[OFF TOPIC] JOwen's Rocketry Shenanigans

[JOwen]

Been a while. here's another rocket update.

My very beautifully named rocket EXJ 670 flew on Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 1:36pm. The flight went to 23,169ft (7,062m), with a top speed of 2,394mph (3,853km/h), with a peak power output equivalent to 1,257 horsepower. it was primarily an avionics test, and secondly a test on the composite materials used for the airframe. All systems worked properly during the flight, but there was an incident on the ground during pre-flight checks that cause the apogee charge to detonate about a foot or maybe 2 away from my face. hearing damage is there, it could possibly heal though with time so fingers crossed.

i'll add a picture of the takeoff here later unless i forget.

if you want to get more details on it, you can find a complete flight and incident report here.

Next flight i'm thinking a 2-stage rocket that will do a hypersonics test. first stage should take it to roughly mach 2, and then second stage should push to around mach 5 once the atmosphere thins out a bit.

[JOwen]

posted in chat already but putting it here so I can go more in detail and its easier to find if anyone wants to read it

- static fire test of the O-6160-B3-P rocket motor (beautiful name, I know, but im not good at naming and it tells me some technical info about the motor at a glance) this past Saturday (09/28/2024) was a success. the eventual booster motor for the space shot should be nearly identical to this one. the second stage space shot motor will be very similar to the O-4287-S-P motor fired a few months ago.

- next major things will include:
      - a 2-stage rocket "super risky business" to test avionics, staging, tracking, telemetry, etc plus gaining high altitude flight experience.
      - single stage high thrust rocket for high speed, high stress testing, plus more data acquisition for avionics, recovery, etc
      - a space shot launch attempt

- development of super risky business is expected to take several months, with the flight taking place in the spring or summer of 2025.
- tons of small launches, ground tests, and other testing will happen working towards the space shot.

- first space shot launch attempt targeting fall 2026

[JOwen]

Anotha rocket update for those interested

not a ton of flights recently, but a ton of progress towards the space shot, mostly in the electronics department. I've completely overhauled the ground station software and got better antennas and stuff for more reliable real-time telemetry.
I've also completed the Avionics system that will be used on the space shot - though it still needs an in-flight test, which it will get on the "super risky business" flight I mentioned in my last update. development of super risky business is taking longer than anticipated but i'm planning to get out to the desert and fly it soon. If successful, this flight will prove the avionics system flight-ready for logging in-flight data, providing real-time telemetry, managing parachute deployment, and controlling stage separation and motor ignition.

also, I've spent loads of time looking through all the data from the motor firings mentioned in my previous update post, and i'm happy to announce that both motors are up to my performance and safety checklist standards, and I will use the same design for the actual flight motors on the space shot, with the only change being a slightly larger nozzle expansion on the second stage to optimize it for the higher altitudes and lower atmospheric pressures it will be operating in.

Hoping to put something in space by the end of 2026, with the first launch attempt scheduled for late summer/early fall 2026.




NOW FOR SOME YAP ABOUT THE LONG-TERM:

this space shot rocket is essentially a small sounding rocket with low payload capacity. a sounding rocket is a suborbital rocket that goes into space or the upper atmosphere, usually carrying instruments to measure upper atmospheric properties and phenomena (like auroras), heat shield test articles, or small space-bound payloads that don't have the budget or the needs to stay in space long-term. My end goal with my rocketry stuff is to eventually start my own company for sounding rocket launch services, so this smaller scale one would be a huge milestone to accomplishing that goal.

all that being said, this stuff is complex, expensive, and a little bit dangerous so I can only get it done so fast, but I am super excited to finally be this close to a goal I've been working towards for so long. also keep in mind that I'm an aerospace engineering student and that I hold a High-Power Rocketry certification and low explosives permit, and launch all my rockets from an FAA-authorized launch site with a flight restriction on airplanes in the area for safety. Basically I have the education and permissions to do this stuff, just in case anyone was wondering about the legality of my projects.





for those who haven't seen this thread before, you might be wondering what any of this has to do with a music website. and the answer is nothing at all, other than the fact that some people in the chat have expressed some level of interest. I made this thread so I could provide information to those interested people without clogging up the chat with rocket spam.

yap over