JLRockets Takes on the N5800 in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada!
In August 2012, Jackson and Judy launched Jackson's minimum diameter rocket on a CTI N5800 C-Star.
For our non-rocket readers, the N5800 is an exceptionally powerful motor. It can lift the weight of a car. Jackson's rocket weighed just over 8 pounds without the motor - less than a bag of groceries that might be sitting in the trunk of the car that the motor can lift. If successful, the N5800, with 20,146 Newton-seconds of total impulse, would have sent our 8 pound rocket to 70,000 feet - about 30,000 feet higher than the current record for this class of motor. But, for a rocket that light to withstand such high thrust, all of it delivered in just 3.5 seconds, it had to be built strong. The rocket would reach speeds at the extremes of hobby rocketry. This would push the standard building materials to their limits - and maybe beyond.
At the time of our attempt, no one had yet succeeded at this task. Many had tried. All had failed. It was just the type of challenge Jackson loves.
The first 3.4 seconds of the flight were a sight to behold. Worth every minute of the 60 hours driving it took to get to the Black Rock and back. Notice how the flame beneath the rocket is larger than the rocket itself. Truly awe inspiring.
Just at or after motor burnout, when the rocket reached maximum velocity, there was a slight wiggle. We all knew something was up. This was the point where all others before us had failed. The rocket continued up for a few more seconds. Then, it arced over and began coming down – in pieces.
We believe that the nose cone began to disintegrate from the excessive heat generated by high mach flight. The nose cone failure threw the rocket into an adverse angle of attack which pulled the fins off. We believe that the rocket was travelling at speeds close to mach 4 at the time of failure.
(We did recover the titanium tip intact, although it is not included in this picture.)
So, we tried and failed, like all the others before us. Was it worth it? Yes! This quote, first introduced to us by Sather Ranum, sums it all up.
THE MAN IN THE ARENA by Teddy Roosevelt
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
The trip to the Black Rock was a project in and of itself - 60 total hours of driving. Only a month after receiving his driver's license, Jackson shared equally in the driving. We spent about two weeks on the trip and made stops at Lake Tahoe (a bit out of the way, but worth it), Mt Rushmore, the Badlands.
And, we made a stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats, home to the Bonneville Speedway and numerous land speed records, now including the speed record for a minivan driven by a 16 year old:
Photo by Neil McGilvray/Rockets Magazine:
Photo by Ray LaPanse:
The trophy!
Here's us, living the TV star life. Photo by Sather Ranum: 
Photo by Neil McGilvray/Rockets Magazine:
AP Soda was relaunched at Midwest Power on a sparky N motor!
Here's a video of AP Soda leaving the workshop out the window because it was too big to fit through the door.
We took this footage for the Science Channel production. The producers were very excited when we told them, at our first interview, that the rocket was going out the window. They made a huge deal over it. In the end they didn't even use the footage! Oh well, I gues that once they got to know us, they found that there was more to us than our window.
Click here for more info on Large Dangerous Rocket Ships on the Science Channel
Click here for the AP Soda build thread on the Rocketry Forum
More Breaking News:
CATO on the way to 10K
We regret to inform our viewing public that the Ultimate DarkStar has been decommissioned by the CATO of an N5800 during the Science Channel Fastest Rocket in the World Competition. Unofficially, we won the "fastest rocket to a pile of embers" competition, with a time to failure of 1.5 seconds after motor ignition. For those of you who are new to the game, a CATO is a Catastrophic Motor Failure. It is a motor problem and not a rocket issue. In our case, the motor manufacturer diagnosed the problem as a cracked motor liner and accepted responsibility. (liners insulate the motor case from the heat of the combustion) Due to the failed liner, the motor case actually melted enough to free the forward retaining ring. Flames burst from both ends of the motor tube. It was a spectacular sight. And, lucky for us (sarcasm) the TV cameramen captured the WHO-O-O-LE thing. Can't wait to see that on TV (more sarcasm).
The N5800 is an incredibly powerful motor - the best it gets. Look at the size of that flame both before the CATO, and after. We are taking the CATO as a challenge. We will tame that N5800 yet! Photos by Sather Ranum.
Photo by Neil McGilvray/Rockets Magazine:
Photos by Sather Ranum:
The DarkStar will be re-incarnated. Stay tuned!
OTHER NEWS:
Jackson Publishes in Sport Rocketry!
Sport Rocketry is a national magazine, and the most widely distributed in the hobby. Click here, or on the thumbnail below to read Jackson's article about his Junior Level 1 Certification experience.
News From Recent Launches:
Happy Birthday Jackson, and Last Successful Flight of the Dark Star
We celebrated Jackson's birthday this year with another rocket launch. We launched the Ultimate DarkStar on an M3700. As part of the birthday celebration, Jackson managed the whole flight from start to finish. He did a great job. The flight was beautiful. The white thunder propellant has quite a kick to it. It took my breath away at lift off.
Below is the video from the on-board camera. Its HD, so you can watch it full screen. Perhaps I’m paranoid, but it really does look like the rocket is deliberately choosing the very best tree to land in as it falls that last 1000 feet. The rocket did land in a tree, but it was a small tree. The booster was hanging about four feet off the ground, and the nose cone and main parachute were on the ground. It was the easiest tree recovery on record – except that we had the good fortune of being joined by a park ranger who just happened to be in the vicinity when the rocket landed. We have included some of the footage of his helpful comments.
