Thunda2 flight was a bit of a disaster – that is how it felt. On reflection, there were small sparks of success.
What Happened
The launch of BumbleBee didn’t quite go to plan. Communications failed and I was unable to locate the rocket. I walked probably about 20km through fields and forest in vain. It went approximately 8000 feet and to be completely honest, it was too high up to see a deployment, though I’m reasonably confident the first ejection charge (deployment) did occur because it has worked in all previous occasions. Also, if it didn’t work, it would have come down quite quickly and it would have landed closer and chances of finding it probably would have been greater (I think).
We did get an excellent video of it launching from the GO-PRO that was situated right next to it. Below is a link to it.
The launch tower was my own that I brought all the way down from Cairns and despite the problems setting it up it functioned extremely well. The difficulties setting it up were probably related to my tiredness and lack of light (I set it up at dusk after the range was closed). I had no assistance whatsoever.
I have since put a post on AusRocketry Forum, asking for anyone who does find it (and I am sure it will be found eventually), to return it…I’ll pay for return and I’ll provide a small reward. It has video camera in it and I’m sure it successfully recorded some awesome footage of Thunda2.
Accomplishments
- First Scratch-Build using High Powered Motor
- Second use of launch tower
- First use of Minimum Diameter Aeropak launch hardware
- First High Power Motor since my L2
Lessons Learnt
Redundancy is SO important, especially with tracking electronics. From now on, I will be having TWO tracking systems. I just can’t comprise on that. A lot of expensive components were lost in that. It is true that it was a very very compact build and so there was absolutely no room for anything else, but this is just not going to do in the future. If I can’t get my rocket back to fly again, I’m missing the point.