2013.06.23 NEWS*A Motor Team telecon was held this weekend to discuss the DSS TM-2 motor test and to come up with a recovery plan. Attendees were Rick Maschek, Paul Avery and Richard Nakka. Details of the TM-2 motor preparation, assembly, test firing and post-burn inspection of the motor were presented and discussed; in particular, any deviations were noted from the test plan. As well, differences between the TM-2 motor and the earlier successful TM-1 motor were noted and assessed. Test data such as chamber pressure gauge readings were carefully reviewed in an attempt to come up with an explanation for the anomaly. A failure of the Chamber Separation Disc (CSD) was discounted as the cause, as there was no evidence to suggest an off-nominal performance of this component. A comparison was made of the pressure readings of TM-2 with the earlier successful TM-1, and with the BPS motor, which also CATO’d. It had been concluded earlier that BPS failed due to catastrophic propellant fracturing during motor startup. The comparison proved enlightening. The chamber pressure rise for TM-2 was much more rapid than TM-1, and was similar to that of BPS. It was agreed that propellant fracturing upon startup was therefore the likely cause of the TM-2 CATO. A conclusion could not be reached as to why the two nearly identical motors (TM-1 and TM-2 ‘first burn’) behave differently at startup. There were no significant differences in the two designs, assemblies or ambient conditions. Based on the negative experiences with “cored” grains (e.g. BATES, Star) which can be subjected to significant tensile stress upon motor startup, it was concluded that scaling up of sugar propellant motors has its challenges. In particular, cored grains are best avoided, and a non-cored grain configuration is the most promising way to go. A grain configuration that is subjected solely to compressive loading on startup will be tested next.Rick suggested that a “success” criterion of three successful firings, in succession, be set. This was agreed upon and work is already underway to repair the TM-2 motor (as a single burn configuration). Test firings will take place in the near future at our alternate test site in the Mojave Desert (since FAR is currently unavailable to SS2S). These motor tests will be designated DSS TM-4A, TM-4B and TM-4C. Upon successful completion of these tests, the ‘six-grain’ DSS TM-3 motor (currently being worked on) will be test fired.*Blair and Richard Nakka have nearly completed the machining of the DSS TM-3 “nozzle adapter”. This component will be used to adapt the BPS nozzle to the 7 inch (178 mm) casing. The part still needs to have the 20 radial holes tapped, and then a chamfering of all cut edges.
You want to launch something into orbit using sugar? Simple - feed it to my daughter. She'll make it to orbit.
Quote from: Lee Jay on 07/04/2013 03:33 amYou want to launch something into orbit using sugar? Simple - feed it to my daughter. She'll make it to orbit.How old is she ?
OK!I'm going to repeat some facts that I've posted on another thread, elsewhere. Sugar (preferably glucose) mixed with saltpeter can senda rocket to space on an up and down flight.Specific impulses of about 150 seconds are doable.I designed such a rocket (with aerodynamic, parallel ribs for strength)that would have had an elegent mass ratio of 4.5.Loge(4.5) = 1.5Problems are?Trying to order large quantities of glucose (from India).And mixing saltpeter and glucose by heating them is dangerous.If you want to do it safely, wear cotton coveralls (no polyester or nylon)and have a face shield on at all times.
Quote from: Moe Grills on 07/05/2013 07:18 pm OK!I'm going to repeat some facts that I've posted on another thread, elsewhere. Sugar (preferably glucose) mixed with saltpeter can senda rocket to space on an up and down flight.Specific impulses of about 150 seconds are doable.I designed such a rocket (with aerodynamic, parallel ribs for strength)that would have had an elegent mass ratio of 4.5.Loge(4.5) = 1.5Problems are?Trying to order large quantities of glucose (from India).And mixing saltpeter and glucose by heating them is dangerous.If you want to do it safely, wear cotton coveralls (no polyester or nylon)and have a face shield on at all times.That sounds *scary*.Can I nominate people to try? I've got this list, see?
2013.07.14 NEWS*Rick Maschek has completed fabrication of the avionics support “discs” that will be used for mounting the avionics components for the DSS DART rocket, which is targeted to have its maiden flight on July 20th (less the avionics package). The flight of the DART with the avionics is targeted for August 24th.*Rick has obtained suitable-sized aluminum plates for casting the new DD-Slot grain. The plates will act as formers for the sides of the two opposing slots.*Craig Peterson has kindly accepted the task of making a Retainer Ring for the Forward Bulkhead (FBH) of the DSS TM-4 motor. The rationale of using a Retainer Ring to hold the FBH (rather than direct FBH attachment to the casing) is to mitigate potential damage to the FBH in case of motor overpressurization.*The 7” (178mm) aluminum alloy tube for the DSS TM-4 rocket motor has been ordered, and is being shipped to Randy Dormans. Randy has kindly accepted the task of drilling the indexed holes for the Nozzle and FBH Ring attachments.*Vicente Alvero Zambrano has offered to conduct the propellant characterization “DoubleSShot Characterization of KNSB propellant with regard to curing rate and associated mechanical properties”. The intent of this research is to better understand the curing and slumping behaviour of KNSB, particularly with regard to variation with temperature. Vicente has already started to make the moulds for casting the specimens. (photo posted).*Keen effort by Vicente has resulted in the donation of a 900 MHz. heliaxial antenna from Circular Wireless:http://tinyurl.com/qdk7zgcThe antenna will be sent to Chris King for use with our avionics telemetry.*SS2S main sponsor Markus Bindhammer has provided another update on the Cosma humanoid robot project. Markus reports “The mechanical construction is so far finished. I might change the stainless steel screws by aluminum screws to save as much weight as possible”. Photo of the Cosma prototype body has been posted in the DualSShot album.
2013.07.28 NEWS*Craig Peterson has completed the task of fabricating a Retainer Ring for the Forward Bulkhead (FBH) of the DSS TM-4 motor. The Ring will be sent to Rick Maschek for integration to the TM-4 motor. Photo posted.*Richard and Blair Nakka have completed the next step in fabricating the Sliver Catcher for the DSS TM-4 rocket motor. The 6.5” (165mm) steel disc has had the required 22 holes made. The next step is to apply the ¼” (6.4mm) ablative layer for thermal protection. Photo posted.*Randy Dormans reports that he has completed the task of drilling the indexed holes in the DSS TM-4 motor casing for closure attachments. Rick has arranged to pick up the casing on August 4th.*A regular Avionics telecon was held this past Sunday. In attendance were Chris King, Rick Maschek, Daniel Hastings and Richard Nakka. Daniel reported that he has completed the Breakout box (for testing the UFC-4) and has sent it to Chris. Daniel was assigned the task of finding a suitable rate sensor for the de-spin control circuit that can detect a roll rate of 2000 deg/sec or better. Chris reported that he has started installing the avionics support discs and that they fit well. Rick reported that the DSS DART did not take to the skies on July 20th as scheduled, due to an unplanned loss of the altimeter unit. That maiden flight has been rescheduled for August 24th. The DART with avionics package aboard is now scheduled to fly on August 30th. The purpose of the DART flight was summarized as follows:Testing of avionics package components:*UFC-4 Flight Computer and antennas*Telemetrum “backup” altimeter*Radio beacons for recovery*Amateur TV transmissionThe package will be flown in a strictly passive mode with simulated pyros (8 in total). The next Avionics telecon will be held August 11th.*Ben Brockert has performed a Solidworks analysis to estimate nosecone heating at hypersonic velocity. The latest results are provided here:http://sugarshotsolidworks.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/solidworks-simulation-of-near-hypersonic-nose-cone/Addendum with stagnation temperature calculation:http://sugarshotsolidworks.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/addendum-to-nose-cone-heating-stagnation-temperature/*The test report prepared by Vicente Alvero Zambrano detailing the experimentation performed on various ablators has been uploaded to the SS2S Documentation page. http://sugarshot.org/documentation_old.html*Vicente Alvero Zambrano has made progress with preparations for conducting the ablative heating experiment for the nosecone tip. Photos posted.
2013.08.11 NEWS*Craig Peterson has kindly agreed to machine the three throat inserts for the DSS TM-4 motor. The three inserts are all identical except for the throat diameter. These steel inserts allow for simple change of throat diameter to allow the TM-4 motor to operate at different chamber pressures, starting with the lowest pressure for the first test firing. This approach was considered to be a wise precaution, since the DD-slot grain has not been tested before.*A regular Avionics telecon was held this past Sunday. In attendance were Chris King, Hans Olaf Toft, Mattias Lampe and Richard Nakka. Chris reported that he has largely assembled the avionics into the new DART support structure. The sole component left to be mounted is the video camera. Hans reported that he has nearly completed assembly of one copy of the DSS avionics board (switches, connectors, external boards, sensors, etc). Testing so far indicates that nearly all is working well. The sensors, with the exception of the pressure transducer, seem to be working.The gyros currently appear to be a tad ‘noisy’. All switches are functioning. The feature which allows switching from Pad power to Internal power is working. Mattias reported that he has produced additional copies of the circular antennas that are being used for the DSS package. Richard reported that he attempted to start up the electric motor for the de-spin system, but was unsuccessful in getting the motor to operate. The motor being tested is an Turnigy Brushless Outrunner motor, connected to a speed controller and servo tester unit. One of the components may be faulty, according to manufacturer’s Technical Support.Richard also reported that the maiden flight of the DART has been postponed one week to Aug.31 and as a result, the DART flight with the DSS avionics has been pushed off by a week, to Sept.7th. This delay was considered prudent to accommodate extra work being done to prep the DSS TM-4A motor static firing, also expected to occur at the end of August. Photos posted.
This is a very cool concept/project. I hope they can make it work...
Tony, you missed the first of our two successful 12" sugar motor static testsRick
Why are there two threads for this??https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32295.0https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36487.0
Quote from: russianhalo117 on 01/13/2018 02:08 pmWhy are there two threads for this??https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32295.0https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36487.0Rick (from SS) started this second thread (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=36487.0) under a different handle. I think that this should be folded into the initial thread that ClaytonBirchenough started in 2013 to maintain complete history. But I'm open to the other way since Rick is from SS. I also noticed that Rick has posted duplicates into the following threads as well (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42548.msg1771855#msg1771855) and (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=33794.msg1771864#msg1771864).
Instant on sugar PVC rocket motormojaverocketsPublished on Jan 31, 20183" ( 75 mm ) sugar propellant PVC motor case rocket. Chris has been working on 3 and 4" ( 75 & 100 mm ) sugar motors as a possible strap-on booster for the Sugar Shot to Space project with the goal of reaching space on a rocket powered by sugar propellant. Since the rocket is unguided, the strap-on boosters in development will have to have instant ignition and uniform thrust & burn times.
CATO in this context? (JATO is Jet Assisted Take Off but I am at a loss)
Fourth test of this 8" (200mm) fiberglass motor case for the Sugar Shot to Space project.For safety in the event of a CATO, motor was buried in the ground for testing at the FAR site. A chain around the steel nozzle and staked to the ground was used to limit motor travel in the event of a failure. My thanks to the many past, present, and future volunteers that have helped with the Sugar Shot to Space project.
Propellant and grain geometry test on a single 'J-impulse' KNSB grain on the new Sugar Shot to Space test stand at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry facility. The aluminum case motor used a steel nozzle as part of the testing project for a Tripoli study.
Students from Mt San Antonio Community College came to the FAR facility on Feb 6, 2021, to test-launch their 5" N-impulse KNSB 'sugar' rocket for the FAR-1030 competition in the 30,000' challenge to be held this June at FAR.The motor worked great but the launch terminated early when the rocket became unstable after losing a fin with about one second remaining on the motor burn. They will be rebuilding and back to test for the competition.The students previously fired this motor successfully last month.Liftoff in the video at 1:20
Small scale test of our single finocyl grain for our upcoming 8" (200mm) flight motor. The motor was slightly progressive, peak thrust was 300 pounds. Winds forced several flights at the facility to scrub for the day including our 8" flight to 98,000'. The small short burn 4" test was done instead.The test starts at 2:05 in the video
Launch of the 55mm DART using a 125mm KNSB propellant booster to flight test the dart avionics and recovery systems. Loss of the booster fins early on in the flight resulted in the loss of the booster main chute but everything else was recovered. Dart recovery drogue and main deployed as planned and without damage.
Anybody know which rocket they used?https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/pastmissions.html12.088 NR Gilbert/NASA Langley Research CenterMarch 30, 2021Aerodynamic Buffet Flight Test (ABFT)12.088 NR was launched from White Sands Missile Range, NM on March 30, 2021. Dynamic loads resulting from transonic aerodynamic buffet are often the largest contributor to launch vehicle structural load margins, and proper understanding of that phenomenon is an important aspect of launch vehicle design. Over predicting those loads will lead to an inefficient, heavier than necessary structural design, while under predicting them could lead to structural failure. This mission is designed to gather flight data on a vehicle shape that has only been tested in wind tunnels previously.
READY, SET, LAUNCH 🚀Langley and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility collaborated on the Aerodynamic Buffet Flight Test (ABFT) concept rocket that successfully launched from U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range yesterday!The ABFT shape was chosen due to its highly unsteady aerodynamics and it went through extensive wind tunnel testing in the 1960s and 2015. The data collected from this launch will help scientists understand how to better predict and model the forces on rockets.This data will eventually help with future NASA's Space Launch System and #Artemis missions to make space flight safer. Learn more here: https://go.nasa.gov/31ARQVe
P.S. Why is this in the SS2S thread?
Ignition at 4:20 in the videoTest flight of the 8" (200mm) Sugar Shot to Space rocket and resulting CATO.Reached an altitude of 1,497'