A few weeks ago, we ran a piece here announcing the pending launch of this 46′ tall 1:1-scale V2 amateur rocket, to be launched at the Thunda Down Under rocket meetup in Australia. The Rocketry Victoria team was going for the world record of the largest amateur rocket ever successfully flown. They did it! As you can see from the launch footage, it wasn’t a very high-altitude launch (flight data has not been released yet), but that wasn’t the point. The team was looking to test the bird out on a single, standard O-motor, and to successfully recover the three parachute-equipped sections. Everything worked like a charm. As Rocketry Victoria’s Nat Callea told Make: via email:
I know a lot of people were expecting more altitude, but as a team, we are more than happy with the result. So many new techniques for rocket construction, deployment, and recovery were successfully tested. I really feel that we have found ways of making larger rockets easier, cheaper, and lighter to build in the future. Not to mention not knowing the effects of the kick-ass motor we used also provided an unknown that tested our nerves.
Now the team can look forward to future launches on bigger motors and more experimentation with this lightweight carved foam and steel frame construction technique.
[Credit: Launch photo by Leigh Metzroth]
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