Dick Stafford's Rocket Dungeon Blog 
Rocket Dungeon Posts
All SystemsGo for Texas teens (2008-12-21)
Texas teens are learning aerospace science by building and flying rockets. Started in the quiet Hill Country town of Fredricksburg by Brett Williams, an ex-marine scientist, SystemsGo is now offered ... [Read More]
Slow blogging, brief catch-up (2009-03-25)Blogging has been slow around the Dungeon. I got Roxio Creator and am copying old videos to DVD. My laptop was of average power two years ago but manipulating multi-gigabyte files eats its lunch. It ... [Read More]
Gyro stabilization and the big a$$ rocket of the day (2009-04-06)Clark Lindsey points to the latest flight of the Gyroc VTVL testbed . This gyroscopically stabilized testbed uses commercially available long-burn model rocket motors for takeoff and landing. While ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2009-7 (2009-08-23)Location: Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD ( MDRA ESL-135) Weather: mid-80's, calm to slightly breezy Total flights: Today - 9; YTD - 60 Total motors: Today - 14; YTD - 72 Paul was there ... [Read More]
New world land speed record for RC cars (2009-09-14)And, of course, a rocket was involved. The Black Knight: Hybrid Rocket RC Car blog reports a run at 163.51 mph. This is a new world land speed RC record beating the previous 161.34 mph ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2009-8 (2009-09-19)Location: Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD ( MDRA ESL-136) Weather: mid-70's, not too breezy, but the wind was in an unfavorable direction Total flights: Today - 5; YTD - 65 Total motors: ... [Read More]
Bloodhound SSC motor update (2009-11-04)Rocketeers.co.uk has an update on the development of the hybrid rocket motor for the Bloodhound SSC supersonic rocket car. The blogger expresses his/her " bitterly disappointed that we're ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2009-8 (Red Glare 7) (2009-11-15)Location: Higgs Farm, Price, MD ( Red Glare VII ) Weather: mid to high 60's, light breeze, clear Total flights: Today - 7; YTD - 72 Total motors: Today - 10; YTD - 87 The remnants of Hurricane Ike ... [Read More]
NARPres comments on the NFPA 1125 revision (2010-02-02)Trip's words, my highlights and added comments in brackets (stuff I didn't mention before or didn't catch earlier): Earlier today (February 2) we completed the first of two 2010 meetings of the ... [Read More]
Fire and ice from Denmark (2010-03-01)Here is a video of a static test of the Copenhagen Suborbitals ' HEAT-1X LOX/paraffin hybrid. Fire from the motor, ice on ground. (as seen on Clark Lindsey's RLV and Space Transportation blog ) ... [Read More]
The race to be the biggest (amateur rocketry) (2010-03-02)Gizmodo is featuring the work of Copenhagen Suborbitals (C-S) and their HEAT-1X project. (Yesterday, I posted an embedded video of one of their hybrid motor tests. Cool stuff!) The blogger points ... [Read More]
The first RATTworks Tribrid motors have been certified by Tripoli (2010-05-18)As seen on Rocketry Planet , it appears that Tripoli Motor Testing (TMT) has certified two RATTworks Tribrids: a 1861K350TR-P (45% K) and a 2170K600TR-P (70% K motor). For those who don't know ... [Read More]
ALCOTOO propellant (2010-11-18)A year and a half ago (or so), I was fascinated ALICE propellant , which was being done by Dr. Steven Son's team at Perdue (with collaborators at Penn). ALICE is an acronym for ALuminum and ... [Read More]
3-D printed fuel grain (2010-11-18)While on the subject of 'exotic' hybrids, I see Clark Lindsey has spotted an article on creating complicated channels within hybrid fuel grains using 3-D printing (aka stereolithography): A ... [Read More]
Another unique hybrid motor innovation - inject the gas at the business end (2010-11-18)[I should have included this in my previous post, since they share a common source ( Clark Lindsey, again ).] The Staged Combustion Aft-Injected Hybrid (SCAIH) is being developed by hobby ... [Read More]
Mega-Review: Art Applewhite Standard Flying Saucers (VERY LONG) (2010-12-15)Because of their similarity, I decided to conglomerate all my reviews of Art Applewhite's 'standard' flying saucers is one easy-to-reference location. These are the ones that have an opening ... [Read More]
Review - The Grand Whazoo (2010-12-20)The goal of this project was to build an eight inch diameter rocket that was light enough to be flown on a mid-power motor. I decided to use foam board for the fins and centering rings, and thick ... [Read More]
Mega-Review: Art Applewhite Delta Flying Saucers (2010-12-20)At the time of this posting, Art Applewhite is offering no less than 10 versions of his Delta Saucer design, two of which are free downloads. This is a cluster of reviews covering three of ... [Read More]
Comparison of Art Applewhite's 24mm Saucers (2010-12-20)Now that I have captured some of my old reviews, I decided to see if Blogger could handle the table used in the original comparison article. The first row includes links to the posts that present the ... [Read More]
Mega Review: Component Reviews (2011-01-13)This is an aggregation of all my old EMRR reviews of miscellaneous components: Giant Leap Rocketry - Honeycomb Composite Fins Giant Leap Rocketry - Slimline Retainer (38mm) Hartle Engineering - Solid ... [Read More]
Mega Review: Art Applewhite Catch-All (2011-01-24)This post presents several additional Art Applewhite products: Cone Rocket Hourglass 24mm Super Cinco MicroMaxx Flying Saucer Plans Cone Rocket As the name indicates, this rocket is a simple cone ... [Read More]
Review: Three Estes MODifications (2011-01-28)This post includes: Big Dipper Daddy Fat Boy 7x18mm Motor Eater Phinagain Cruise Missile Big Dipper Daddy I bought this Big Daddy (on sale, of course) as a test-bed for a Micro-Hybrid motor. This ... [Read More]
The Bloodhound SCC, HTP, and HTPB (2011-02-15)If I knew this, I'd forgotten it. The Bloodhound SSC will use a 'different' kind of hybrid engine - catalyzed High Test Peroxide (HTP) + good ol' HTPB. Clark Lindsey found an article about ... [Read More]
Jakob’s Hybrid R10000 Rocket Launch (2011-10-03)Jakob’s Hybrid R10000 Rocket Launch , a photo by jurvetson on Flickr. Steve Jurvetson notes that the up part was great but the airframe went "over the hills and far away." This ... [Read More]
Video of Jeff Jakob's huge R10000 hybrid flight (2011-10-04)This may not super-duper exciting to the casual observer since it is fairly far away and much of the burn is only audible. BUT, the significance of this launch won't be lost on sport rocketeers. ... [Read More]
More from BALLS XX: Video of the 'R' hybrid plus (2011-10-06)I picked this video up from a post in the SugarShot email list. Good coverage of the Jeff Jakob's 'R' hybrid and another nice launch too. In the message, the poster mentioned there were a couple of ... [Read More]
Recap of How Hard Can It Be's "homemade rocket" episode (2011-10-26)This post is mostly real-time notes taken while watching....spoilers ahead! It was a fun show and I recommend you watch it. If you can't or already have, read on! The stated goal goal ... [Read More]
Rocketaholic provides an amateur rocketry blast-from-the-past (updated) (2012-06-25)Rocketry blogger, the 'Rocketaholic', just dug into his archives and posted photos from a Reaction Research Society class and documentation of his Systeme Solaire SS67B-2 liquid fuel rocket . ... [Read More]
Links roundup (2012-06-27)Even rockets are better with bacon: The 1/10 scale Pig Rocket is ready to launch! , Cajun Coalition (6/27, Button) CNC Machining is incredible. Introducing the 1/3 scale Pig ... [Read More]
Planning a Micro Hybrid flight (2012-06-29)Yesterday, I found that I have one NOX cartridge left so I'll fly the Micro Hybrid in July. I normally fly it in an Art Applewhite saucer but thought I'd try something that had ... [Read More]
The micro hybrid rocket is done (2012-06-30)Not much to see but here it is. I call it the Ankyo-mcH . Ankyo is the manufacturer, 'mc' is a pharmaceutical term for micro (can't easily type the scientific symbol), and H is for ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-9 (2012-07-28)Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD MDRA ESL-170) Weather: clear, 90's, wind 0-5 mph Total flights: Today - 8; YTD - 74 Total motors: Today - 9; YTD - 89 Motors by class YTD: ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-10 (2012-08-19)Location: Central Sod Farm, Centreville, MD MDRA ESL-171) Weather: mid-70's, wind 0+ mph, cloudy Total flights: Today - 6; YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 6; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: MicroHybrid ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-11 (2012-08-21)Location: Mattie Sepanek Park Weather: 75 degrees, wind 0++ mph, partly cloudy Total flights: Today - 3; YTD - 83 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -3); MicroHybrid -1; MMX ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-12 (2012-08-23)Location: Mattie Sepanek Park Weather: 82 degrees, wind 0++ mph, partly cloudy Total flights: Today - (3); YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -6); MicroHybrid -1; ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-13 (2012-09-05)Location: Mattie Stepanek Park Weather: 78 degrees and HUMID, wind 0++ mph, partly cloudy Total flights: Today - (6); YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -12); ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2012-14 (2012-09-12)Location: My 'hood Weather: mid-70's, wind 0+ mph, clear Total flights: Today - (10); YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - -; YTD - 95 Motors by class YTD: (Air -22); MicroHybrid -1; MMX -6; A -6; B -5; C ... [Read More]
Sport Rocketry September/October 2012 (2012-09-13)This month's magazine starts off with ... Seabrook, TX TARC rocket girls on the cover. The issue includes reports from TARC and NSL, the best parts of which are the photos. Next up is a build ... [Read More]
Clear rocket motor (video) (2012-09-24)I have seen (via the Interweb) several hybrid motors whose combustion chamber was a section of clear acrylic tube. I think the first was strapped to a bike by Ky "The Rocketman" Michaelson. This ... [Read More]
Bloodhound SSC's hybrid motor test was successful (2012-10-03)The Bloodhound SSC team is reporting that, earlier today, they successfully test fired their hybrid rocket motor . Here's a synopsis: At 4 meters (12 feet) long, 45.7 cm (18 inches) in ... [Read More]
Micro- and Mini-Hybrid's soon to be available (2013-06-20)Dr. Leland R. Dexter has announced that he, through Micro Nitro Rocketry , will be producing "Caldera-style" Micro and Mini Hybrids. Rene Caldera designed and sold parts kits for ... [Read More]
Tubesteak Boogie (2014-06-04)I have heard stories about people using sausage as the fuel for a hybrid motor. Maybe I've gone over the deep end but I've been thinking about flying my MicroHybrid on a hot dog. If I do, I'll ... [Read More]
Good day of rocket foraging (2014-06-04)Unexpectedly, I stumbled across some cheap wind-up toys at a nearby nature center. The basic timer mechanism seems like the same one that I had used before. It also winds down nice and slow but has ... [Read More]
First FTC rocket and hod dog fuel grain update (2014-06-07)I completed my first FTC (fluorescent tube cover) nozzle/closure using the method outlined by Bristol Water Rockets . The first attempt to shrink a section of a PET bottle was a mess. I applied too ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-8 (2014-06-22)Location: MDRA, Central Sod Farm Weather: high of 80, cloudy changing to clear, wind 0-5 Total flights: Today - 10; YTD - 61 Total motors: Today - 6; YTD - 49 Motors by class YTD: ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-9 (2014-06-28)Location: NARHAMS, Carroll County Ag Center Weather: 80's, 0-5mph, sunny Total flights: Today - 11; YTD - 72 Total motors: Today - 12; YTD - 61 Motors by class YTD: Water-17, MicroHybrid-1, MMX-1, ... [Read More]
Videos of my flights from ESL-192 (2014-07-09)Peter has posted his videos from ESL-192 in MDRA's YouTube Channel. Ankyo-mcH on a microhybrid FTC-1 water rocket (landed on AMW's trailer) Manatee-2 water rocket ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-10 (2014-07-26)Location: MDRA, Central Sod Farm Weather: cloudy turning to clear, wind 0 -5, around 90 degrees max Total flights: Today - 8; YTD - 80 Total motors: Today - 9; YTD - 70 Motors by class YTD: ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-11 (2014-09-20)Location: NARHAMS, Mt Airy Weather: sunny, high of 84, wind 5-10 Total flights: Today - 9; YTD - 89 Total motors: Today - 9; YTD - 79 Motors by class YTD: H2O-17, uHybrid-1, MMX-1, A-3, B-6, C-16, ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-12 (2014-09-27)Location: NARHAMS, Ag Center Weather: perfect - sunny, mid 70's, wind 0+ Total flights: Today - 10; YTD - 99 Total motors: Today - 10; YTD - 89 Motors by class YTD: H2O-17, uHybrid-1, MMX-1, A-4, ... [Read More]
Launch Report 2014-13 (2014-10-12)Location: MDRA, Central Sod Farm (ESL-196) Weather: 60's, sunny turning to cloudy, wind 0-5 mph at ground level, lower up high. Total flights: Today - 6; YTD - 105 Total motors: Today - 6; YTD - 95 ... [Read More]
Nice article on the state of hybrid motor technology (2014-11-06)IEEE Spectrum has a nice article by Stanford professor Brian J. Cantwell: Wax Fuel Gives Hybrid Rockets More Oomph . Dr. Cantwell, who is also a principal at the Space Propulsion Group , is ... [Read More]
Bloodhound SSC hybrid rocket static test (2014-12-09)[Read More]
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