Flight #: 10 Date: 31st of March, 2002 Venue: Pete's Rockets, Heckington, Lincolnshire R-DAS Type: R-DAS Compact R-DAS firmware: 3.2 R-DAS Recorded Altitude: 838 feet (254 metres) Apogee - Charge Firing Delta-t: 0.2 seconds Apogee - Charge Firing Delta-h: 0 feet (0 metres) Descent Rate at Apogee Deployment: 0 feet per second (0 metres per second) R-DAS Flight Mode: Apogee & Main Ejection (breakwire launch detection & smart recovery) Total Time of Flight: 24 seconds Apogee - Charge Firing h Variance: 0% Launch Vehicle Diameter: 4 inches Launch Vehicle Length: 7 feet Launch Vehicle Propulsion: Hypertek J-250 Hybrid 440/54-125-J (0.125 injector orifice) Fins: 4 clipped swept deltas (Aerofoiled) Launch System: Rail Launch Finish: Unfinished Ejection Method: Electronic Deployment using apogee charge in SafeEject canister, then main charge in SafeEject canister Ejection Ignition Type: Daveyfire igniters (electric matches) Launch Vehicle Mass: 3.5 kg (vehicle with hybrid motor but no oxidiser loaded) Total Propellant Mass: 405 grams Total Loaded Motor Mass: 1294 grams Total Impulse: 737 Newton seconds
Comments The fourth flight of this rocket, launched again on the Hypertek J-250 hybrid rocket motor (using a 440cc oxidiser tank). Launched in higher winds than the previous launch of the rocket on the same day, the rocket fishtailed on the ascent, as well as weathercocked. Two stage recovery was used, with a Rocketman R24D Ballistic Drogue deployed at apogee, and a Rocketman R7C ProXP Parachute deployed from a Rocketman deployment bag at 500 feet altitude - even though the main ejection charge pushed the recovery system out of the main recovery bay, the Rocketman R7C however, failed to inflate due to it getting half stuck in the deployment bag, thus causing a heavy landing. The R-DAS used breakwire launch triggering with smart recovery. This option was again chosen because the oscillation in Hypertek motor combustion has been known to result in irregular launch triggering of the R-DAS. The breakwire and smart recovery option worked perfectly, and both ejection channels fired on cue, however, because of the main recovery system problem, the descent and landing was by means of the drogue recovery system only.
Thrust Section of Flight