Photo Gallery :
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The Tripoli Bend launch site, It's not normally supposed to rain here. |
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Another shoot, this is where the July launch will probably occur |
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Andrew and Brian with improvised payload in parking lot of Denny's |
After pulling an all night marathon work party we nearly had the LV-0 rocket ready to launch. We had some minor difficulties getting the transmitter up and running. Due to the time constraint it was decided to hold the payload (large mass of wires and duct tape )in place with expanding foam until we could go back and build the appropriate rail system.
Matt and Brian left for Bend with the main body of the rocket about an hour before Andrew and Bjorn followed with the nose cone and payload By the time Matt and Brian got to Bend (4hrs later) the rain was coming down in a very disagreeable fashion and directors of the launch were getting ready to close down the range and call it a day.
In a somewhat mild panic we realized our payload would not probably get there in time. Since it is a very dangerous thing to fly a rocket without a nose cone we figured that was that. This was a let down since we needed the flight to get a level 2 certification that would allow us to go on with Phase 1 of the project. As a last ditch attempt we asked around if anyone had a similar 3.9 inch nose cone we could borrow. We didn't even have to walk 20 feet and there was a couple of guys from Washington with a beautiful 3.9 inch red Ogive nose cone.
By this time we were fairly saturated and trying to work out of the trunk of Matt's Volkswagen Jetta. O.K yeah, maybe not the most professional but workable. It was then that we realized we didn't know where are new center of gravity was and we would need to fully assemble the reload motor and insert it to find out if we were going to be stable. To top it off I had forgot to epoxy on the launch lug. We were tempting fate.
We had about 30 minutes before they were going to close the range. We heard there was going to be another launch in Monroe, WA. in a couple of weeks so we decided to scrub the launch that day and wait until Monroe. This would give us time to mount the payload correctly and finish up some minor things on the body. We could still get the level 2 certification and be on track for the proposed July launch of Phase 1.
It was a good exercise in patience and we did get to check out the launch site. It looks great! No big bodies of water or big trees to be seen only one lonely set of power lines stretching off in the distance. Which by the way did have some ones rocket tangled on them. It should do quite well for a 15K attempt.
4 hours and a box of Ding Dongs later we arrived back in Portland were we unloaded our equipment, discussed plans to mount the payload then all went home to sleep.
Check back for details on the 2nd launch attempt at Monroe.