N13 was another private project of Vincent Kouer, who wanted to make an even faster rocket with the K2000 this time. It had a good flight, breaking the sound barrier and it parachuted successful. However it was recovered years later. The N14 was the enlarged N7, intended to fly a cancelled electronics experiment. It made a disappointing ballistic flight and was never recovered.

1997

  • 6 January: First airing of the "Klokhuis"program recorded at NLD6 last year.
  • 25 April: Launch of the N18 (1997) at NLD8. It was the refurbished N16. Unfortunately the drogue chute failed to pull out the main chute and the rocket crashed.
  • Winter: The N18 is found and dug out. All that is found are small pieces.

1998

  • A new rocket of the redesigned Hercules A1 type was built. It was confusingly also named N18. Because all launch days were cancelled, this N18 didn't fly in 1998.

1999

  • 8 April: Launch day of version 2 of this website. It replaced the original 1995 website.
  • 21 May: Much to our relieve we finally were able to launch again at NLD9. The N18 with an upwards facing camera, to capture images of the parachute deployment. Also new was a commercial onboard computer. The N18 flew and parachuted perfectly. Apart from several model rockets, their were also the launches of Ukkie, a 3,6m long rocket with 13 Estes D12-5 motors and a large model rocket with five D12-5's and a photo camera.
  • 13 August: At NLD10 the N18 was to fly again, this time without camera as the N19. Also with the Emmanuel Avionics IA-X96 Cambridge Accelerometer, which didn't worked properly again. The rocket flew good and landed in a giant rocket-eating monster (a tree). Also present were several model rocketeers and the Outer Limits team, who launched some HPR rockets.

2000

  • 7 April: At NLD11 several model rockets were launched. The N18 was to fly again as the N20, with a R-DAS flight computer of AED Electronics. The rocket had a successful flight.
  • 20 October: NLD12 saw the launch of six HPR rockets of Tripoli The Netherlands as well as the N21 incarnation of the N18, which was flown successful. The in-flight measurement of the K2000 thrust failed.
  • Winter: After studying the flights of the Hercules rockets, it was concluded that the rockets left the launch tower to slow. Two possibilities were discussed: a more powerful motor or a faster burning K2000 motor. The last option was chosen. However, this test program was to be a slow process.

2001

  • 1 February: The NAVRO website moves to www.navro.nl.
  • 18 April/15 June: The NLD13 launch is cancelled twice, because the launch site, ASK 't Harde, was closed due to the Mad Cow disease.
  • 24 August: NLD14 was a busy day. First was the N22, which is the N18 airframe, with an AeroTech K550-W motor, which has the same performance as the planned redeveloped K2000 motor. The R-DAS also had a new GPS module. As expected the N22 left the tower fast enough and made a perfect flight. Also launched were four HPR rockets of Tripoli The Netherlands members and two amateur rockets of Danish Space Challenge, which were the first guest amateur rockets launched at a NLD.
  • 25 November: The first motor test in several years. A total of four small motor tests were planned that day, but the second one blew out the back of the motor and there ending the test.

2002

  • 5 April: NLD15 was an unusual launch, because no N-rocket was launched. Their were six HPR launches.
  • 6 September: NLD16, again a busy launch with guest flyers from Twente Space Camp and several HPR rocketeers. Also launched was the N23 with a two-stage tumble parachute system.

2003

  • NAVRO's silver jubilee.
  • 4 April: NLD17 was a busy day with two amateur and five HPR rockets launched. Although the NAVRO's N24 crashed, the other launches made it up with good flights.
  • 21 June: At TNO/PML we had a successful reclassification of the Kalinitrox and Kalinidex propellants.
  • 21 July: Two small test motors were tested. The first with a hollow tube grain was tested successful, but the second one with a Bates grain had the safety mechanism activated.
  • 5 September: NLD18 was again a great launch day. Twente Space Camp launched several big model rockets and five HPR and two amateur rockets were launched with great success.
  • 19-21 September: Several HPR members visited the Argos' ALRS IV launch, where the NAVRO participated with four rockets. All had good launches, but one rocket didn't parachute correctly and was written off.

2004

  • 29 February: This day we tested five small test motors with success.
  • 2 April: At NLD19 their were only two big rockets launched, one amateur and one HPR, both successful. Some model rockets were launched as well. Also successful were one small motor test and two full scale motor tests.
  • Summer: NAVRO model rocket builders participated in four DRRA Fly to the Sky launches.
  • 3 September: NLD20 was again a successful day. Apart from two HPR and three amateur rockets launches, one of which was the N25, their was a failed motor test.
  • 12 December: We had failed motor test with the motor's pressure to high.

2005

  • 13 February: Finally a successful motor test again, although the motor's pressure was a bit low.
  • Spring: Launch of the third version of this website.
  • Spring: Work has started on sub assemblies of our own club house.
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