Saturday 23 October 2010

New rocket new launch site

The BWR crew headed over to our new launch site as our local launch area is populated with livestock!!!! we tested our latest rocket a 8L mist jet 1st launch was better then expected as ive never really made a rocket over 4L apogee was a good height 100ft-150ft enough to test the parachute but failure happened as the chute deployed the force of the chute opening and the weight of the rocket snapped the cord which attaches the rocket to the chute, 2nd launch wasnt as good due to using a water+foam mix didnt seem to work as well as water on its own, the parachute didnt deploy as the timer was set for a higher altitude so another crash landing took place !!! we also launched our V2 rocket had a very good 1st flight we launched at a higher pressure and a higher water foam mix the chute also decided to not make an apperance but was a good retirement flight as the rocket is getting a bit damaged. watch in higher quality here:http://www.vimeo.com/16066653

Thursday 21 October 2010

Mist jet motor test part 2

the first test wasnt so great so i took the top 2 2L bottles off and tryed it again we saw  better results the launch pressure was 115 psi to replicate a real launch and 1000ml water the intial thrust was alot stronger then i imagined so strong in fact it broke away from the guide rail snapped a clamp which was holding the nose in place which was secured to the guide rail and moved the whole launcher to one side so there was loads of thrust

Mist jet motor tests

I have finally got round to testing my latest rocket motor the mist jet!!! i strapped the rocket to the launcher and guide rail pressurized the bottles to 100 psi with 1600 mls water there was a good amount of thrust at the start of the launch but seemed to loose power after a second or so maybe due to a low launch pressure will have to see when launch day arrives

Saturday 16 October 2010

V2 launch day

Yesterday the B W Rocket crew launched the V2 rocket for the 1st time we had 4 successful flights parachute failed to open 1st time due to a snag with the tomi timer so we suffered some damage but not enough to ruin the day heres some footage from the day,

Wednesday 13 October 2010

Prototype Mist jet rocket


This week i have been working on a new rocket design, the new design works in a totally different way to standard rockets, the water and air are in seperate compartments as the rocket is released water travels down a tube which has holes near the neck of the bottle where air hits the water creating a fine mist as propulsion benefits of this design is a more sustained equal propulsion of water and air, another advantage is the rocket needs no ballast weight as the water is contained at the top of rocket to maintain a stable flight it reduces the rockets overall weight, total vol 8 litres, fill volume: 1600mls water/foam, nozzle 10mm, launch pressure 100-120 psi.

V2

The V2 is a replica design of the famous V2 of WW2 its painted in period test colours of 1942 the black and white was to identify if the rocket spins in flight, the rocket was made of 2 2litre bottles max vol of 4 litres the nosecone is made of craft card which holds the rockets ballast weight, the fins are made of coriflute and attached to rocket with Sikaflex 291 adhesive, the nose cone holds a parachute deployment system for safe recovery of the rocket. fill vol: 1000mls water/foam launch pressure: 100 psi, 10mm nozzle, average altitude: un recorded.

Rocket is still in a test stage.

N2

The N2 is a 3litre ring finned rocket this was the first multi bottle rocket that i have made its had several modifications new fins and a parachute deployment system, launch details: fill volume 800mls water/foam, 7mm nozzle,  launch pressure 100 psi, average altitude 100+ft .

Welcome to the British Water Rocket blog

Here are my rockets so far left to right we have my newest design a mist jet rocket, middle is the V2 and right is N2