I had four flights planned for XPRS.  Angelfire on an M2200 Skidmark motor, Wildfire on an M1297, Coldfire on a K550 and my traditional Nike Dart flight on a K185 long burn motor.  Photos, videos and even some audio recordings from these flights are presented below.

Angelfire flew late on Saturday afternoon and featured the debut of Kate.  Kate is a computer synthesized female voice from an automated flight data reporting system that I built. Kate announces GPS downlink data in real time during the flight.  The heart of the system is the software I wrote that runs on a laptop.  I connected the laptop audio output into the main PA system so that everyone could listen to Kate during the flight.  It was a really big hit!  I received a lot of compliments and enthusiastic responses after the flight.  I think everyone was so stuck by Kate that hardly anyone even noticed the nice Skidmark motor.  Kate added a whole new dimension that made the flight even more enjoyable to watch.  It was fun watching the flight in progress while being told exactly how high, how fast, or how far away Angelfire was at any given time.  (You will be able to listen to an audio recording of Kate's announcements made during this flight.  It is presented further down on this page.) 

While Kate was a huge success, the Angelfire flight itself had one major problem.  The main parachute never filled with air!  The main parachute was deployed as planned at 1500 feet while Angelfire was descending on drogue.  However, the Kevlar chute protector was held in place on one end by a small rubber band.   On all previous flights, the air stream had no trouble opening up the Kevlar overwrap and allowing the main chute to fill with air.  This time it did not.  Obviously, I need to rethink my recovery system design and make some changes, but fortunately, there was no landing damage!   The Angelfire fin-can hit the ground vertical on the motor end first.  The main body tube also hit exactly vertical and did a six inch deep core sample of the playa.  Both then toppled over and laid on the ground completely undamaged.  I was very lucky!  The drogue chute slowed things down just enough that it all survived the impact onto the soft playa.  Photos and more details are presented below.

Wildfire was flown on Sunday around midday and also carried a GPS downlink system that allowed Kate to announce the whole flight.  However, I did not connect this flight into the main PA system.  I used an FRS radio channel instead.  Mostly because the GPS system in Wildfire is in the payload module that comes down on its own parachute.  It was going to take about 10 minutes for it to land and I did not want to monopolize the PA system that whole time with Kate's announcements.  I also had more than enough to keep me busy with the new HD video camera I was flying in Wildfire. I needed to be at the launch pad to start it just prior to launch.  At any rate, the Wildfire flight went exactly as planned and Kate did another nice job narrating the entire flight.  The onboard high def video also turned out pretty nice. Kate's narration and the onboard video are both presented further down on this page.

On Sunday I also launched my small Nike Dart rocket on a K185 motor to 11,031 feet.  Just for fun, I try to fly it every year at XPRS on a K185.  It had a nice flight and a successful safe recovery.  This year the 11,031 foot altitude exactly matched the same altitude reached in 2002.

On Monday I launched Coldfire on an Aerotech K550 white lightning motor.  Coldfire was specifically designed to fly on HyperTEK hybrid motors but I elected not to bother with all the Nitrous and ground support equipment needed for such a flight.  It was much easier to fly it on a solid motor at a large launch event like XPRS.  The K550 was the largest motor yet for Coldfire and delivered a very successful flight.  Photos are presented below.

Although attendance was down quite a bit this year, I certainly had a great time at XPRS.  I would like to thank Aero-Pac and all of the people that work so hard to make this launch such a huge success.  Your efforts are greatly appreciated!

This is a view of the XPRS flight line on Sunday, September 21, 2008.  It was taken by a camera onboard Wildfire as it was descending on parachute.  The launch pads are towards the bottom of the photo.  The white smoke is from another rocket that was launched just after Wildfire.  Click on the image to get a better view.

The flight line was not as large as in past years.  Attendance was definitely down in 2008. It also seemed like the number of "extreme flights" was down a lot this year.  I am not exactly sure why but I think it might have to do with the growing enthusiasm for the Balls launch that is typically held the weekend after XPRS.  Many of the people I know that would otherwise be making extreme flights at XPRS seem to be opting for Balls instead.  Sure would be nice if there was someway to combine these two events into one mega launch.

Angelfire was launched on Saturday just after 5:00 pm local time using an Animal Motor Works M2200 "Skidmark" motor. The GPS system reported a max altitude of 7,922 feet and a maximum velocity of 380 miles per hour.  The onboard altimeters reported an average of 8,290 feet as the max altitude. (4.6% higher than the GPS altitude.)

The boost went fine and Angelfire climbed into the sky on a nice vertical trajectory.  The drogue deployment at apogee looked to be right on time.  Main parachute deployment also occurred at 1,500 feet, just as planned.  However, the Kevlar "burrito wrap" that protected the parachute did not allow the parachute canopy to escape and fill with air.  A small rubber band that keeps the wrap sealed off from the ejection charge gases did not allow the wrap to fully open.  The other end of the "burrito wrap" was completely open and unconstrained but nevertheless, the parachute did not catch enough air to open it up.  Angelfire hit very hard but fortunately, there was no damage!   The fin-can hit the ground on the motor end first while oriented vertically.  Consequently, there was no damage to the fins. The main body tube also hit exactly vertical and did a six inch core sample of the playa.  Both parts then toppled over and laid on the ground completely undamaged. The drogue had slowed things down just enough that it all survived impact onto the soft playa.  That's one reason I prefer to use a drogue chute rather than to go "drogue-less" as many others do. 

Angelfire ended up landing only 224 feet from the launch pad!  This was the 17^th flight of Angelfire.

Kate's Angelfire flight report

Photo by Tsolo T. Tsolo from RocketShots! © 2008

Safety inspection

Photo by Tsolo T. Tsolo from RocketShots! © 2008

Photo by Tsolo T. Tsolo from RocketShots! © 2008

Photos by Tsolo T. Tsolo from RocketShots! © 2008

Here we see Angelfire shortly before impact.  The drogue chute is at the top of the photo and is supporting the fin-can right below it.  At the end of the long recovery harness is the main body tube section.  It is oriented vertically and pointing straight down.  Just below the body tube is the main parachute in an orange colored bundle.  Off to the side of the parachute is the nosecone. 

This was a very successful flight.  Wildfire was safely recovered and hopefully will fly many more times!

Onboard video captured by the HD camcorder. GPS data for altitude and speed are also overlaid onto this video.

View 720p High Def version     (34 MB)

View QuickTime version           (27 MB)

View Windows Media Player version  (9 MB)

Photos by Vern Knowles

Photo by Tsolo T. Tsolo from RocketShots! © 2008

The image above shows the Wildfire flight trajectory when looking north from behind the flight line.  It was created by entering the Wildfire GPS flight data into Google Earth.  The red segment shows the duration of the motor burn.  The blue segment is the coast to apogee.  The green segment is the descent on parachute.  The white vertical scale shows intervals of 1000 feet above the ground. Click on the image to get a better view.

You can view this trajectory in a simulated 3D mode by downloading the data file at the link below and loading it into Google Earth.  You can then use all the normal pan, tilt and zoom controls in Google Earth to see it from any angle.  If you already have Google Earth installed, then you may be able to simply click on the data file link and it will activate the Google Earth program and "fly you" to the launch site and display the trajectory. If that doesn't work then try right clicking on the link below, save the file to a convenient place and open the file from inside the Google Earth program.   Google Earth is a FREE program available here.

 Link to Wildfire Google Earth data file

Coldfire was launched on an Aerotech K550 on Monday morning.  As you can see in the photos it was a perfect day!  We had clam winds, clear skies and warm temperatures.  Too bad it was the last day of the launch!

Coldfire was specifically designed to fly on HyperTEK hybrid motors.  However, I elected not to do so at XPRS. I didn't want to bother with all the Nitrous and ground support equipment needed for such a flight.  It was much easier to just fly it on a solid motor.  In fact, it was fun to fly something without all of the complexity of my bigger projects.  It reminded me of the fun times when I first got started in rocketry.

Link to Coldfire construction details.

Nothing fancy.  Just a very pretty flight!

My Nike Dart is 4.5 feet long, 2.6 inches in diameter and was 8.4 pounds including the motor.  It was launched  Sunday afternoon on an Aerotech 54mm K185 long burn motor.  The boost was straight up but there was a slight breeze and it landed 1.5 miles down wind. 

This was the 25^th flight of the Nike Dart.  It was another successful flight.

Link to Nike Dart construction drawings and photos

Want more?

Photos from XPRS 2007 can be found here.

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