First Powered Flight of SpaceShipTwo!

I got in to work early yesterday because Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic were planning the first powered flight of SpaceShipTwo and I wanted to be there to see it. The flight was a complete success! They did a 15 second burn on their hybrid engine and reached supersonic flight.

My coworkers had written down Scaled's frequencies and were listening in on their communications during the flight. It made for a wonderful narration for the video.

All those years of tracking model rocket flights paid off and I took a rather nice shot of the drop and ignition, all the way from nearly 50,000 feet:

I snapped this shot just as one of the chase planes was crossing the moon:

The entire video of the flight:



A big congratulations to Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic, and everyone in the New Space Industry for this awesome achievement!

Compressibile Aerodynamics

I've decided to start a summer-long study of compressible aerodynamics, that is, the compressible nature of a gas at speeds above Mach. It ties in very well with my supersonic projects. I'm going to try starting my investigation using the NASA guided tours. It is my hope to actually conduct scientific research in this subject this summer.

It's a fascinating subject because at high speed regimes, there can actually be a chemical change in the composition of the air. At supersonic speeds, the density of the air changes drastically, and it is usually visible:

Computer Rendering of Next Mach Muncher

...And updated information. I was wrong about the projected speed. If I leave the rocket the way it is (without adding weight to the nose, or payloads), it's predicted to go 1800 ft/s! I don't want it to shred or anything, so I will definitely do something about this.

Revisiting an Old Project...

I'm not giving out too many details just yet, but I will disclose that I'm improving my supersonic design. It should be able to withstand higher airspeeds, so the motor of choice will hopefully be the 137 N-sec G80, the most powerful single use model rocket motor available. If I'm brave, I might even build a payload bay for either an altimeter, an accelerometer, or a camera...

On the simulations, this model reaches a maximum velocity of 1,700 ft/s (almost mach 1.5). Scary, isn't it? It requires VERY different construction and design. My last experience has encouraged me to try again with even more ambition than before.

I'm going to write a new post on supersonic travel soon!

Success! (Sorta)

The good news is that the rocket (I always forget to name them) didn't shred in flight! The bad news is that it wasn't recovered successfully. I think that the ejection charge severed the shock cord and the rocket fell from 4000 feet. The streamer was still in the sky for a very long time, and eventually drifted out of sight.

Did we hear a sonic boom? Well, when it was first launched I was so surprised by the high acceleration that I forgot to listen for one. But when I played the video back, I thought I heard it--two muffled "POP's"--but I'm not sure. If what I'm hearing is the sonic boom, it didn't come exactly .3 seconds after ignition, so I don't think the acceleration was quite as high as the simulation on my computer indicated. The quality of the sound is not very good on YouTube videos. What do you think? Do you hear the sonic boom?

Edit: The sound I am hearing is at about 1:32 in the video.

Supersonic Countdown

I've started the countdown clock for my Supersonic Project. If everything goes well, it will be flown later this morning.

T -2:00
Take a good, long look. It may never be seen again.