Category: Thursday

Saturday, Rockets 2021-WSMR Launch Day Report Mission Complete

Three schools tested rockets at White Sands Missile Range today. Brazoswood, Alamo Heights and Union Grove comprised that list. All three rockets left the rail. Some flights were not optimal but they were off the rail.

The big winner of the day, was first up, Brazoswood High School. They had a slow lift off but a good burn, eventually picking up speed and altitude for a beautiful flight, sailing off the rail. They flew to a considerable height and distance before landing somewhere down range. Unfortunately, WSMR, was not able to lock on radar due to technical issues and lost it before impact.  They are actively looking for it but had not located it by the time  we called mission complete for the day. 

Visual estimates by some WSMR personnel on the ground, put it over 30,000 feet. Our WSMR photographer, Mike says he thinks it is the best flight since Fredericksburg High School’s record of 36,000′. He has seen every launch the program has made over the past 22 years. Bare in mind this is only speculation at this point.

Unfortunately we will have to wait on actual information until they find the rocket. Either way it was an awesome flight! Congratulations Brazoswood and Chris McLeod, their teacher. Great first time up, as their new instructor. The opening picture for this blog today is the Brazoswood rocket at Stage 2 on Friday.

Alamo Heights was the second launch. They had problems with leaks in their Nitrous fill lines. Several attempts were made by SystemsGo personnel to correct this but it continued to fail.  One of the students from the team came in and continued work and was able to correct the issue.

At 12:31 the vehicle went for launch. It did ignite, but then barely left the rail.  It lost the nosecone right after lift off, but then laid over and flew horizontally, nose diving into the ground about  100 yards down the road from the pad where the altimeter bay housing dug into the ground. The impact sent the body tube away where it landed across the road another 30′ plus feet away.

This vehicle was the only and the easiest recovery of the day. Fortunately there was only minimal damage to the new launch rail. Alamo Heights was the first test for this new rail.

Union Grove was the third and final launch of the day. They made the call to continue launch even though SystemsGo could not confirm that the altimeter was armed and active. This meant no deployment of their recovery system. At this point this was an allowable concession in order to fly.

At 2:15 they filled and went for launch. They lifted off nicely but nosed over and continued down range flying horizontally instead of up. The rocket eventually dove into the ground quite a distance away. A chute with only the nosecone attached  was seen deploying as it hit. It tunneled across the ground for a while before it too was lost. Even though several on the ground were able to follow it to impact, WSMR has still not located and recovered it. The search will be ongoing.

Deputy Test Center Commander, Jerry Tyree, from White Sands Missile Range, visited the launch site today. He  brought family along to show them what we do here. It was a treat for SystemsGo staff, students and teachers whom he visited with at both locations.

Mission was called complete by WSMR at 5:16 p.m. today! This officially ended the Rockets 2021 season.

Thanks to White Sands Missile Range for once again allowing this program to be tested on the range. 

Tomorrow the SystemsGo team will be traveling home again. Some of the younger pad crew are staying around to see some of the sites in the area, including the White Sands Monument. 

Training for this year’s new rocket teachers in the program will take place the last three weeks in July.  

We will see you again next year for the Texas Rocket Trail 2022. In the upcoming year watch for interesting high lights from the program.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

#Rockets2021 #TexasRocketTrail #EyesonTheSkies

Rockets 2021, Friday, New Sites for Stage 2 and Launch site

The SystemsGo team and schools headed out at 6:30 am. Friday morning, with their first stop as Alamogordo High School. They set up under a pavilion next to the athletic department, where they completed Stage 2 checks for each rocket. This was a new experience for the group since this activity usually takes place under tents on the range. 

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Career Technical Education Coordinator, Manny Klaasen, was there point of contact and support at the school. Ironically, she is a native Texan from the Dallas area. She moved to New Mexico 20 years ago to teach at the college on base at WSMR, and then later took a teaching job in town at AHS. AHS is a participant in the SystemsGo program, but still in the early stages, and in need of a new teacher for the program. There current one left during Covid. She is super excited to see this level of the program and host the Stage 2 event. 

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At 10:30 am. the set up crew headed out to ABC-1 to begin preparations for tomorrow’s launches. Only SystemsGo pad crews went at this time to set up the pad, rails, fill and fire system, and all other pertinent equipment for launches. They were met and assisted by several WSMR range personnel.

A quick correction to my previous posts is that Booker T Washington High School, actually aborted last week, so that only leaves three high schools here at WSMR. Those include, Alamo Heights, Union Grove, and Brazoswood. All three completed Stage 2 checks and loaded up to go down range by 2:15 pm. They were lead in by the rest of the SystemsGo Team from Stage 2, and met at the Tula Gate by WSMR personnel. At the site they underwent Stage 3 checks and were loaded with charges for launch. 

Brazosport and Alamo Heights were the first to complete all checks. Because of this the new launch order for Saturday is as follows:

  • Brazosport
  • Alamo Heights
  • Union Grove

The first two were loaded on the rails this evening before the group left for the day. SystemsGo now has two launch rails and both will be in operation tomorrow. A rocket was loaded onto each and then they will be tested in sequence with only time out for safety; including the return of the launch team as they will be required to evacuate during each launch; and swapping gas and electrical connections between the rails.

WSMR pushed launches to Saturday only. With only three rockets this should not be a problem. Although the Covid restrictions do pose some extra time issues.

Launches are to commence at 8:00 am. Saturday morning. All SystemsGo personnel and schools will be headed out to the range at 5:00 am.

Brazoswood High School is first to launch and Alamo Heights is next on the second rail. After both launches, WSMR personnel will attempt to locate and retrieve the rockets for the students while the third rocket is loaded onto the rail. After the third launch we will be mission complete and pack all equipment. The first two schools may leave after their rocket has been returned to them, or WSMR has determined that it cannot be returned at this time.

Realistically, this is a very tight launch sequence with little to no room for errors. As we know, errors can and do occasionally happen and can cause severe delays in the launch schedule and hinder time availability.

If we do not get all three launches done tomorrow, then they will have to abort because we no longer have Sunday time slots as allowed by WSMR.

We also had two visitors from Space Port America here today to observe so they could get a more realistic idea of what the SystemsGo program does, it’s capabilities and also it’s necessities for launches. In attendance were, Chas Miller, Space Port Engineer, and Susan Raitt, Business Development. They observed at both Stage 2 in town and ABC-1 on the range.

Andy Berger, from ESRA, Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, was also in attendance. He is from the Houston area. He helps plan and host rocket competitions designed to further promote rocketry and aerospace challenges.

The team and schools finally left the range and arrived back in Alamogordo for dinner, food shopping for tomorrow, and much needed showers and rest at around 8:00 pm.

Best of luck to all schools so that they may have a successful launches tomorrow.

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing that day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

ROCKETS 2020 is Under Way!

SystemsGo Rockets 2020 is already in full swing. The group met, this past Friday, to line out details for the upcoming spring launches.  In attendance were SystemsGo team members, Rebekah Hyatt, Program Director; Scott Netherland, Executive Director; Gene Garrett, Board President; Doug Kimbrell, Board Vice President; Tara Kitchens, Executive Assistant;  Phil Houseal, Communications Director; with Kirk Moore, Regional Director for Southeast Texas;  and Doug Underwood, Regional Director for North Texas joining on video. Also in attendance were volunteers, George Burns, Jr., Steve Burow and Ginger Burow.

Necessities and logistics for all  Texas launch locations were discussed. Venues for lodging, and all needed equipment for each launch site were decided and individuals lined out to secure them . Travel plans were also lined out.

Dates for all events except White Sands Missile Range are as follows:

  • New Mexico (Jal) — April 21-22nd
  • North Texas (North of Mineral Well/Jack County) — April 24-25,  weather contingency day on the 26th
  • Central Texas (Stonewall) — April 30-May 1 & 2,  weather contingency day on May 3rd
  • Southeast Texas (Anahuac/Smith Point) — May 8, 9 &10,  weather contingency day May 11th

A note of importance for all schools this year is this change to launch equipment. The Closed Transonic Cage launch towers used in years past have been permanently retired. All rockets will be launched off the rail launch  towers. ALL rockets at ALL launch sites will need to be equipped with rail guides in order launch off these towers. Be sure all vehicles are properly equipped.  All schools have been notified of this change. Questions and concerns may be directed to info@systemsgo.org.

Current schedules for launches show a total of 189 vehicles expected for launch at the spring launch sites.

Excitement is building and plans are under way. Stay tuned for more updates as events get closer. More changes may be announced as plans and arrangements are completely finalized. Rockets will #RideTheSkies in about three months and this short piece is to put it back in mind so that all will be ready.

Event details will continue to be available here.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved; the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches! #RideTheSkies #texasrockettrail #Rockets2020

 

Sunday,Rockets 2019-Final Day at WSMR

Rockets 2019 at WSMR ended today much better than it began with two out of three rockets leaving the rail and achieving altitude. Fredericksburg High School, Anahuac High School, and Brazoswood High School all tested today. Brazoswood and Anahuac were each on their third attempt for the weekend.

Brazoswood was the top launch for the day and the final one ending the day on a high note. The 25’6″, 10″ diameter vehicle weighing in at 781 lbs fully fueled finally achieved lift off at 1:26 this afternoon after two prior unsuccessful attempts.

The rocket, named John Redden 1, after a senior member of the team that passed away of an aneurysm shortly before graduation, looked like fireworks at ignition as it blew Estes motors across the pad. Then it sailed skyward making a peak altitude of 12,859′ before nosing onto its side and sailing 5.1 miles down range to impact. The chute popped at impact.

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The first rocket to leave the rail today was “Panther 6”. Also on it’s third run for the weekend, the rocket built by Anahuac High School students, weighed in at 350 lbs, standing 23′ tall with an 8.6″ diameter. This vehicle had a “Rasberry Pi” GPS payload that a team of brothers designed and assembled. The older brother, 2018 graduate, Caleb Moore designed and 3D printed the plate to hold the payload, and the the younger, Joshua Moore, a 5th grader, assembled the GPS and did the soldering to connect it.

Panther 6 had a valve issue on the pad again today, but finally achieved lift off at 10:59 this morning. It made 1391′ traveling .3 miles down range before impact.

Both Anahuac and Brazoswood were very excited with their accomplishments. Brazoswood had hoped to break some of the standing records for height by other SystemsGo schools.  If that had happened, then student, Michael Bomar, who has a very full head of hair, and beard, had planned to allow his team mates to shave all hair from his head. Looks like he will be staying wild and woolly a while longer.

Fredericksburg’s Redbird #20 was the first test of the day, but did not leave the rail in flight. Shortly after ignition, as the vehicle began to ascend the rail, it exploded apart between the engine compartment and the main body of the rocket. The aft end stayed sitting on the load cell. The explosion blew the body to the right leaving it hanging from the rail by the top lug.  It was cocked off to the side at an angle just slightly above the end of the engine section.

This presented a challenge to the SystemsGo team and students to remove it from the rail. The students are still evaluating what casused the rocket’s accident.  When Mr. Matthes was asked what happened, he answered that it was no short answer but many factors that contributed and some were still being discussed.

Seven schools traveled to WSMR this year. One school returned home unable to launch leaving 6 to test. Literally half achieved flight and half did not.  Regardless, congratulations is in order for all students that came and attempted to launch. You made it to the rail, something that most schools in the program have yet to achieve. Whether your vehicle left the rail or not you and your teams are ahead of your peers. You came here high school grads with a rocket, you leave here, seasoned rocket scientists!

The mission was then called complete at 1:40. Cleaning and packing up of WC50 began,  as this was the official last day of testing for SystemsGo, students, and WSMR personnel.

Safe travels to all schools heading home, tomorrow. It is back to Texas for the SystemsGo team tomorrow as well. Tonight, the team enjoyed dinner, drinks, conversation and an early bed time.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited. minute

Saturday, Rockets 2019-WSMR Launch Day 2 Report and New Sunday Schedules

Four schools attempted launches at White Sands Missile Range today, but Union Grove High School was the only school to achieve lift off. They had a T-time of 10:00 a.m. Their vehicle named, “Lion 6″, weighed in at 474 lbs fueled, standing 20′ 10″ tall with a diameter of 8.625”.

Two payloads were on board, the first of which was a Arduino to record external temperature and pressure of the rocket. The second was a Texas Instruments board designed to measure temperature, axis of rotation, and pressure.  The recovery is a dual Raven 3 altimeter system. The main emphasis of recovery for the team was the nose cone an upper skirt.

Lion 6 was the first launch of the day. At T-0 the vehicle ignited but remained on the rail where it burned for 27 seconds. The team and those watching groaned as it seemed it would burn out on the rail. At 10:00:27 a.m. it left the rail in a blur that almost everyone missed seeing, because it happened so quickly. Radar and ops were  unable to get a lock on it. Due to this, there is no information on altitude, velocity, or distance, and absolutely no tracking. WSMR recovery teams will be looking for it, hoping that when it is recovered some data may be available from it.

This was Union Grove’s sixth time to test a vehicle at WSMR, but only the second  time to leave the rail. The last was three years ago in 2016. They are all very excited about this achievement.  They only wish they knew the vehicles altitude.

WSMR  Chief of Flight Safety Branch, Billy Johnson, tried to calculate a BEST GUESS for them, allotting for the fuel lost during the 27 second burn on the rail, and assuming that everything else about the flight was perfect. Now before I report this let me emphasize that this is only a guess with no real time data to support it right now. But when they find the rocket if they can acquire the information they need from its recording devices and he is correct, there is a possibility, and right now that is all this is, a possibility that the vehicle could have achieved 55,000 feet.

We may or may not every know if this is the case, but the vehicle’s projected altitude from RockSim was 60,161 so it would be in line with that.  That would make it a new record, but only if it can be confirmed with real facts in the future. It did make for some super happy students today!

The rest of the day’s tests included Anahuac High School, Marble Falls High School and Brazoswood High School

Anahuac was the second test at 11:33 a.m., but was quickly taken down without fueling due to a broken valve. They will make a second attempt tomorrow morning. Along with them will be Brazoswood which was on the rail and attempted launch twice, at 3:52 p.m. and 4:07 p.m. It had a miss-fire both times due to an electrical issue. They will try to correct the problem and test again tomorrow as well. Brazoswood was the final test for the day.

Marble Falls was the third test today. The vehicle made it’s first attempt at 1:12 p.m. at which time it had no ignition visible. This was a small voltage problem that was quickly corrected. The second test attempt was made at 1:41 p.m.. It resulted in a miss-fire, that ignited and burned out on the rail, quickly. After a standard safety wait time of 30 minutes, the rocket was vented and it was determined that the oxidizer failed to open. Unfortunately it will not be able to make a second attempt.

Tomorrow, Sunday,  launches will begin again at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. The schedule will be as follows:

    1. 08:00 a.m. Fredericksburg High School
    2. 10:00 a.m. Anahuac High School
    3. 12:00 p.m. Brazoswood High School

Booker T Washington was scheduled for tomorrow as well, but they were unable to have their vehicles ready, aborted and, since decided to go home.

Tomorrow will be another extremely early morning for the SystemsGo team and program participants form Fredericksburg High School, Brazoswood High School,  and Anahuac High School. They will all be headed  out to the WC50 range, at 5:00 a.m. to test.

Parents and others going to watch please Range Control gate in the dirt area at 7:00 a.m.

Mission was called complete by WSMR at 4:16 p.m. today!

Event details will continue to be available here. Information  will be available late tomorrow evening after all tests are complete and the range has been packed up. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Friday’s Launch, an Ode to Rough Beginnings for Launch Day 1 at WSMR, Rockets 2019

Today was the perfect example of rough beginnings and a reminder that these are experimental vehicles, no matter how well the research, planning, development and projections are done.

Launches were to commence at 10:00 this morning. Union Grove High School was first up on the rail, but a leak was detected and they were bumped in order to fix the issue and keep the launches running as close to schedule as possible.

Next on the rail was Alamo Heights High School. There were several holds and the launch was delayed until after 11:22. The rocket was having an issue getting completely fueled which was slowing the launch.

Also Someone moved the cones at one of the barricades where the roads were shut down for the launch and proceeded to drive through. WSMR officials had to go secure the barricades and clear that section of the projected area again. This also delayed the launch.

During the delays, WSMR officials welcomed the parents and did a mini briefing for them in the Range Control auditorium, in lieu of the usual T-1 Briefing. During this time Alamo Heights students also gave their Student Rocket Presentations encompassing the details about and expectations of their vehicles.

Around 11:30 the decision was made that the rocket was as full as it was going to be able to achieve and therefore it was time to launch.

Before the launch I spoke with several of Alamo Heights students. According to them the vehicles name is Rocket with the R backwards like a Russian R. It is 20′ long with a diameter of 10″, weighing in at just over 600 lbs fully fueled. The payload was a Yeti cup with a Petri dish of penicillin and mold from a wallet. They intended to study the effects of radiation on both to see how it effected growth of the mold and if the penicillin became more potent.

Their recovery system was a mortar barrel system with 3 charges with a reefing system. The first charge released the nose cone, the second knocks the piston out of the barrel, deploying the third that releases the reefing lines. The vehicle also had a 3D printed nozzle which threaded into the  fuel grain which was poured directly into the tube with threading at each end to hold it in.

The vehicles projected height was 56,000′. Unfortunately it did not achieve that today. Instead it ignited and traveled up about 20′ above the rail, turned on its side and crashed to the ground just behind the two launch trailers, where it continued to burn until the engine and fuel grain completely burned out.

This made the area unapproachable for quite some time, until all flames could be put out and the rocket cooled enough to be safe to move and asses damages in the area. Unfortunately, this caused the cancellation of all other launches for the day.

SystemsGo and WSMR personnel stayed at the site to clean up, and assess and repair equipment in order to continue launches tomorrow.

There will be many things for students to evaluate and learn as to why this incident occurred, and how to prevent it in the future. SystemsGo may have some suggestions and evaluations of their own.

Currently the rocket has been recovered and SystemsGo is at the range replacing hydraulic lines on the launch trailer that were melted and working to get the switching running again.

Tomorrow will be another 10:00 am launch start. This will mean that personnel going to WC50 will be leaving for the range at 6:00 am.

Those going to watch the launches from Range Control will be heading out at 8:00 a.m. to meet our rep in the gravel lot outside the main gate by 9:00 a.m.

Tomorrow’s launch schedule is as follows:

  • 10:00 a.m. Union Grove High School
  • 12:00 a.m. Anahuac High School
  • 14:00 p.m. Marble Falls High School
  • 16:00 p.m. Brazoswood High School

If it is a perfect day and all goes well with no exceptions with each launch, then only Fredericksburg High School’s and Booker T Washington High School’s two rockets would be left for Sunday.

Realistically, this is a very tight launch sequence with little to no room for errors. As we saw today, errors can and do occasionally happen and can cause severe delays in the launch schedule and hinder time availability.

If we do not get all four launches tomorrow, then they will carry over into Sunday time slots as allowed by WSMR.

Sunday is a contingency day if needed in which four more vehicles could launch, otherwise we will travel home that day.

Best of luck to all schools so that they may have a successful launches tomorrow.

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing that day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

History, Haunts, and Heart Beats

A new form of entertainment has manifested in Fredericksburg, Texas. It is the Fredericksburg Ghost Tours. This new venue is a walking tour of Fredericksburg starting  and ending at the Nimitz Museum (National Museum of the Pacific War). It is filled with interesting, little known stories and histories of many places along Main Street and it’s  alleyways.

Your host/tour guide is dressed in 1800’s attire as he leads you around town, regaling your with stories, not found in the normal Fredericksburg history books. Each account given is tied to a place along the tour and the residing ghosts of that area.

The tour itself is not scary, but rather entertaining and informational. Though the stories are a historical basis for ghosts, there is much humor in them as well. Derrick  Spence coordinates the guides and tours. He has also done the research and compiled the stories shared on the tour. The guides are cheerful,  and they do their best to see you learn a little and have a good time. Daniel was our guide this particular evening, and he was knowledgeable, entertaining and fun.

Be sure to bring your phones, or other cameras and take pictures. It is highly encouraged and if you find you have visitors in your photos  you can send them in to their website at fbgghosttours@gmail.com and they may feature them on their website.

The stops currently on the tour, are just a handful of the many haunted places in town. Your guide will mention a few not on the tour at this time and encourage you to go investigate them on your own.

Tours run Thursday through Sunday evenings with tours at 8:00, 8:30, or 9:30 p.m. It is encouraged to meet at the Admiral Chester W. Nimitz statue at least 10 minutes before the start of your tour, with your previously purchased ticket in hand.

You may purchase tickets online at https://www.fredericksburgghosts.com/ , or call 830-383-3122 and speak to founder Rick Koch or one of his employees, they will be happy to help you reserve your tickets and then pick them up at the Vintage Vault at 406 West Main Street, next to the Amish Market.

My friends and I embarked on the tour at 8:00 this past Sunday evening, October 7th. We had a wonderful time and are ready to do it again with other friends and family who have not gone yet. We were encouraged to take pictures along the route. During the tour we really didn’t see much more than Fredericksburg sites and allies in the dark, but as the guide explained, what you do not see with your eyes, may be watching you, and may not be camera-shy.

They do encourage you to share photos to their page if you think you have caught a ghostly  image, or just a really interesting photo from the tour. They may feature it on their site. That being said, I will share some here and will probably send them in after this  post.

After reviewing mine the next day, I definitely think I caught some images to share. I hope you can see what I see, but you may have to enlarge the photos, that is how I confirmed my sightings.

My best possible sightings were the ones from the Nimitz, Keidel Hospital, and one of the back alley stops.

Here are a few of mine. In all of them, my friends and I see something. Do you? Share your thoughts in the comments. I would love to hear what you think.

Here is the Nimitz. Pay close attention to the dark window on the middle section, just below the window that is lit up, in the first and third photos.

  

 How about a creepy back alley to look down? Look closely, there is more than meets the eye.

And last, here is the old Keidel Hospital building (home to Der Kuchen Laden and Rathskellar Restaurant).  Pay close attention to the large window at the top, above the door. A ghostly pair looks back at you.  Then look at the window to the left of the large window, in its bottom left pane, and also the column to the right of the door, there are ghosts in all of these. Two frames are provided so that you can compare. Most of the visitors appear in the right frame. Honestly we did not see these things as we looked at the places that evening, but then there they were in the pictures.  That definitely gets you thinking and your heart beating a little faster.

Let me know if you see them.  Maybe this is a coincidence, but also in the Keidel photos, there is a very strange water mark in between the two bottom windows. It is quite a creepy creature looking back from the rocks.

There are many other stops along the tour, I just wanted to give you a glimpse.

I hope  I have peaked your interest and you and your friends will come take the tour. The ghosts are waiting to greet you!

SystemsGo’s Rockets 2018 Officially Ended Sunday as the Team Traveled Home and Transitioned into 2019 Preps

At 8:00 a.m.  Sunday morning, the SystemsGo team traveled home from White Sands Missile Range, arriving safely in Fredericksburg around 7:00 p.m. The FHS students and teachers followed arriving shortly after.

WSMR concludes another successful year of launches that begain with Jal, NM, Houston, and Willow City. The group helped test 140 Tchaikovsky and Oberth rockets and 6 Goddard level rockets for the Rockets 2018 season.

Now the volunteer staff returns to their daily lives and the SystemsGo team transitions into a season of program updates before new training begins with more schools, teachers, students and rockets. It won’t be long and the “launch season” will be back again with Rockets 2019. Next year’s season will begin again in the spring with launches in Jal, New Mexico, Houston (Anahua), Fredericksburg, and White Sands Missile Range. It should prove to be another exciting year.

There will be some changes next year as they are looking at relocating their Fredericksburg Rocket launches to a new location in Gillespie county, which will be announced at a later date.

That concludes the 2018 WSMR Rocket updates.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Saturday,Rockets 2018-Final Day at WSMR

SystemsGo scheduled three tests today at White Sands Missile Range, Booker T. Washington, Alamo Heights, and Anahuac. After these three launches, Union Grove would have the opportunity to have a second attempt at launch after fixing the malfunction from Friday’s launch.

Booker T. Washington’s rocket was the first test. Students had loaded the rocket onto the rail before leaving West Center 50 Range at mission completion last evening. The schedule had the school’s T time set for 8:00 a.m. It’s actual T time ended up being at 9:12 after two holds caused by issues with wiring on the rocket which caused the vehicle to have to be vented,  brought down, fixed and reloaded. Unfortunately, the rocket never left the rail. At ignition, the rocket only smoked,  ending in a misfire. Due to the misfire, a 30 minute wait time had to be observed for safety until it could be removed. Following the 30 minute wait, the vehicle was the vented and removed from the rail. It is believed that the injection system did not open.

Alamo Heights  was next on the rail. The schedule was now two hours behind. They loaded without incident and observed a T time of 11:57. It achieved ignition and lifted off the rail. It was a great launch, but turned on its side, continuing on up with an angle headed down range. The rocket reached a peak altitude of 23,083 feet, but due to the launch rail being at a MSL (mean sea level) of 4,521 feet, the final height reached was 18,562 feet. This number is calculated by subtracting the MSL from the peak altitude.

Vehicle velocity was 1503 feet per second. It traveled 26326.323 feet down range which equals 4.986 miles. WSMR reported that the chute did deploy before landing. Alamo Heights’ rocket had the second highest altitude, and also achieved the greatest distance traveled traveled for the weekend. After WSMR recovered the rocket it was determined that only the Drogue chute opened and then melted as the vehicle was still burning. Because of this the rocket had a ballistic re-entry, burying itself in the range. Only the engine casing with fins intact was returned to the team as seen in the picture above. In the picture below, the team is shown with the rocket before launch.

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Anahuac was next on the rail at 2:09 p.m. They had no lift at ignition, only a partial burn. It also vented the Nitrous through a hole in the injector bay. According to analysis from Anahuac, a hose between the injector and diffuser plate blew a fitting where it attached to the diffuser plate. They are not sure what caused this at this time, but they were able to confirm that the tank and injector were intact. The partial burn created another hang/misfire situation creating another safety delay of 30 minutes before the vehicle could be off loaded from the rail.

By the time this delay was up it was 2:45 and range end time for air space was 3:30. This effectively ended our mission time on the range, called officially by WSMR officials. Due to this, Union Grove was unable to go for a second attempt.

The mission was then called complete. Cleaning and packing up of WC50 began,  as this was the official last day of testing for SystemsGo, students, and WSMR personnel.

Safe travels to all schools heading home, tomorrow. It is back to Texas for the SystemsGo team tomorrow as well. Tonight, the team enjoyed dinner, drinks, conversation and an early bed time.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited. minute

Friday, Rockets 2018-WSMR Launch Day 1 Report and New Saturday Schedules

Today was an extremely early morning for the SystemsGo team and program participants, Fredericksburg High School, Brazoswood High School, Booker T. Washington, and Anahuac High School. They were all headed  out to the WC50 range, at 5:00 a.m. to test. They had success and were able to left off the rail.

Fredericksburg High School was first to test, leaving the rail at 9:24 a.m. after some minor delays. The vehicle blew the injection port door and a hose blew out of the open hole, but in spite of this, it still achieved a beautiful lift off.  Unfortunately though it acquired height, it was not in the air long enough for either radar or EOD to get a definitive lock on it. They estimated it at somewhere between 2000 and 10000 feet, but were unable to calculate a Real time stat on it. The vehicle suffered an explosion upon return to the range and landed in pieces 200 yards down range to the right of the pad. It was recovered shortly after launch. Congratulations, Fredericksburg on a very nice flight.

Fredericksburg’s rocket team.

 

SystemsGo was able to have Brazoswood loaded on the rail, set for a 12:15 T time. The rocket commenced fill developed a small leak. While the students and teams were evaluating this development, WSMR experienced an emergency down range that affected the airspace SystemsGo uses for launch. The launch was set to hold leaving the filled rocket on the rail to wait. The launch was called to surrender the airspace and launch.  Luckily changes were made to the airspace and the student team decided they were able to fly with the leak. The delay had caused to vehicle to leak out Nitrous bringing it’s fuel level down to less than 50%. The decision was made to test as it was. Their rocket had a unique injection system involving a multiple hose configuration which worked well.

The vehicle achieved lift off at 12:18 in spite of all the delays. The rocket left the rail trailing a large classic flame and literally zoomed into the sky. The flight only had 46 seconds of air time, but it achieved a max altitude of  28,572 with a starting of 4521 feet above sea level, calculating out to an altitude of 24,051 feet at a velocity of 2508 feet per second. It traveled 5562.167 feet equaling 1.053 miles down range. They were able to recover the vehicle, but the narrow section at the top was broken about 6 inches above the tank. At this time they are unable to confirm whether or not any chutes were deployed.

An accompanying Brazoswood parent, Lisa Baker, stated that the “Nose cone went to a location that only God is allowed to go!”

This was their first year to bring a rocket to WSMR, and they achieved quite a launch. I can only imagine what they would have done with a full tank and no leak. They are currently the weekend leaders. Congratulations Brazoswood!

Brazoswood at the T-1 Briefing.

Union Grove was loaded onto the rail next, but unfortunately it suffered a slight malfunction in the injection system that caused the Nitrous to blow out the bottom of the rocket. Fill was stopped and the vehicle was removed for repairs. They will attempt to launch again tomorrow afternoon.

Mission was called complete for the day by WSMR at 2:30 p.m.

Booker T. Washington’s rocket was loaded onto the rail in preparation of the first launch tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s schedule is also an early one as it mirror’s today’s starting schedule.  They are all going out to the range at 5:00 a.m. to prepare for a beginning T of 8:00 a.m. If the schedule holds, and all for tests lift off with out delays, they should be packing up the range by 3:00 p.m. If not a decision will be made at that time as whether the contingency slots on Monday will be used, or the group will call the mission and head home.

The following is the schedule at this time:

Saturday launch order:

8:00 a.m. Booker T. Washington High School
10:00 a.m. Alamo Heights High School
12:00 p.m. Anahuac High School
14:00 p.m. Union Grove High School

Event details will continue to be available here. Information  will be available late tomorrow evening after all tests are complete and the range has been packed up. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.