Report
- Terminal Velocity, part 5, Benjamin Wilkosz' rocket project page.
- Nut, Harry Advokaat's rocket project page.
ASK 't Harde, 28 April, 2006 - This launch we had guests of DARE, which is a student rocketry group from the Technical University Delft. They brought with them one rocket and two test motors. Together with the other participants their projects were prepared and certified on Thursday afternoon. After dinner, the evening in the mess was good as always. At the end of the evening we had drunken all the bear in storage.
The next morning started early for some, as they had to prepare their rocket. All other participants arrived an hour or so later and did their final preparation to the launch site and their projects. As the NAVRO has two towers, one with a custom 6 meter rail and one with a standard 3 meter HPR rail, two rockets are set up for launch at once. The first launch was Robin Trap's Canon Ball, which had a very nice paint job. It was to be the first launch from NAVRO's new HPR tower. Unfortunately the snap ring holding the forward closure of the motor failed. The closure "launched" the forward section of the rocket just of the tower and the motor badly damaged the aft part of the rocket. The other of this pair was the Spectre IIb of Mark Uitendaal and Leon Krancher. This two-stage rocket cork-screwed heavily during lift off, mainly because it's speed while leaving the rail was too low. The second stage started at an unfavourable angle. Murphy was certainly a passenger on this flight, as the main chute didn't deploy. The rocket thus landed on his drogue and a part of the body tube of the rocket was smashed, but the rocket is not beyond repair.
The next pair was René Hofsteden's AMRAAM 3 and Harry Advokaat's Nut. René Hofsteden has launched his AMRAAM 3 with great success before at a NLD. This time however the igniter of the motor failed. As Harry Advokaat's Nut was ready, it was launched first. His Nut was his first rocket and he was very nervous, but luckily Nut flew very well and landed intact. It was a perfect first launch, apart from the deployment of the parachute, which was about 20m before it's top.
The last pair was DARE's CanSat and René Hofsteden's AMRAAM 3 for it's second launch attempt. First was DARE's CanSat, which was to deploy a coke-can sized satellite. Although the launch was very good, the electronics weren't, as nor the can, nor the parachute were deployed. And as for René Hofsteden's AMRAAM 3, the launch day was certainly jinxed, as again it's igniter failed.
The launches were followed by three motor tests. First was Benjamin Wilkosz' Avalon 008. The test was successful, as the 2.7kg potassium nitrate sorbitol motor reached a total impulse of 2960Ns. Second was the successful test of DARE's DX-1EE motor, which is an improved version of the motor they used in their CanSat rocket. The final motor test was the test of DARE's impressive Big Boy motor, which has 11.5kg propellant. A very spectacular sight indeed.
The events ended with an attempt to launch René Hofsteden's Optima, but again the igniter failed. Unfortunately time was up and although the launch was great again, some went disappointed home after failed or partially successful launches or even finishing their rocket on time.
Time to take revenge next NLD24 on 1 September!