May 20th, was the first launch day of the 2016 season. Instead of all Dutch rocket organizations having their own separate launch days at the OTCVust, this time it was a combined launch campaign from the DARE, NAVRO, NERO\u00a0& T-Minus with 12 rockets and 1 static motor test. We successfully flew the Intimidator\u00a05 for the fifth time on a KNSU\u00a02% RIO\u00a0reload, with a “talky” GPS tracker by LD as a payload. Furthermore LD static tested an AP\/AN\/HTPB reload in the KILO 4G motor hardware.<\/p>\n
I had no plans flying the Intimidator\u00a05 at OTCVust\u00a0this year but since the new launch rail trailer had to be end-to-end tested we opted to fly it anyway. This launch would be a good opportunity to test the launch rail before heading to Poland by the end of this year. The\u00a0continuous\u00a0drizzle\u00a0throughout\u00a0the morning\u00a0and a\u00a0SE wind made for uncomfortable\u00a0launching conditions especially while waiting. Launch rail was set at 45\u00b0 azimuth \/ parallel to the road and with an\u00a080\u00b0 elevation to cancel out the rocket would weathercock over the crowd. Launch window of the I5 was around 11:00<\/span> and after a bit of misunderstanding \/\u00a0 communication with launch control it was launched shortly after that.<\/p>\n The nose cone payload for this flight consisted out of a 100mW\u00a0BigRedBee\u00a0Beeline GPS, a 1W\u00a0\u00a0\u201ctalky\u201d GPS tracker by LD <\/a>and a 50mW radio\u00a0beacon by\u00a0\u00a0LD <\/a>as well\u00a0in case of a last resort.\u00a0The whole payload was bench tested without\u00a0any problems and the night before\u00a0tested in the rocket and all worked successfully. On the launch day the rocket was inserted in the rail. The pull\u00a0pin removed but after 6min\u00a0the Beeline GPS\u00a0still wasn’t sending APRS\u00a0packages \/ messages. Initially we though it didn\u2019t have a lock\u00a0(the\u00a0Beeline GPS\u00a0doesn’t\u00a0send packages \/\u00a0messages when it doesn’t\u00a0have a GPS lock) so we decided to launch anyway since the “talky”GPS was transmitting fine. However this Beeline GPS also stopped\u00a0sending packages last launch (where it was happily sending messages right up to the moment\u00a0the rocket was launched). It is time to send in the Beeline GPS for repairs and use it as a back\u00a0up or retire it.\u00a0 After the launch and upon downloading the flash memory and much to our surprise, the BRB Beeline GPS did get a perfect GPS lock. With 10 satellites\u00a0during the entire flight\u00a0it provide a nice 3D flight profile in Google Earth. According to the Beeline GPS maximum\u00a0altitude was 2322m and launched from 52m from sea level. \u00a0Note: this particular Beeline GPS had encountered a flight anomaly during the CHIRON\u00a0I launch where a 60\u201d Iris fruity chute\u00a0deployed and shredded at Mach 1+ and subsequently had a rough landing, nose cone only, under the shredded chute where free flying 9V\u00a0batteries in the compartment damaged some of the\u00a0SMD\u00a0components. Note: this particular Beeline GPS had encountered a flight anomaly during the CHIRON\u00a0I launch where a 60\u201d Iris fruity chute\u00a0deployed and shredded at Mach 1+ and subsequently had a rough landing, nose cone only, under the shredded chute where free flying 9V\u00a0batteries in the compartment damaged some of the\u00a0SMD\u00a0components.<\/p>\n For the potential use as a booster motor in a 2-stage configuration I\u2019m looking for maximum thrust out of the KILO 6G\u00a0hardware. With the\u00a0previous KNSU\u00a0PG reload the thrust was a bit disappointing.\u00a0For this reload\u00a0all known tricks in the book were used.\u00a0KNSU\u00a0as a fast(er) burning candy propellant and RIO\u00a0(red iron oxide) as an additive to increase burn rate a bit. Grains came out nicely with an average ideal density of KNSU\u00a0of 99,+% likely due to the fine RIO\u00a0filling up any voids between the KN and SU.<\/p>\n The KILO 6G motor featured a re-designed nozzle after the st. st. nozzle with graphite insert showed cracks at the throat. Likely caused by the poor nozzle design we had to work with in the first place due to the st. st. blank we had<\/p>\n Nozzles:<\/p>\n <\/p>\nPayload<\/h4>\n
KILO 6G motor<\/h4>\n
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Key figures Intimidator 5 – flight V – 20-05-2016:<\/h4>\n
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