Preparing for Launch

This summer it was time to stop watching the flights and get in on the action.  This was facilitated by US Rockets providing the components in exchange for our help on a larger project.  The goal is several flights with the Featheweight brand altimeter to deploy two chutes, record the flight and to record the performance of John Newman's rocket motors.

The bright pink fins, squares and nose are to improve visibility and to see when it is rotating around the long axis.  Davie took the lead on construction of the rocket and I took the lead on the altimeter.

Rocket Parts

I put the altimeter on a breadboard and used the Featherweight altimeter simulation program to be sure that we understood how to program the altimeter and that it would be firing the squibs on the simulations.  We had some trouble with the Raven 2 units so we swapped them out for the Raven 3's.  Between other obligations we finally assembled the Sonic 3100 rocket in November and set up for our first flight at the FAR rocket range, November 21st.

Click here for the photo albums and videos.

And Click here for the next post, the launch.

Another Day at FAR.

Rain from the Mountains

Another day on the amateur range.  We watched a couple static tests and a couple flights.  A static test means that the rocket is stationary, i.e. static - not static electricity. It is for testing engine performance before flight.

The static tests were from one of the FAR founders.  It was actually two tests of the same hybrid dedicated since the first test failed.  Click here for the videos, first test and the second test.

Student Rocket

A group of students from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, were there with three rockets. Two for testing and a large one, maybe 12 ft. long. The day was getting long so they only flew one of the test rockets.  The purpose of the flight was to test parachute deployment and only one of the parachutes opened.  They proceeded to fly the larger rocket anyway. It flew beautifully, click here for a short video of it, but neither chute opened and it experienced a hard landing.  We did not stay long enough to be the remains but while driving away we could see the students out in the desert brush.  They had the main chute opened in the wind and it looked fully intact so hopefully they have some salvageable pieces.

Earlier in the day one of the local rocketeers demonstrated how the different propellants burned with different colors depending on the ingredients.  I have a short video of one of the propellant scraps burning.  Click here for the complete photo album. 

The next step is to build our own.... already in progress.

Tablet for Blogging.

Overlooking San Bernadino et. al. from Hwy18

Testing blog function from new Android 5.0 Nextbook tablet.

Lost content twice now.

Testing link:  click here for facebook.

make that three times.  The app has a very bad means to attach photos that didn't work on my phone nor here and essentially messd up the post.  First the app couldn't find the picture for the upload and then when I tried to remove it the app crashed!

the link works but I have to type in the whole url which is a pain when it comes to linking to an album.  these issues were with my phone app, too, so google has really dropped the ball on this one.

But at least with the tablet I can us the browser interface which is how I make a post on the computer which is just impossible on the phone.  switching back and forth doesn't work either.

So stop testing here and just bail out on using it for editing.  Very dissapointed and finding some of the image function on the tablet through firefox may not work either.  But I'll give it a go.

Learning to use the app

Album testing how to make a link  the album. Click here

Https://
plus.google.com/photos/100374723369997211944/albums/6105715718938338097

Second Attempt

I picked up a new phone so,  among other things, I can make blog posts from it.  It failed a few weeks ago.  Trying it again.  I was having some speaker problems with the phone so that kept me busy for a while too.

That works.
Posting a picture was the problem before.  Here goes an attempt at that.

Taking a Detour

The truck I drove the first month on the road.

So I started on-the-job training driving on Dec. 9th.  Since then I have crossed the country 7 times.  Generally the cargo is expedited freight,  going 300 or more miles, most of them over  1000.  Most of the time it is "drop and hook" which means we unhook from the trailer and pick up an empty one leaving the consignee to unload it at their leisure. 

In the driver's seat.

I completed a month of training and I will be going out another 2 weeks with another trainer.  I am staying in Cedar Rapids, near company headquarters while the company lines up a new trainer for me.  Hopefully I will be on the road again this week.  We are paid by the mile, not the hour.  Even after training the company has us drive in teams so one of us is driving while the other is sleeping.  This, however, is not conducive to making blog post.  I'll see what I can do along the way.

Early this January, I was drove all the way across Arizona and half way across New Mexico, driving east.  At sunset the moon rose and I was really enjoying cruising along in the moonlight with my CD's playing.  The road was clear but there was some snow on the desert so the moon lit up the landscape very nicely.  Click here for an album and I might keep adding to it since I can do that quickly on the road.

Plan B

Plan B is flowing smoothly.  I have spent the last two weeks in Riverside and Fontana, California getting a Class A drivers license and learning to drive trucks, not small ones, big ones - 18 Wheelers.  So Plan B is to drive around the country to earn some good bucks and on days off, build rockets in the Mojave.  The next step in the process in driving for CRST Van Expedited is attend a few days of orientation followed by 28 days of on the job training with an experience driver.  What CRST offers is company sponsored training followed by a 10 month contract to drive.  Even if someone goes to a driving training company on their own, you still need a year of experience driving before you can get work so this is a really good deal for starting out in this line of work.

New Sideline Career

So how did I get here?  What is Plan A?  Of course the general plan has been to finance OpenLuna and earlier this year Paul and I started the for-profit sister corporation Kepler Shipyards for which we almost had loans for the space suit division by midyear which didn't come through and subsequently messed up the next step.  We have been working another angle that is $25k short of a $60M proposition that would finance the spacesuits at $2M and create an annual revenue of a million dollars or more to finance other tech.  I can not disclose the details at this time and we have a few days yet to still make it happen.  

Additionally, revenue flow since coming to California has been minimal and I was looking for something good to just-show-up that I could walk right into (I tend to find the better opportunities this way vs pounding the pavement).  And truck driving was it.  It was ready to go on a weeks notice so I began the process even though there was still hope for Plan A.  I really like the other students and this company is cranking out drivers a dozen or two at a time.   The first year we only make $2k to $3k monthly but ultimately an annual salary of $70k to $100+k is possible which is what I would make behind the desk.  I doubt I will continue with it that long I just need to get a solid income behind me to operate from and take another stab at, perhaps it is even the leg up to pull Plan A from the ashes.

The CRST Truck Terminal Where I will be Working