The Mattawan Rocket Club’s last rocket launch of the season had many successes and failures. We embarked on another after school launch, again at the Mattawan Airpark. This time, we had a few different rockets to launch. First, the team rocket, which we had launched a few times before. We also had 3 more rockets, all of which are each of the team member’s individual rocket’s we built on our own.
Rocket #1 was my rocket. It’s a rocket that is small, and fits an egg in the top bigger than it’s radius. It is painted black. We launched this one first, hoping for it to be a success. It ended up launching way higher than expected, unable to see it from it’s height! Unfortunately. It went just a bit too far to an area of the woods we couldn’t reach, so we were unable to retrieve it. But thats okay! We still consider it somewhat of a success.
Rocket #2 was a slightly bigger rocket that was painted green, built by our club member Bryce. Overall I had higher hopes in this rocket. Unfortunately, during its launch, It destabilized and the parachute got pulled out from the top of the rocket. We learned about the pure importance of balancing our rockets properly, and we will be practicing this aspect in the upcoming season. Most of the rocket came out only slightly damaged.
Rocket #3 Was a red painted rocket that our club member Dominic made. It was similar in build to the first one, but the top design and the fins were different. It was painted with bright red. This launch took a turn for the worst. After initiating the launch, the rocket went up about 20 feet, then the engine stopped for a brief moment. While that happened, the rocket tipped slightly. When the engine started propelling fuel again, the rocket was tipped, so it ended up shooting the rocket right into the ground around 40 feet away. We are still unsure what happened in this scenario.
Rocket #4. This was our team rocket, and overall it was a great success this time. The rocket launched as expected. And we recovered accordingly. However, a crucial part of the internals of the rocket was damaged. The internal piece was 3d printed and designed to hold the egg inside of the rocket. That peice snapped in half and became unusable. Other than that, the launch was a success.
In conclusion, our last rocket launch of the season was a mix of successes and failures. Some rockets made it, some didn’t. Nonetheless, we learned many lessons, such as ensuring our balancing was correct, and making sure that we reinforce some parts in the future. We are excited for the upcoming TARC season!
Check out the Mattawan Rocket Club! LaunchMattawan.org
