10litre - MAXTOR II 382ft

We launched MAXTOR II again but we didn't reach our personal best! The MAXTOR II has a different style of fins to MAXTOR I and the new style of fins aren't as effective as the old fins because if you watch the launch in slow motion you can see the fins flap. If the fins flap it creates more drag so it won't reach as high altitudes! So the next thing is to make the old fins again and see if it goes any higher.

In the video you can hear our Dads laughing and shouting because they have never seen our rockets go above 300ft!!!

Here is the video of the launch:

click here if this video doesn't work.

Details

capacity:     10L

water:         1.6L

pressure:   110psi

weight:       654g

nozzle:        10mm        (350mm launch tube)

Altimeter Graph

10litre - MAXTOR II launch

We launched the new MAXTOR II today and all the launches went very well except for one little problem, the altimeter had ran out of batteries, but we didn't realise until we were in the field and the rocket was already pressurised so we didn't bother to abort the first launch! The first launch was a little unstable because one of the fins detached from the rocket at launch. We sorted that problem before the second launch but we didn't have enough time to straighten the fin so that is why the onboard is a little blurry (it spins a lot!!!). We estimated the altitude of the second launch by looking at the onboard footage and how long the flight time was, we estimated about 450ft (This is only a rough estimation). We will get a new battery for the altimeter and try to launch it again as soon as possible!!!

Here is a video of the launches:

Details

capacity:    10L

water:     (specified in the video)

pressure:    110psi (For all launches)

weight:       645g

nozzle:        10mm   (350mm launch tube)

NEW 10litre - MAXTOR II

Here is our new 10litre water rocket, MAXTOR II  :

This new MAXTOR rocket is huge but only weighs 645grams and it has been pressure tested to 130psi and could possibly hold more. We will probably launch it at 110/115psi (to be safe) with 2 litres of water. The Clifford Heath simulator estimates that it will reach 460ft at 115psi !!!

The only bad thing is that there has been alot of wind today and the weather forcast says that it will be windy for the next week or more!!!

8 litre 408ft (129.36m)

We have set a new personal best altitude of 408ft!!!

Here is a video of the launch:

if this video doesn't work click here.

Sorry about the video of the launch because the camera ran out of batteries when the rocket was descending!!!

Details

capacity:      8L

water:          1.6L

pressure:     115psi

weight:         540g

nozzle:          10mm

Altimeter Graph

8litre 392ft (119m)

We launched the new 8litre (MAXTOR) rocket again yesterday and we have set a new personal best (to date). The last launch of MAXTOR was only at 100psi but yesterday we launched it at 110psi with a little more water. We did two launches yesterday and both launches were good but the 2nd launch landed in a tree because it drifted with the wind and it blew into a tree. we have got the rocket back but we spent about an hour searching for it!!!

The parachute system that we had on this rocket has been replaced by an even lighter one, it now weight 10 grams less than the one we used yesterday. The onboard camera was on the 2nd flight but it failed to save the video because it ran out of batteries because it was in the tree for too long which is a shame because that was our best record to date!

click here to see the launches!

Details

capacity: 8L

water: #1= 1.5L #2= 2L
pressure: 110psi

weight: 545g

nozzle: 10mm

Altimeter graphs

launch 1 (386ft)

launch 2 (392ft)

8litre 325ft (99.06m)

Today we launched the 8 litre rocket with the same fins as the 6litre but these new fins were bigger. The launch was a lot straighter than the 6L launches but due to strong winds it pitched over as it got higher so it still wasn't a straight as we would like it to go. The parachute was set at the right timing but there was a delay before it properly deployed because the rocket wasn't traveling fast enough to get enough air to fill the parachute. The top speed was 102mph (45.5m/s) so it was a little slower than the 6litre (6litre was 129mph) but thats because the 8L weights about 90 grams more. 

We named this new rocket "MAXTOR" because it is the lightest rocket that we could make for its capacity, we tried every possible way to save weight for example the fins are made out of one layer of cereal cardboard and the parachute deployment system is made from polystyrene.  So it will probably be our highest record holder for quite a while. The name MAXTOR won't just stay with this same capacity because we might make a MAXTOR II which could be a 6litre or a 10litre! 

Here is the video of the launch:

If this video doesn't work click here!

Details

capacity:         8L

water:             1.4L

pressure:        100psi

weight:            545g

nozzle:             10mm

click here to see the altimeter graph.

6litre 306ft (93.27m)

Today we launched the 6 litre rocket again but at 100psi. The launch was a little straighter because we didn't add as much water, so the rocket wasn't so tail heavy (too much weight at the bottom). The weather was the same as the 276ft crash, there was absolutley no wind and it was freezing cold. This launch is our highest record to date but we hope to beat it again in the next few days. We are going to use a launch tube on the next launch and this should increase the takeoff speed and increasing the altitude. The top speed on this launch was 57m/s (129mph). We calculated that the G forces at take off were 11G's. To find out how we calculated this click here.

Here is the video of the launch:

If this video doesn't work click here!

Details

Capacity:  6L

water:       1.25L

pressure:  100psi

weight:      435g

nozzle:       10mm

click here to see the altimeter graph.

6litre 276ft

Today we launched the new rocket but this was a 6 litre instead of a 4L. The rocket was only pressurised to 90psi and it reached 276ft. The rocket would have gone a bit higher if it didn't fly at such an angle and if it didn't crash then I would have launched it again! The parachute did deploy from the rocket but it didn't fully open because it got tangled in the fins. At first I though the rocket was going to be alright but it kept on accelerating towards the ground until it crashed. We plan to launch this rocket again in the next few days, we are going to launch it at 100psi or more! our target for this rocket is at least 300ft but the simulator calculates 326ft.

Here is the video of the launch:

If this video doesn't work click here.

Details:

capacity:   6L

water:      1.5L

pressure:   90psi

weight:     430g

nozzle:      10mm

click here to see the altimeter graph.

New Idea

Yesterday, we had another attempt at launching the rocket with boosters but we didn't have much luck. The rocket had the same problem as when we first launched it, one booster didn't release, but we thought we had fixed that a long time ago. So until we fix that, we are going to take a more simpler approach to beat our old record, set with a 4litre. We have made a new 4L that weighs 345g (with 60g payload, camera and altimeter) whereas the old 4L that set our old record weighed 350g (with just the altimeter). if this new rocket beats our old record then we will probably make it bigger to a 6litre. If the 6L beats the record again, which it probably will, then we will move onto an 8litre. According to the "Clifford Heath simulator", the 8L will reach 354ft at 100psi, which is good enough for me...

Here is a picture of the new style rocket...

The coupling is made from an iron bolt that has been drilled through as wide as possible and the nut has been cut in half to reduce as much weight as possible (the coupling weighs 20g). We were going to make aluminium couplings but the aluminium wouldn't make a BIG difference anyway (5g maximum).

The fins are made from cardboard and weigh 30g (10g each) whereas the old fins weighed 81g.

The booster rocket idea is still in our minds but we won't launch it again for a few month.  we won't launch it because its winter and its to much work to carry all the stuff out to the field and then not be satisfied with the launch.

Oh yeah, the FTC rocket doesn't leak so that's good. But it probably won't be launched for a few more months because we need to make a new launcher. It will be using a 22mm nozzle, we used to have a launcher for 22mm nozzles but it got wet a rotted!