Metal case, CO2 water rockets Water rockets are a great (low cost) way to get into rocketry. Simple water rockes are soda bottles with fins glued on to them. They are very fun, and I have a few ... [Read More]
Air Command has compiled an extensive guide to rocket recovery . Although oriented towards water rockets, it provides a comprehensive survey of processes and techniques. For example, we 'pyro' folks ... [Read More]
Water rockets use the simplest of fuels. But they don't have top be simple. When I built a water rocket, the components consisted of a tire stem, basswood, foamboard and duct tape. For Air Command , ... [Read More]
APRSAF - 16 - International Water Rocket Competition - 2010, Bangkok - Thailand Indian Competitior Making Water Booster Rocket Indian Participants - Bijal Lekhadia Indian Participants - ... [Read More]
George Katz shakes his fist at the rocket eating trees. That is, now that he has a dual deploy ejection mechanism to keep his rockets, and their on-board camera, out of said trees. Read ... [Read More]
Today, George Katz announced that his main Air Command website was re-hosted and now has its own domain. I updated my links list in the sidebar but, as usual, I won't update individual ... [Read More]
And when I do, Air Command will show me how. Never thought of the check valve, have to find one of them. Wonder of Harbor Freight has 'em in their large area dedicated to air tools? [Read More]
George Katz just opened an extension to his Air Command site - Water Rocket Labs . You can search Air Command's Data, do unit conversions, submit your data, and request experiments. Read ... [Read More]
George Katz put together this video for his Day 97 Flight Report . He flew his Acceleron V three times, attaining the impressive altitude of 864'(263m). The video includes ground footage and on-board ... [Read More]
Clark Lindsey reports on another reference spaceship design, the Space Coach , which was first described in a paper published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society . In a real ... [Read More]
Attached is a summary video from Air Commands's Launch Day 103 . The rocket scientist in you will like the description of their new side deploy mechanism, which is controlled by custom ... [Read More]
This rocket was built for the NPL's Water Rocket Challenge 2011 . The rocket was made from over 100 bottles and was over 11 feet long. Blast Off of the World's Largest Water Rocket , a photo by ... [Read More]
Enter the Pan Cam . They installed a servo, a battery, and a Servo Timer II in a box with a tripod and camera mounts. Add a remote reed switch and you've got an inexpensive tracking ... [Read More]
Air Command Water Rockets has set up a new YouTube channel. This will consolidate their videos from all across the web into one easy to find place. The new ones will go there and George ... [Read More]
"This is the build log of our next rocket project called "The Shadow". This water rocket doesn't use PET bottles or FTC tubes as the basis for a pressure chamber. Many of the construction techniques ... [Read More]
From the Quest Website HERE Available in June, 2012 Quest Water Rockets are the perfect low-cost flying rocket without the hassles of traditional solid propellant rockets! There's no fire danger ... [Read More]
Here's a composite video of two flights, including regular, slo-mo, and on-board segments. Awesome rocket...way to go Air Command!
Two launches of the Shadow II water rocket. The ... [Read More]
Air Command's latest update ( #132 ) covers the latest flights of their Inverter Rocket. I think this is one cool looking rocket! One of the many recurring questions on TRF is, "can I mix different ... [Read More]
..."really cool" flights. You don't get to their level of sophistication without a few hiccups along the way. My favorite segment starts at 7:25 in. George, I look forward to see your progress over ... [Read More]
We recently added Quest’s Water Rocket kits to our catalog. We didn’t sell them in the past because we thought they were just cheap toys. But, a few weeks ago we watched our grandson and ... [Read More]
I found an interesting rocket website selling screw on water rocket fins and launchers - HERE I had seen StratoFins listed on the Apogee website. But like the rest of us, I thought the idea of ... [Read More]
I just received a launcher and two screw-on fins sets from StratoFins . I had considered building a Clark cable tie launcher for some time but somehow never got around to it. So, when I saw one for ... [Read More]
Check out the Giant Water Rocket video - HERE You can fast forward up to 1:15 for the action. Up to that point it's just a LOT of bicycle pump action and comments like: "He's really brave!"
... [Read More]
Several months ago, I went cold turkey off sodas, sweetened teas, etc. I have been pretty good up until now. I just bought a 2L Dr. Pepper for the nose section of my StratoFins rocket. I also got ... [Read More]
I drank my Dr Pepper and lopped off the top of the bottle. I added an elastic cord to connect the nose, body and 'chute. After dry fitting it, I give it a 25% chance of success. I thing the nose ... [Read More]
I guess there is a ray of hope in the otherwise wet, gloomy day. My wife was cleaning up and found a multi-legged crawling toy. I resisted my immediate urge to disassemble it since I thought my ... [Read More]
Since my last post, I affixed the tire stem cap to the timer's winding stem using some epoxy clay. This morning, I attached the timer and rigged the rubber bands. One band is attached to the side of ... [Read More]
On the eve of our recycling pickup, I went 'dumpster diving'. Luckily, these dumpsters are small and manageable. I managed to scrape up five, 2L bottles and a 1L from Dean and Deluca sparkling ... [Read More]
I stacked two sets of spliced bottle using a commercial tornado coupling and another 2L using a home made coupling. I started doing a low pressure pressure test and found the stack was leaking like ... [Read More]
HidroMAX is a soon-to-be kickstarted (hopefully) water rocket company. They promise a serious launcher, highly adjustable and capable of supporting various nozzle sizes, reliable deployment and ... [Read More]
Here's my new water rocket. It has a capacity of a bit more than 5L and features a new rounded nose, home-grown 'tornado coupler', and a new timer. I need to sim it and fiddle with the timer to get ... [Read More]
I recently ran across a Space Shuttle water rocket. That got me thinking about that spare Guillows foam Shuttle that I've had laying around... The Shuttle had been converted to fly as an air rocket ... [Read More]
Here are main components attached to one another. I still need to: Make a nose cone, make the fin units that will slide into the SRB's, and attach all the recovery stuff. For the first SRB's nozzle ... [Read More]
Progress since the last update:
Nose Cone - I roughed out a truncated conical nose cone out of some poster board. It's not perfect, but I liked it well enough. I beefed up the inside with ... [Read More]
Thanks to Bob from MDRA/Liberty Launch Systems, I have some videos of my water rocket flights at ESL-192. There are three for both the Manatee 2 and the FTC-1. Two of the three are from tripod ... [Read More]
I thought this awfully ambitious project was worth a look-see, even if it didn't fly. There are also some photos on BSA Troop 227's web page . [Read More]
From Air Command Rockets - Check out this this video about how water rockets are built to "eject" a parachute. Pretty interesting stuff, well worth a look. CLICK HERE The way they join ... [Read More]
Watch this cool video of NASA and Orbital ATK engineers performing a burst test of their composite booster case...using water. More burst test videos can be found on AirCommand's site :) [Read More]
I've been very impressed by the water rocket videos from the Australian Air Command water rockets website: CLICK HERE Check out the new video where their latest water rocket flys to 1752 feet! and ... [Read More]
Here's the parts for the StratoFins launcher. My "kit" came unassembled. I'll have to supply duct tape, PVC glue, scissors, screwdriver and a ruler. The StratoFins slide onto the "Nozzle" and the ... [Read More]
Before assembling I sanded off any printing on the PVC tubes. You don't have to do this, I just wanted the launcher to look cleaner.
Nine of the cable wraps are used on the release ... [Read More]
The low ends of the cable ties and tape are cut off 3 3/4" down from the top. The instructions say to use scissors, I used a sharp blade and straightedge. The tape and ties were scored and ... [Read More]
Dry fit all the PVC pieces before using any glue! When using PVC glue you only have a moment to get the tube pieces lined up before the glue grabs! Get very familiar with all the pieces and how ... [Read More]
My first two water rocket launches were at the last Orlando R.O.C.K. launch. I had attached just the top of a second bottle to act as a nose cone. No parachute yet, I was hoping the nose would fall ... [Read More]
On YORF, Joe Wooten posted: Homemade Rocket Hits Record-Breaking 2,723 Feet Using Only Water and Air Your move, Diet Coke and Mentos. To see the video: CLICK HERE The launches happen at 11:30 ... [Read More]
Well, that's exactly what the folks over at Air Command are doing. In a continuing move to the dark side, they want to start flying HPR. So they are building a rocket that can either fly as a big ... [Read More]
Location: High Ridge Park Weather: low 90's, wind 0-5, clear Total flights: Today - 2; YTD - 2 Total motors: Today - 0; YTD - 0 Motors by class YTD: H2O - 2 Well folks, it's been almost a year since ... [Read More]
From the annals of Make Mag , I find this cool hydrogen powered rocket . The control system uses a 12V 3.3Ah lead-acid battery to generate the hydrogen and ignite the gas. Kinda like an armor-plated ... [Read More]
A discussion on the water-rockets Yahoo group asked if talcum powder could be used in lieu of water in a water rocket. (Yeah, I know, it wouldn't be a water rocket.) One respondent came up with a ... [Read More]
George Katz made the following, highly entertaining music video of his Acceleron Vb water rocket CATOing. It includes full speed, slow motion, shrapnel identification, on-board, and forensic ... [Read More]
Dr. Praful Bhavsar, (Ret. Director - ISRO), Mr. M.P. Deomurari & Mr. Pratham Ambla • APRSAF-16 Water Rocket Event organise by National Science Museum (NSM) of Thailand & Japan Aerospace ... [Read More]
George reports from Air Command that he set two personal water rocketry records. He set a new altitude record of 810' (246m) using his Acceleron V booster rocket with the Axion IVb sustainer. ... [Read More]
George Katz, as promised, has updated his web site with a full report of his record setting (personal) water rocket flight. The update includes photos, altimeter plots, and flight event time lines. ... [Read More]
George Katz updates us on his experiments with fiberglass-reinforced PET bottles . It will be cool to see what his big and complex water rockets can do when pressurized to 300 psi. He recently ... [Read More]
Tonight on YORF I read a post from Doug Sams . He was talking about water rockets from a company called Park Plastics. Check out the YORF thread HERE He mentioned a great website where you can look ... [Read More]
In no particular order:
Here's a Flickr album on the flight of the the Copenhagen Suborbitals' HEAT 1X-Tycho Brahe flight: - Mission 2011 .
And more HEAT 1X-Tycho Brahe videos, via Clark ... [Read More]
I have been playing with fin styles for my big crayon. From a typical 4 fin arrangement to 3/4 fins with winglets like the Jayhawk to a near minimum diameter ring fin like some ... [Read More]
The guys at Air Command decided to try some alternative fuels in their water rockets. Since most of these didn't have any water in them, I guess I should call them air rockets v. water rock ... [Read More]
Air Command's The Shadow includes custom fiberglass tubing and nose cone, lots of machined parts, rail buttons, a custom launcher, and home grown electronics. Sounds a lot like your ... [Read More]
Air Command has posted a detailed report on the flight of their large, all fiberglass, water rocket. This thing is amazing. It looks like, and is constructed like, your typical level-1 ... [Read More]
Regular readers may remember a previous post about a water rocket that is built like a HPR rocket. The rocket flew twice, once with good recovery and once with a failed recovery. Both flights were ... [Read More]
Billionaire-Backed Space Venture Planetary Resources to be Unveiled April 24 - Space.com - The new venture, named Planetary Resources , "will overlay two critical sectors — space e ... [Read More]
Press releases and ads for the Orlando Mini Maker Faire mentioned “Rockets!” (with the exclamation mark). But, the web site for the event did not explain what kind of rockets. So, I ... [Read More]
As I'm sure you all know, Ray Bradbury passed last night. He was 91. Here is an essay he wrote back in 2000: " Why NASA?... "
McDonnell Douglas Phase B 12-Man Space Station (1970) ... [Read More]
Air Command has an interesting article on SCUBA equipment , as applied to water rockets. I've become half-way interested in continuing my work on a PVC cannon for air rockets and have been ... [Read More]
Pyro free deployment is, in my opinion, one of the 'holy grails' of sport rocketry. The 'pyro' rocketry folks (of which I am one) have had some success with compressed gas and mechanical ... [Read More]
V-2 rocket footage , High Power Rocketry (9/3)
Live Hangout with me at RocketFest! , Bad Astronomy (9/3) - Fundraiser for Huntsville's US Space and Rocket Center - Rockfest
Check out T.I.'s ... [Read More]
I managed to score a paper rocket experimenter's pack from Mike Bauer. This includes 3 air rockets to experiment with altitude and 8 to experiments with stability. The altitude pack are ... [Read More]
Here are the two flying things that I have on deck. I assembled the Quest water rocket and converted a Guillows Space Shuttle to launch off of my 1/2" PVC launcher.
I chose a 2-L pop bottle ... [Read More]
How much water? , Air Command Water Rockets - George sent me this link to explain why my water rocket flights didn't go as well as I would have liked.
Video: Understanding the u ... [Read More]
Here's a letter of response about the old Vashon Rockets. I thought it might be interesting for the blog. The illustration at the right was almost the same Sears catalog listing I ordered my ... [Read More]
Yet another set of found photos... Think I might have already posted this, but I don't care. Reportedly, the world's biggest water rocket.
A twofer mashup - The Fireball XL5 and the T ... [Read More]
Yesterday, I had an ingenious idea, "Why not use my Xavien timer on a water rocket?" I was thinking it fairly light and can use a small battery such as an A23. To initiate ejection, I was thinking ... [Read More]
I have been searching for a cheap mechanical timer to deploy a 'chute from a water rocket. I haven't gone out with the sole intent of finding one, but have made several stops while running other ... [Read More]
I decided to proceed and try to splice some soda bottles. I followed the US Water Rockets tutorial . I chose this over the method described on my favorite water rocket site, Air Command Water ... [Read More]
Reefing a parachute can slow down the opening of the canopy. Instead of opening with a "pop", a reefing ring allows the parachute to open gradually. Check out the video from the Air Command Water ... [Read More]
Egads, I just noticed eight of the ten posts on my blog's main page are dedicated to water rockets. For years, I've been ribbing George Katz that, sooner or later, he would come over to the dark ... [Read More]
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]
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]
Here's a diagram of my FTC-1 water rocket. The indicated CG is set to the computed centroid and the CP is set to 'Barrowman'. The actual CG is half an inch from the centroid. In order for this ... [Read More]
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]
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]
Braving the 100 degree humiture, I traipsed out this afternoon to a local park to fly a couple of low tech water rockets and my Blade 180-QX Quadcopter. My drone piloting skills suck...hence the ... [Read More]
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]
Here's two models that may have had some Pigasus influence in their designs. Dick Stafford's Cochon d' Eau (French for Water Pig) is a water rocket. The wide bottle fits the pig profile well. He ... [Read More]
I see some people blasting NASA for a flawless Orion flight. In their opinion if there wasn't a failure the task was too easy. Lots of criticism on the NASA TV feed, which evidently failed during ... [Read More]
1. I started the year with two 29mm conversions, thanks to Estes and their great sale. 2. In March, Semroc officially announced that, after Carl's passing, they would be closing their doors. On a ... [Read More]
From the European Model Rocketry Website - CLICK HERE
Klima develops Own Model Rocketry Line
"The German model rocketry company Raketenmodellbau Klima GmbH announced a ... [Read More]
I have made several nose cones out of water bottles. If you get one that is a usable diameter, you still have to worry about what to do about that pesky cap. I have foamed the cone and then formed a ... [Read More]
After losing a rocket to the trees last weekend, I decided to build one of US Water Rocket's tree rescue system. They described their tool in a video: Tree Rescue System . Mine is basically the same ... [Read More]
After the scout launch yesterday, Duane warned me that he might head over to Pegasus field this afternoon for a couple of practice flights with his geezer TARC rocket. When he called about 3 to let ... [Read More]
I found the Klima Facebook page, some interesting things there. To see it, CLICK HERE While the Edition L kit has the Klima name on it, it looks like it is made from Quest parts. The instructions ... [Read More]
I love these two rocketry ideas. Mainly because they are new and innovative. I wish I would have thought of these but I didn’t. The first is from SonicDadDotCom and is a twist to water rockets. ... [Read More]
Water Rocket Workshop Rangoli International School - Mehsana A water rocket Workshop was organized by Model Rocketry Club - India on 30 June 2019 at Rangoli Int ... [Read More]