Large High Power Rocket with Onboard Video

This is my 11,5" dia, 200lb, 14' tall Nike Smoke rocket with 2 on-board cameras. The 34,000ns motor lifted the Smoke to 11,800' at a top speed of 641mph. A higher-res version is available at /www.vimeo.com/3632108 Enjoy, Jerry

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• rocket
• on-board
• video
• hpr
• rockets
• rocketry

[chaosopher23]

That was spectacular, and a Nice Save at the end. I do have a question that may not have been asked yet, but I have seen the big ones go up and have an idea on what it takes to move a half a ton to 30,000 feet. We can get to space, yes, and it's legal. Considering we know how, and some of us are daring enough to try it, and a few of those daring are rich enough, is it legal to put an object into orbit?

[vahpr]

@chaosopher23 Don't know about the legality other than that Eisenhower sought an "open skies policy" with the early Navy and Army orbital attempts to set precedent, which of course did exactly that. So I'm guessing it's legal, subject to the FAA here and the local government's airspace rules elsewhere. Very hard to do though....

[vahpr]

Thanks - we were in disbelief it almost found power lines for a second time, luckily that was averted. From the distance away were were, you couldn't tell - it was only the look down video that revealed the truth:)

[AreaQNH870]

Whats the name of this song...I had a skydiving video made when I jumped a few years back and this was the soundtrack!...Its satriani isn't it?

[vahpr]

Yep - it's War off The Extremist - great album.

[peterjunior1000]

great



[jonzdad1]

nice joe satriani song

[Omnigeek6]

actually, in 2004 a team launched a rocket into space, reaching an altitude of 379,000 feet. And that was 20 feet tall. You don't need anywhere close to that big a motor to reach 30-40k. It's easily possible with an N or O motor, or even less if you have multiple stages.

[HaloNoobAlert]

some group of people in 2004 were the first civilians to get a rocket into space...

[Aquaseemore]

Excellent song!! Great rockets too!

[Roncace]

There was one model rocket I have heard of that actually captured a image the earth as it almost went into space.

[vahpr]

Actually amateur rocketeers regularly fly 30k'+, but it does requires a special FAA waiver and the truth is, anything going up over 2-3 miles gets somewhat more difficult to recover. At Tripoli's annual research launch in 9/08 (BALLS), several guys went 75k'+. That's in the Black Rock desert so the recovery area is huge, but it's still considered an achievement to fly and recover to that altitude, given the speeds, stresses, engineering, etc involved.

[jmr1068204]

I'm not really referring to any particular method. Either a thin and long solid rocket fuel type (of course, it would probably be like 20 or 30 feet long, I'm sure) or a liquid fuel with an actual mechanical engine. Or is that even feasibly possible to do with such a smaller sized rocket?