Sunday, the 24th of March, 2024 @ 9:00 - 11:15
- 50 °F.
- Clear, slightly cloudy skies.
- Low winds.
- PerfectFlite Firefly altimeter.
- We cut the transition-side bottom section tube down from about 9" to 4". This whole time, in OpenRocket we had that tube at 6", I thought Sukhraj cut it when he cut the top tube but didn't, so the model I created was based off of incorrect information. This meant previously our stability was actually about 2½, definitely too high, after this it went down to around 2.
- Since our stretchy rope had already burnt twice, Riley covered the exposed part that has to be below the fireproof wrap in duct tape and stapled it on really well, this worked out great and the duct tape is slightly worn now but the inside rope is unscathed.
- Same design rough transition but with a shorter low length so it would still fit against the reinforcement tube inside the new shorter tube.
- Every flight: Cesaroni Pro29 57F59-4.5A, we drilled 7.5 sec off the initial 12sec delay, setting the delay drilling tool to -9 and using the new +1½ 3D printed spacer.
- First flight: 613g.
- First flight: two of the fuzzy velcro on the bottom outside of each fin.
- First flight: shorter rough transition so it would fit in the new tube.
- Second flight: 612g.
- Second flight: no more velcro at all.
- Second flight: same transition as the first time.
- Third flight: 625g.
- Third flight: old smooth purple transition with duct tape at the bottom to hopefully not screw up the airflow as badly.
Results:
- First flight: 776' apogee.
- First flight: 47½sec duration.
- First flight: The rocket went straight up and the new 4.5sec (not quite exact but still slightly shorter than the 5sec delay) deployed when it was nearing the natural apogee and going up slowly, we'll keep this delay it was perfect.
- Second flight: 790' apogee, because no more Velcro to hold it back.
- Second flight: 46½sec duration.
- Third flight: 814' apogee.
- The purple transition wasn't tied on so the top half just free fell down without a parachute, we didn't get a time. This also happened another time, the egg broke of course but no damage has happened because of how it was made.
Now that we fixed the stability problem by cutting the top of the bottom section tube shorter and with little wind, our rocket it going up quite straight. We couldn't do any qualifying flights today because unfortunately even though Dave got back from his trip, he's sick so he still couldn't come. Fingers crossed for some good weather days soon because we need to qualify by April eighth, and our spring break is that last week. If we have another day like today and just make a shorter smooth transition we could get a good qualifying flight. We also plan on cutting the parachute a little bit at some point because we're still staying in the air slightly too long. 4½ seconds of delay may seem a little short, but I think the real delay may be slightly higher than that, but it is still adjusting correctly relative to what it was in the past.