by Dave Nordling, RRS.ORG

The RRS met at the Mojave Test Area for our third launch event of the year in successive weeks. We were glad to host UCLA’s Project Ares for another static fire test of their liquid rocket.  The team has worked hard to improve their design from last year and had just presented their Critical Design Review (CDR) to peer review.

The second project for the day was to be my hybrid rocket that I have built with Larry Hoffing.  The commercial H222 model from Contrails Rocketry is built into an old 2.5-inch rocket body that Larry had on hand.  I had some missing fluid connectors at the last attempt and it was my hope that this next attempt with the motor successfully loaded and a parachute recovery system in place, this would be the first hybrid launch from the RRS MTA in many years.

Osvaldo had made a two-channel switchbox using an extension cord for controlling the nitrous oxide fill and drain solenoid valves.  The unit worked very well in system checks and we were to use our existing firing box for ignition.

After a successful leak check of the manifold under pressure, we had a serious mishap with the nitrous bottle during a solenoid valve test resulting in loss of our stored oxidizer propellant. We surveyed the situation with our pyro-op and realized our error. With some minor repairs to the manifold, replacing a gauge and recharging the nitrous bottle, the fluid system will be restored.

Larry and I proceeded to complete the parachute recovery system to verify all systems are present and functioning.  I chose a MissileWorks RRC2+ dual-deployment system for parachute recovery using only the drogue chute circuit and all settings in default mode.  We also had an old Jolly Logic altimeter chip as a backup for the system.  All electronics passed inspection and we began a packaging check after securing the vent line stub.  At the end of checks, we felt the payload space was too tight and with our launch attempt already scrubbed we sought to make some improvements to the recovery system.

The RRS hybrid rocket launch will have to wait for the next launch event. We’ll make some improvements and hopefully have success soon.

The remainder of the day was spent overseeing UCLA’s next attempt with their ethanol/LOX liquid rocket. The team has had modest success with their prior hotfire in November but was looking to demonstrate further improvements.

UCLA discovered and repaired several leaks in their pressurant connections. They also successfully purged their propellant tanks and had reached the decision point whether to proceed with LOX loading.

Based on a thorough discussion by the team and with our pyro-op in charge, UCLA opted not to proceed with hot-fire preparations and will make further corrections to their rocket systems before returning to the RRS MTA in the coming weeks.

UCLA showed great teamwork and maturity in their decision on how to best proceed. A future hot-fire date hasn’t been set yet, but the RRS is ready to support. 

It wasn’t a great day for hot-firing but many felt something important was learned that day at the RRS MTA. We will likely be back again sometime this month.  Wolfram Blume may be ready to conduct his first system test flight by then and Larry and I certainly will be ready to try again with our hybrid.  UCLA will also likely return this month.  The next launch event with LAPD CSP will be coming in March. 

In all cases, groups wanting to use the RRS MTA must contact the RRS president and submit a standard record form. We require a minimum of three weeks notice to consider all requests.

Our next meeting will be 2/14/2020 as the second Friday falls on Valentine’s Day this year.  We will surely discuss the MTA events since our last meeting including this one.

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this a great day.

by Osvaldo Tarditti, RRS President

USC Students came out to fly a rocket as part of the USC Poise Project (see more below). The students arrived Friday evening and camped out at the MTA to get an early start Saturday. The rocket took off around 11 am, followed by the recovery crew initiating a search. It was a beautiful day with no wind, it seems like the vehicle took a slight curved trajectory right after clearing the ramp. The rail may not have been perfectly straight and the speed might not have been fast enough to secure an initial straight trajectory. Further details from USC follow.

Poise Project Summary (by USC)

Poise is the sophomore design project of the 2018-2019 sophomore class. The project consists of a static fire and 6” diameter vehicle with an expected apogee of 34,000 feet. As a design project, Poise is not going for an altitude record, rather it serves as a test-bed for a handful of new R&D projects at a relatively smaller scale. While the static fire occurred in April of 2019, the vehicle launch has slipped into the 2019-2020 school-year due to the numerous design changes being tested. Compared to our proven technologies on Traveler IV, Poise features the following new innovations:

• A new “extrudable” propellant formula that is less viscous than RPL’s previous formula. This will serve for easier manufacturing of motor grains.
• A 2-part recovery system, where the rocket body and nosecone each have independent parachute systems. This is predicted to result in a smoother descent and minimize damage to the vehicle on descent.
• An additional, isolated avionics component called the “black box” placed in the camera bay. The black box contains a high-grade IMU in order to supplement avionics’ existing IMU and gyroscope data and increase precision and certainty when calculating apogee and flight path.
• The nozzle is made entirely of carbon phenolic, without a graphite insert at the throat. This drastically simplifies the nozzle manufacturing process while having very little predicted impact on the flight.

After review of GPS flight data, it has been determined that Poise reached an apogee of 31,090 ft! This was only 160 ft above the nominal prediction by our simulations team, which is an excellent estimation. While Poise’s trip up went incredibly, our new dual recovery system leaves work to be done. The nosecone (containing the main avionics components) was found, but the rocket body separated from its parachute on descent and has not yet been located. This section contained the GoPro cameras and the black box, which recorded additional flight data. Regardless of the loss of the body, the Poise project served as a test-bed for numerous development projects, a platform for RPL’s younger members to design a vehicle, and gives RPL much to improve on in the future.

by Dave Nordling, RRS.ORG

The RRS held its first launch event of the new year, 2020, this Saturday, January 18th at the MTA.  As part of the RRS commitment to being more active throughout the year, we have made a specific point to hold an event early in the year.  The weather was perfect. Low winds and slightly cool temperatures made for a great day to launch.

We had a few different projects at this event.  We also used this event as an opportunity to do some minor site improvements including the addition of a pair of standing benches.

RRS member, Keith Yoerg had a couple of high powered rocket flights.  He had two successful flights before we were told that the FAA waivers that day were cancelled due to adjacent activity at Edwards AFB.  We are thankful for our neighbors at FAR for letting us know, but in the future the RRS should be better informed of such important notices.

Both dual-deploy recovery systems in his rockets worked just fine and the rockets were found and brought back right away.  The telemetry data showed a nearly 4000 foot altitude with a top speed of Mach 0.6 was reached with his I-sized motor, very comparable to the RRS standard alpha. 

Wolfram and Marianne Blume made their first journey to the RRS MTA from south Orange County. Wolfram had begun his preparations for his first launch of the Gas Guzzler ramjet from our 1515 rail launcher when we got notice that all flights were cancelled that day.  Wolfram is willing to come back at a later date which is in planning.

The Gas Guzzler rocket is a two-stage rocket with a commercial high-powered solid motor and a gasoline fueled ramjet second stage. Wolfram has a lot of systems checks to do before proceeding with the ramjet flight.  This first flight is to be a demonstration of the vehicle booster, staging mechanism and the recovery systems on each stage.  The ramjet will be filled with an equivalent weight of water to keep the vehicle balanced similarly to how it will be in flight.

The RRS has not yet approved the flight of the fueled ramjet flight, but is happy to support the ambitious goals our new member projects like Wolfram’s with system tests. We look forward to seeing how this first flight will go in the near future.

The liquid rocket team at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) came out to visit the vertical test stand at the RRS MTA and discuss many of the important details of liquid rocket operations with our pyro-ops.  LMU is working hard to get into static hot fire testing of their kerosene-LOX rocket motor design by May 2020 at the RRS MTA. 

The RRS is supporting many liquid rocket teams at the MTA for the Base11 competition and in supporting their own university goals.  Making a site visit to the MTA is a good way to conquer the many practical challenges that each team faces in making their systems work.

The last project attempted at the RRS MTA that day was the commercial hybrid motor that Larry Hoffing and I have integrated into an old 2.5-inch rocket body.  I bought a Contrail Rocketry H222 38mm 16-inch motor kit with a reload pack to get the fill lines and reloadable hybrid fuel grains.  This was an ambitious project to assemble over the end of the year break.

Unfortunately, I was not able to secure a parachute deployment system. Hybrid motors do not have ejection charges so you must have an autonomous system. The Stratologger CF model was recommended, but wouldn’t arrive in time for Saturday’s launch. In any case, the launch would have been cancelled anyway.  I opted to do a simple static fire and mount to the 1010 rail we had deployed.

The H222 motor assembly process was completed per the instructions. The assembly is a very tight fit so a generous use of Krytox and Mobil 1 lubricants is strongly recommended.  In my next build, I may make a pusher tool to make the next assembly easier to do. With the clear vent line strung up through the top of the rocket tube and the fill and igniter lines sticking out through the graphite nozzle, the motor was loaded and ready.

The RRS was kind enough to invest in a nitrous bottle from Nitrous Supply Inc. in
Huntington Beach, CA. The auto racing has a lot of nitrous accessories that work very well for amateur rocketry.  The RRS is grateful to Nitrous Supply for their excellent advice.

The RRS also invested in a solenoid valve manifold from Pratt Hobbies in New York state.  Doug Pratt was great support and provides reliable hardware. It’s important to know your gas bottle connections. CGA 660 type connectors are used in nitrous oxide (N2O) bottles used in the racing industry.  CGA 326 connectors are different and are found on nitrous bottles used in the medical and dental industries.  We opted for CGA 660 type which doesn’t require a medical business license to acquire due to the nitrous oxide being denatured with sulfur dioxide. Harmful to people, harmless to the rocket combustion.

Both the bottle and valve manifold mated well and I tested the 12 VDC solenoids separately using the bare wire leads on my truck battery.  I was going to do a leak check on all fittings and connections, but I forgot my leak check fluid bottles at home.  I was willing to tolerate a little leakage in the outdoor environment after I verified the snug fitting of all parts.

It was for lack of a proper Parker Prestolok fitting that I was unable to complete the fluid circuit and because of this no static fire at the event would occur.  As I later found out, these fittings are available through Grainger but it would take too long to acquire as they are often not in stock.

The 3/16” OD nylon tubing for my injector is also not very common. Parker Parflex NB-3-046 thick wall tubing can be bought through pneumatic system suppliers who are distributors for Parker Hannifin.  Having a longer length of this 3/16“ OD  tubing would have been ideal.  Instead, I found 100 foot rolls of 1/4” nylon thick wall tubing at Home Depot but I needed to connect between tube sizes.  With a brass  1/8” FNPT coupler (also found at Home Depot) you can adapt between 3/16” and 1/4” fluid lines.  I was missing a pair of 1/4” tube to 1/8” NPT Parker Prestolok connectors to complete the set.

Larry and I will regroup and prepare for the next launch event at the RRS MTA which will be in the next two weeks.  Osvaldo was going to make a special firing box for hybrid rockets with three switches (fill / ignite / vent) and the same key interlock.

The RRS MTA will be hosting USC RPL for their latest solid rocket motor design (1/25/2020) and UCLA for their next liquid rocket motor static hot fire (2/1/2020). 

It was a reasonably successful day and proof that January is a great month for an MTA launch event.  The RRS is grateful to our members who came out to the site to help with assessing site improvements at the MTA which will hopefully begin this year.