Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The final flight of Pioneer II

Rocket: Pioneer II
Date of launch: 25th June 2008
Time of launch: 10:30pm
Location: Undisclosed, Relatively Empty Area
Observers: My dad and I

Like all rockets of the "Pioneer" edition, this rocket is of small stature. Composed of a mere 4 sparklers, it can fit into the nose of a regular plastic bottle, from which, in fact, it was launched.

Pioneer II is almost identical to it's predecessor, Pioneer I, except that it had a more balanced nozzle and a lower stability stick, which proved effective in stabilising it's flight (since it flew much farther and straighter than Pioneer I).

It was a cool wednesday night, and my previous launch site was locked up, so I launched the rocket Pioneer II in a different location. This launch proved to be more successful than the previous, with maximum altitude well over 30 feet. The rocket started it's fiery launch at nearly 90 degrees angle, but soon went slightly sideways (about 80 degrees) after the propellant was consumed. Last seen of Pioneer II was a smoldering trail of some rapidly descending bits some 10 metres away. The remains of this rocket were never recovered.



For the first time, here is a video of the launch! Observe the rocket frame by frame as it blasts off into the night sky and takes it's place among the stars before falling back to a cold, hard earth, never to move again.

Video is in portrait, so please tilt your head 90 degrees. Thanks.


| HCH - 11:29 PM |



Sunday, June 22, 2008

Touching the skies

Rocket Name

Date of Construction

Date of Launch

Status

unnamed

Friday, 13 June 08

Friday, 13 June 08

Successful Failure, Flew but disintegrated, resulted in burn injury to self.

unnamed

Friday, 13 June 08

Saturday, 14 June 08

Failure, Did not launch, awesome burning.

Pioneer I

Sunday, 15 June 08

Monday, 16 June 08

Complete Success, Successful launch. Rocket was not found.

Pioneer II

Monday, 16 June 08

N.A.

To be launched

Pioneer III

Monday, 16 June 08

N.A.

To be launched

Exodus I

21 – 22 June 2008

N.A.

To be launched


A table of my past, present and planned rocket launches. Here are some photos.

Before proceeding:

You agree that by proceeding (to view the photographs on this web page), you will not attempt to duplicate any parts of the devices shown below. Also, you agree not to store, distribute, or modify any of the photos shown below. You may not use any of these photographs as incriminating evidence against me, by proceeding to view them you agree to indemnify me from any legal liability that may arise from these photos. You also assume fully legal responsibility for any consequences that may arise from attempting to duplicate the devices and procedures depicted here.

If you do not agree, you may not proceed to view the photographs. By proceeding you agree to and accept all of the terms mentioned above.

=============================



This is the second unnamed rocket, shortly after construction.



The remains of the second unnamed rocket after its failed launch.



Pioneer I completed rocket. Skewer attached for stability in flight. It is not a firework.



Pioneer II and III, and Exodus I.

I am aware that by posting these photos I am just asking for trouble for myself. But I am so awed by the beauty of this science that it is a risk I am willing to take.

But I can safely say that I have taken all necessary steps to prevent probable hurt or injury to other people, and have taken precautions to prevent probable danger to others, such as carrying out the experiment in an area without combustible matter, ensuring that the launch site is clear and that everyone else is a safe distance away, and wearing a fire proof jacket when lighting the rocket's fuse (except for the first two rockets). Also take note that the rocket does not have any payload and does not explode, nor does it produce any pyrotechnic effects, the only visible output is the light produced from the combustion of the propellant in the rocket. Therefore, it is technically not a firework either.


| HCH - 10:18 PM |



Friday, June 13, 2008

The price to pay

Earlier today, the two hours I spent working on a photoshop assignment for diploma plus was totally wasted when I accidentally closed the window containing the image I spent two hours working in (go ahead, laugh). It was a lousy mistake, not saving at all during the entire time. I have no choice but to redo the entire thing from the start. And it's entirely my fault.

But it gets better - The nonsense of this holiday is building sparkler rockets. My previous attempts at such feats of rocketry usually resulted in a little melted pile shooting out sparkles. Well today I decided to make something different. Rather than grinding up the sparklers and tamping the powder into aluminium foil tubes, I tightly wrapped three of them in multiple layers of aluminium foil (which surprisingly, held better than I expected). The nozzles were the gaps between the sparklers. The top was sealed, and I made a crude wire platform on which to launch it.

I have no photos since I didn't bother taking any, and I've already disposed of the remains of the rocket. I will, however, take some photos the next time I attempt such a feat again.

T minus 15 seconds - Rocket on launchpad and ready for launch. All nearby flammables are removed as a safety precaution (which would prove invaluable later). I use a lighter to light a single sparkler which I will use as a match to ignite the propellant.

T minus 7 seconds - Eight seconds later, the sparkler has reached ignition temperature and combusts into a bright shower of sparks. I place the lighter aside.

T minus 5 seconds - I place the lighted sparkler next to the short "fuse" for my rocket which in reality is just the ends of the sparklers sticking out of the crude foil tube.

T minus 3 seconds - Due to the high temperature, the propellant rapidly ignites. What happens next happened so fast, it was almost a blur.

T minus 1 second - The tiny and closely packed sparkler fuse burns out in a mere 2 seconds, faster than I expected. I don't even have time to get back.

T minus 0 seconds - The propellant has reached the "nozzle" of the rocket. A bright flash floods the area. "This can't be good", I think.

T plus 0.5 seconds - I hear a loud fizzing sound.

T plus 1 second - The rocket takes off. My fear turns to amazement.

T plus 2 seconds - The rocket hits my arm and lands on the floor. I am surprised that the rocket actually worked even though it flew chaotically.

T plus 3 seconds - The remains rocket is smoldering on the floor. The pungent smell of ammonia fills the air. My senses kick in, and a sharp, searing pain fills my arm, and I hurry off to treat my 2nd degree burns.

I never expected the rocket to actually liftoff, and it did. Therefore, I consider this experiment a success.

To whom it may concern: The sparkler powder is not used for improvised explosives. They are used a propellant for rockets. These rockets are not weapons. They are intended to fly into the sky, not to injure people.


| HCH - 7:00 PM |



Tuesday, June 3, 2008

A stitch in time saves nine

Spent the entire day trying to clear my laptop of a very persistent and irritating piece of malware. I've been looking for a no compact disc "patch" for caesar 3 ever since I upgraded to version 1.0.1 and have had little success until then, all the "patches" i found were only for version 1.0. Finally I found this link from a suspicious looking website. By then, I had exhausted all other possible options such as trying to make a mini image, copying various files... nothing worked. I knew if I really wanted to I could copy the entire image from the CD but that would take up too much space. So I downloaded the "patch". This patch was probably the fifth or sixth one that I tried and my guard was down. My antivirus was outdated and I did not bother to scan it online ( I did so for the first few ones). Opening the file, a command prompt popped out... and stayed longer than it should. A feeling of dread filled me as I noticed multiple popup windows appearing across the screen. Spyware. Adware. Malware. The scourge of the internet, and one of the things I detest. Little message boxes started popping out and balloon bubbles containing ads floated up from the taskbar. It was going to be a long, long day.

Here I am, nearly 12 hours later with my PC finally clean again (hopefully). The malware deleted all my system restore points and fixing it was tricky. But I finally managed. Lesson learned: Prevention is better than cure. And now, it's time to go to bed.



| HCH - 1:34 AM |