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Highlights of recent developments on the MiniSShot Project
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- The MiniSShot rocket was launched from the FAR site in the Mojave Desert
at 10:00 AM PDT Sunday morning following relatively trouble-free launch
preparations which had begun the day before. All avionics systems were
performing nominally. Weather conditions were ideal, with clear skies
and little wind. Liftoff was brisk and the MiniSShot rocket leaped from
the launch tower and rapidly climbed skyward. The rocket climbed
straight and true during a nominal burn of the first phase, followed by
a 10 second coast period. Second phase ignition occurred right on the
mark at an altitude of close to 12000 feet (3.5 km), as expected. An
anomaly occurred at that moment, as the rocket was seen to suddenly
"corkscrew" and separation of some unidentified items was seen to occur.
The booster was then seen veering off course while appearing to burn for
the expected duration. Shortly after that, the white main chute was
spotted descending. Although not apparent at the time, the payload
capsule was attached to the main chute and safely drifted to the ground
and was recovered. The booster section was later recovered in two
sections and was found to have fractured approximately in the middle of
the aft motor casing.
Chris King has subsequently been successful in recovering good data from
the Chute Controller, Parrot altimeter, Main Computer and Telemetry
system. Over the course of the next few days, the flight data will be
scrutinized. Hans will be examining the CC and MC data. Adrian Adamson
will review the Parrot data. The analysis is expected to be of great
value in determining the cause of the flight anomaly.
Video of loading MiniSShot into the tower launcher:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCE46qsquDQ
(courtesy Jerry Irvine)
Video of raising the launch tower just prior to launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Hmp2uk-8Y
(courtesy Jerry Irvine)
Video of MiniSShot launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IV26n0__N3Q
(courtesy Jerry Irvine)
Video of MiniSShot launch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ4Tl4TCi8M
(courtesy Rick Maschek)
The Booster on-board video camera was recovered essentially intact. Rick
Maschek is currently attempting to recover the footage.
Launch event photos:
FAR test site in the Mojave Desert:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04724edited-1.jpg
Desert breakfast to start the Sunday off right:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04721edited.jpg
Sugar Shot command centre:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00114.jpg
Forward Bulkhead with 2nd phase igniter (left) and pressure transducer
(right):
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04699.jpg
Chris King working on payload avionics:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04680edited.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04665edited.jpg
Rick Maschek preparing the rocket nozzle:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04658edited.jpg
Checking off each step in the Motor Assembly Manual:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04765edited.jpg
Matt Campbell assembling a directional antenna for tracking the rocket:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04662edited-1.jpg
Rick with the fully assembled Booster section:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04740edited.jpg
Rick Maschek, Paul Avery and Chris King prepping the payload avionics:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04798edited.jpg
Attaching the Aft Avionics Bay to the Booster:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04778edited.jpg
Chris holding the recovery/avionics bay:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00101.jpg
Getting ready to mount the mount the avionics and nosecone to the aft
section of the rocket (in tower):
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04790edited.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04787edited.jpg
Fully assembled forward avionics bay:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00102.jpg
Loading the Booster into the launch tower:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00061.jpg
Liftoff !:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc04806edited.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/6.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/8.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/14.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/17.jpg
Ignition of 2nd phase motor:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/20.jpg
Payload capsule safely on the ground:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00919-1.jpg
Recovered Booster with fracture near midspan:
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00103.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00104.jpg
http://sugarshot.org/downloads/dsc00105.jpg
(photos courtesy Rick Maschek, Barbara Bailey and Jerry Irvine)
A huge thanks and debt of gratitude goes out to all those who
participated in the launch preparations on Saturday and the launch event
on Sunday, including but not limited to Rick Maschek, Chris King, Matt
Campbell, Paul Avery, Barbara Bailey, Ken Mannat, Ken Brown, Grant
Saviers (and Aero-Pac/Mavericks members), SAR (Jeff Lehman and team) and
Stratofox (Ian Kluft and team including Jeff Moore who organized things
from afar) who played a key role in tracking and recovery, Dok Hansen
for allowing us to use his awesome launch tower, and the FAR folks (John
Newman - Pyro Op, Ted Rothaupt - Range Supervisor). Apologies to anyone
who may have been overlooked.
A debt of gratitude must also go out to everyone who has ever
participated or otherwise contributed to the MiniSShot project since its
beginning exactly three years ago. It was through a collective effort
that this pivotal launch event was achieved.
- A big "thank you" goes out to Silver Donor Dustin Brown for his latest
donation. It's regular donors such as you, Dustin, that allow us to
continue our quest...!
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Help support our goal of reaching Space solely on the power of Sugar. We
need your support to succeed! http://www.sugarshot.org/sponsors.html#Donors
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