Preparing for Mach 3 flight
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
10 years ago when my son was 9 years old we started building rocket. First small low power ones. Then they became bigger over time. And even bigger. A few years back my son wanted to launch a high power rocket. He was too young, so he asked me to get the high power certification so that he can fly. I passed level 1, and he built and flew a high power rocket. As soon as he was 18 he started working on his high power certification. Last year he did level 1 and 2.
Now we are working on his level 3 rocket. This is a so called minimum diameter rocket, where the airframe is built as slim as possible, just so that the motor can slide in. This minimizes drag, which results in higher speed and higher altitude.
This rocket will go supersonic. With this speed there is a lot of stress and heat on the fins. To strengthen the fins he applies layers of carbon fiber and epoxy on top of the glass fiber airframe and fins. When the epoxy is still wet he puts a special perforated film on top, then a layer of absorbing felt cloth. The whole fin section is then enclosed in a vacuum bag, then all air is sucked out. With this, excessive epoxy is sucked through the film into the felt, resulting in an optimal ratio of carbon to epoxy for maximum strength. Once dry, the carbon fiber surface is sanded, and then coated with a special epoxy. The tip of the fins will be coated in a special ceramic so that there will be no temperature damage.
The initial flight with a "small" motor will propel this rocket up to 25,000 feet, this will be his level 3 certification flight. Knock on wood! An altitude like this is too high to legally fly in California, so we will go to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in September to launch the rocket.
Later we plan to launch it with a big M motor; the flight simulation reports 50,000 feet - much higher than commercial aircrafts. Top speed will pass Mach 3!
I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them, and carefully pulled the curves.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC1874_hdr1bal1pai1e
Preparing for Mach 3 flight
Thank you for visiting - ❤ with gratitude! Fave if you like it, add comments below, order beautiful HDR prints at qualityHDR.com.
10 years ago when my son was 9 years old we started building rocket. First small low power ones. Then they became bigger over time. And even bigger. A few years back my son wanted to launch a high power rocket. He was too young, so he asked me to get the high power certification so that he can fly. I passed level 1, and he built and flew a high power rocket. As soon as he was 18 he started working on his high power certification. Last year he did level 1 and 2.
Now we are working on his level 3 rocket. This is a so called minimum diameter rocket, where the airframe is built as slim as possible, just so that the motor can slide in. This minimizes drag, which results in higher speed and higher altitude.
This rocket will go supersonic. With this speed there is a lot of stress and heat on the fins. To strengthen the fins he applies layers of carbon fiber and epoxy on top of the glass fiber airframe and fins. When the epoxy is still wet he puts a special perforated film on top, then a layer of absorbing felt cloth. The whole fin section is then enclosed in a vacuum bag, then all air is sucked out. With this, excessive epoxy is sucked through the film into the felt, resulting in an optimal ratio of carbon to epoxy for maximum strength. Once dry, the carbon fiber surface is sanded, and then coated with a special epoxy. The tip of the fins will be coated in a special ceramic so that there will be no temperature damage.
The initial flight with a "small" motor will propel this rocket up to 25,000 feet, this will be his level 3 certification flight. Knock on wood! An altitude like this is too high to legally fly in California, so we will go to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada in September to launch the rocket.
Later we plan to launch it with a big M motor; the flight simulation reports 50,000 feet - much higher than commercial aircrafts. Top speed will pass Mach 3!
I processed a balanced and a paintery HDR photo from a RAW exposure, merged them, and carefully pulled the curves.
-- © Peter Thoeny, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, HDR, 1 RAW exposure, NEX-6, _DSC1874_hdr1bal1pai1e