Home built rocket climbs to 121 000 feet in 92 seconds
Post on: 2011-11-02 By: admin
Launched from Black Rock Desert in Nevada on September 30 in an attempt to win John Carmack's 100kft Micro Prize, Derek Deville's home-built Qu8k rocket reached an altitude of 121,000 feet (36.8 km) after 92 seconds flight ... and captured some excellent video footage along the way.
Using a custom-built launch tower, Qu8k (pronounced as "quake" in homage to Carmack's id software classic video game) made a safe return in a parachute descent that took another 7.5 minutes. It was fully recovered only three miles from the launch site (the Prize requirements include recovery of the intact rocket within 24 hours of the launch).
Constructed from aluminum and measuring 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter and 167.5 inches (425 cm) in length, the Qu8k's rocket used APCP rocket propellent to give it a maximum velocity during the ascent of 3,200 ft/s (975.36 m/s).
Deville's team equipped the rocket with two timers, four GPS devices, an accelerometer, or cosmic ray detector. A couple of Go Pro Hero HD video cameras and one Flip HD camera provided detailed footage of the flight.
Established in 2000 by John Carmack, co-founder of id Software's (a studio famous due to such titles as Wolfenstein 3D, Quake, or Doom), Armadillo Aerospace is the company behind the US$5,000 100kft Micro Prize. The challenge requires a rocket to be sent to an altitude of 100,000 feet (30.4km) and, along with the requirement to recover the rocket within 24 hours, it is also necessary to present GPS serial log of the flight with at least one record above 100,000 feet.
Derek Deville reportedly fails on that aspect. Despite equipping the rocket with four GPS devices, a high altitude GPS fix was not caught. We do not know at this point whether the evidence will be sufficient enough for Armadillo Aerospace.
Take a look at the video below presenting the impressive footage acquired by Qu8k:
- October 11, 2011 @ 11:29 pm PDT
Yeah, it was breathtaking to watch.))
Renārs Grebežs
- October 12, 2011 @ 12:37 am PDT
Is it possible that the GPS gets somehow blocked for vehicles that have the speed of a military missile?
- October 12, 2011 @ 02:20 am PDT
Civilian GPS receivers are limited to 20 km (about 65000 ft) and 1850 kmh (about 1150 mph).
- October 12, 2011 @ 08:39 am PDT
Your article was quite inspiring, an avocation that I should have undertaken. The rocket was top quality.
- October 12, 2011 @ 09:45 am PDT
What melted over the lens of the gopro camera?
- October 12, 2011 @ 11:11 am PDT
- October 12, 2011 @ 12:50 pm PDT
The glob by the cameras was a plastic aero-shroud that melted on ascent. The builders did not have time to make an aluminum shroud:
"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!"
- October 12, 2011 @ 01:15 pm PDT
I guess they never thought of simply bending a shroud from sheet metal and screwing or riveting it to the rocket.
Just because you have access to expensive tools like FDM doesn't make them the best tool.
- October 12, 2011 @ 03:28 pm PDT
I guess you weren't there to inform them of the error of their ways. While they were concerned with the physics and chemistry involved with sending a rocket to 100,000 feet. While your at it please solve the problem of the GPS for them too.
Great job guys, phenomenal launch.
- October 13, 2011 @ 08:28 pm PDT
Login with your gizmag account:
Forgotten your password?
Or Login with Facebook:
Engineers creating carbon-negative Mars rocket
Atea-01 Rocket: New Zealand to enter space in 2008
Tandem high-flying airships reach up to 140,000ft
Build a lunar lander and win $1 million
New GPS satellite successfully launched
Lockheed Martin tests guided missile impervious to GPS jamming
Email this article to a friend
Just enter your friends and your email address into the form below
For multiple addresses, separate each with a comma
Privacy is safe with us because we have a strict privacy policy.
Looking for something? Search our 16,024 articles
Inventors and Remarkable People
Recent popular articles in Aero Gizmo
Japanese Defense Ministry shows world's first spherical flying machine
Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes first passenger flight
Solar Ship: The hybrid airship with a low-carbon twist
Manned version of X-37 space plane in the works?
First flight of X-47B unmanned aircraft demonstrator in cruise mode
D-Dalus - an entirely new genre of aircraft arrives
The airship finally takes off - Hybrid Air Vehicles has first civil customer
DARPA plans on scrounging parts from dead satellites - while they're still in orbit
First glimpse of Boeing 787 Dreamliner interior
Virgin Galactic opens new spaceport
Photographer builds fully working DSLR camera costume for Halloween
GM shows 85 kW permanent magnet EV motor
The iPad goes 3-D, sort of...
New paper-based explosives sensor is made with an ink jet printer
The deeply strange "1001 Nights" house by architects A-Cero
The 300kW Varley evR450 electric sportscar
2012 MINI Roadster unveiled
Japanese Defense Ministry shows world's first spherical flying machine
Boston Dynamics releases amazing video of its PETMAN bipedal robot
Review: Kogan Agora 8-inch Tablet
Most Commented Articles
LED by LITE aims to brighten up night-time cycling (17)
Japanese Defense Ministry shows world's first spherical flying machine (15)
Solar Ship: The hybrid airship with a low-carbon twist (15)
Researchers trick immune system into turning off peanut allergy (13)
True3D Head Up Display keeps drivers focused on the road (12)
Complex organic matter discovered throughout the Universe (12)
Project Shellter developing 3D printed shells for pet hermit crabs (11)
BYD's all-electric e6 hits the market - 87 mph and a range of 190 miles (11)
FIA Formula E Championship for EVs looking likely for 2013 (10)
Crossbow Snow Launcher goes one up in 'cold war' arms race (10)
Subscribe to Gizmag's email newsletter:
All content copyright © Gizmag 2003 - 2011
Article original from: http://www.gizmag.com/qu8k-rocket-derek-deville-100kft-micro-prize/20119/
