First Experimental Sounding Rocket Workshop, 2006
The "Tropos 1" rocket was developed for the first workshop,
held at Utah State University on August 9-12, 2006. The Tropos 1
rocket is approximately 10 inches in diameter, 13 feet long, and has a
custom (not commercial) hybrid motor. It generates approximately 600
pounds of thrust at liftoff and burns for approximately 10 seconds to
reach an altitude of 10,000 feet above ground level. It is capable
of launching a 20-pound payload to this altitude. It is designed to
be built with parts, materials, and propellants costing less than
$1500. It is also designed to be fully recoverable, to be launched
repeatedly with only the cost of propellants for additional launches.
Students from Seattle Central Community College and Utah State University attended the first Workshop:
- They learned how to cast a hybrid motor with synthetic rubber.
- They performed a static firing of the Tropos 1 rocket motor at the Logan-Cache Airport:
- They packed the parachute and completed the rocket for launch:
- They launched the Tropos 1 at a remote site west of Salt Lake City.
Here is a YouTube video of the launch:
An MPEG video can be downloaded here: Launch Video - (.mpg) 8.66MB..
Unfortunately,
the parachute was not able to deploy at the peak altitude (apogee). It
deployed later, after the rocket had picked up significant speed on the
way back down. The chute was torn from the rocket and the rocket
impacted the ground at high velocity. Flight data was not recovered.