Too many failed flights led to a 12 hour drive down to Arizona for one last launch in hopes of qualifying for NASA student launch
Several failed launches from earlier in the season left us with no choice but to drive down to Arizona and launch one last time and pray it would be successful.
For a ground-test, we drove over to David's house and performed it in his backyard as there was no other location available and no time to wait. Preparations went well however, the e-matches were likely placed too close to the side of the tube for parachute ejection leading to a smoking hole in the side of the airframe.
The hole was patched up with epoxy as we were able to locate the blue-tube fragment. Gorilla tape was also used to ensure the fragment would not be a significant weak point during the coming launch. These were all just "temporary" measures for the trip. With the mostly successful ground ejection test complete, we got 4 vials of 5 gram black powder and some shear pins we continued our drive through the night to reach the Arizona launch site.
Our preparations for launch at Arizona were expedited by the large amount of recovery sub team members and we were ready to launch before noon.
Another successful ground ejection test was performed at the Arizona launch site and the rocket was completely repacked and ready for an early launch so we could start the long drive back early.
However, around noon, winds began to pick up. There was sand flying everywhere blinding us and also accumulating within the rocket. Completing all the assembly, we decided to load the rocket into the van and relocating it at least temporarily into a nearby bunker and wait for the winds to die down before attempting to launch.
Around 2 pm, after almost losing hope there would be a launch at all, the winds died down enough for us to attempt a launch. All systems looked good as the rocket was loaded onto the launch rail. All the switches were turned on and everything was looking up.
The launch looked good for the first 400 meters before starting to spiral and cone. The nosecone appeared to pop off and the rest of the rocket continued to shoot up another few hundred meters. We did not reach the goal due to the additional drag from the missing nosecone. Thus, the apogee was less than expected but all recovery procedures went off perfectly and the remaining portion of the rocket was recovered perfectly without reaching the 5280 ft target apogee. The team went on a search for the rover that appeared to have dropped out of the nosecone from several hundred meters up and crashed to the ground. Most pieces were eventually recovered as the winds had died down dramatically so none of the pieces flew very far into the desert.
We are still unsure of what exactly happened to the rocket to cause such catastrophic damage but here are a few observations:
2 of the shear pins for payload were still in the airframe, the last one appeared to have ripped through the airframe.
Scissor lift was deployed but there is no way of confirming when it deployed, whether it was before or after separation.
Rover completely smashed to smithereens likely due to its several hundred meter fall.
Recovery was successful without full apogee and no rushed environment.
Radio failed to connect on the launch rail once again, investigating whether it has to do with rail interference.
People at Arizona launch site said to look into coning, not sure if that is the full reason though.
Photos: Cheljea Jang
