NERO Launch Day 07-05-2004

Thursday:

Set up of the launch rail with the new 4 point lashing worked like a charm. Soon after set up of the launch rail it started to rain which continued through out the launchcampaign.

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 This was a combined launch with DARE. Preparations to the H11 rocket went well toghether with the Thrust motor. To prevent moisture reaching th KNDX propellant block al open connections well blinded off with some aluminium tape.

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Friday:

We set the alarm clock at 7:00 AM for a joined breakfast. Some of the DARE members continued to work on their rocket thorugh out the night.

 

As it continued to rain a thick cover of clouds were hanging at roughly 200-300m. Temeprature was around 12 °C together with a 4 bft wind blowing. To be mild: not the best rocket launching weather.

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Dare launched some of their SRP which all flew ballistically to around 300m. The crew were not able to make the timers work. Their main rocket, DX1, had the honors to be the first rocket to be launched from our launch rail. Angle of the rail was set at 80º. The rocket deployed the main at apogee at around 1000m.

 

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For the launch of the H11 the rail was adjusted to a 70º angle. A large crowd of sponsors had gathered to watch the first launch of the H11. Unfortunately the 200mgr ignitor failed to ignite the booster charge. After which the military deicided to close the launch window due to the terrible weather and strong winds. To much of our dissapointment the H11 was not launch but in hindsight it was probably the best thing what could have happend to us because of the steep launch angle and strong winds.

 

 

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Upon inspection the booster charge as well as the proppelant block proved to be dry eventhough it rained severly. We never had a mis-fire during up-side-down testing however we feel a re-design if the ignition sequence is in order.

 

This launch day was booked in the top 3 of terrible launch days in the history of the NERO.