General Launch

Launch Number 4

We finally launched the Model Rocket “JAJI Aerospace” again. It nearly didn’t happen!

We hope you find this interesting and inspiring.

Launch Issues

The Electronics performed perfectly, but the igniters and the pyrogen on the tips refused to ignite the motors. So eventually I needed to use a Copperhead Igniter from my spare G76-10 Motor Kit to get the rocket launched.

Data

The Air Pressure/temperature measurements didn’t work. No idea why this didn’t work. Tests in the office and running up the hill worked. Very strange.

Gyro data was produced and is downloadable (unprocessed) from:-

Raw Gyrodata

When processed, we generated a file:-

Gyrodata – processed

I then process this file data.csv with a Java 3D app to generate an accurate real-time depiction of the Rockets rotation during flight. The data only goes for 8 seconds…right to the point of Apogee.

Feel free to download and use this data.

On-board Camera

We had an on-board camera taking footage. I’ve created two YouTube videos. One is the original footage (un-edited). The second is one slowed down by a factor of 8. At approx 3min and 10 second mark, you will see white spots on the ground. These are people (us) watching the launch. If you look carefully you will also notice the rocket dangling down and the rocket exhaust trail.

 

 

Ground based Camera

We had a Canon G12 camera rolling away on a Tripod about 20 metres away. I’ve uploaded a Youtube video showing this launch.

 

 

Future Improvements

There is a lot we can do to improve the launch. These points we will be focusing on are:-

  • Work out a more suitably sized parachute (While the recovery all went well, I think with the extra payload weight, a slightly bigger parachute would have been better).
  • I need to practice the installation of Copperheads a bit… I think.
    And I need to figure out why the air pressure/temperature sensor didn’t work.
  • Work out a better camera system…and one that takes movies looking down…with a wide angle lense.
  • Figure out what type of igniter I can use (with reasonable chances of success) with the remaining G76-10 Motor.
  • Experiment and determine why the air pressure sensor did not measure any values.