Sunday, October 6, 2013

Early deployment and crash

Launched the fiberglass rocket again. This time it didn't go so well, just after burnout the nose cone separated from the rocket and pulled the parachute out of the payload bay. When the parachute opened the shock cord broke and the rocket was doomed to crash.
I can't exactly tell why the nose cone separated, probably the collar was to small and the fit just wasn't tight enough.



The payload section was completely destroyed and will need to be rebuild. The pressure vessel seems OK, but a hydrostatic pressure test will have to show if that's true.

I've made a start with the rebuild of the deployment system. I need to roll another fiberglass tube for the payload bay, maybe I will just roll a 1 meter length tube and use the leftover as a extension of the pressure vessel, that would add another 70 CM and approximately 1.5 liters to the rocket.