Qu8k

Long Detailed Video - http://youtu.be/rvDqoxMUroA?hd=1

Short "Highlights" Video - http://youtu.be/5HTwbpjBUOk?hd=1

For the record, at 121,000 feet--23 miles--the pressure is only 93 pascals. Since the triple point of water is 611.73 pascals, if a desert rat had stowed away on Qu8k its blood would have boiled in its body at body temperature. The density of the air is low too: 0.005 times that of the air at sea level. Notice that your ejected drogue line did not become taut quicky. The average air temperature there is -32 Celsius.

I had fun identifying some of the various geographical features of Northern Nevada and Northern California in your video. The geometric horizon is 685 km ( 428 miles) away, approximately. So you should be able to see Lassen peak and the Pacific ideally.

Francis G. Graham

Student Payloads for Extreme Environments Research

Symbiosis Foundation will be soliciting payload concepts from High School and Universities.

Grants will be awarded to the top concepts and their payloads will fly onboard the next flight of Qu8k.

Please send your schools information to ddeville@msn.com to be informed as this project moves forward/

Frame Grabs from On-Board Video

My rushed igniter. I made this literally minutes before the launch using a pair of DaveyFire 28F and a chunk of AMW BB Propellant

The aeroshroud protecting the GoPro was intended to be CNC cut from aluminum but time constraints forced me to us the FDM printed plastic version which obviously melted!

The middle GoPro was completely destroyed.

Flight Data

This is the RAS Aero simulation after tweaking the motor burn time a little to better match the flight. Before the adjustment the sim was showing 126k.

The time to apogee matches well with what the video shows. Another interesting thing is that the maximum descent rate is 900 ft/s (not shown in this graph).

The change in slope during descent phase at around 60-80k illustrates where the air finally starts filling the chute and slowing things down.

Building Qu8k

Fins On a Cylinder (Fin-O-Cyl) grain. This gives a nearly neutral (slightly progressive) thrust profile. The propellant web also serves to insulate the casing for the majority of the burn.

This geometry is formed with a foam mandrel that is held in place with a steel pipe during casting. After the propellant is cured, Acetone is used to melt the foam and the mandrel is removed.

Internal surface of the casing is polished smooth for a good o-ring seating surface.

The recovery cylinder with the test charge installed.

Sand Blasting the inside of the rocket motor to promote better adhesion of the propellant to the casing.

Thanks to all my friends and family that contributed

Jorge Pinos and Angel Fernandez - Endless machining

Guy Kress - Launch Tower

Greg & Rowan Mayback - Financial, moral and physical support

Bret Ranc - Launch support

Korey Kline - Inspiration and design review

Carlos Rivera - Road Tripping to Pitt

Tripoli Pittsburgh - Motor transport

Al Bychek - BRB, tracking and launch support

Chuck Rogers - Simulation and load calculation

Miguel Hernandez - Late night support and heavy lifting

Jim Harper - Logistics

Marc Devits - Electronics support

Ky "The-Rocketman" Michaelson - Parachute

Michael & Danah Kirk and Ed Ampuero - Propellant casting

Especially my Wife & kids for extreme tolerance and encouragement - I Love You

A Tremendous Thanks to my sponsors

Mayback and Hoffman P.A.

Syntheon

8 inch diameter 167.5 inch long 320 lbs liftoff weight Q-18,000 143,000 N-sec 4,000 lbs of thrust for 8 seconds 121,000’ Max Altitude 3,200 ft/s Max Velocity 92 seconds to apogee 8.5 minutes total flight time 900 ft/s maximum velocity during recovery Full recovery 3 miles from launch site

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