The Final Blog Post

Day 2 - Day 5 Rocket Adjustments and Modifications

Data Collections

Just as we begin to make real progress, our rocket launching experiments have come to a bittersweet end after two long stressful weeks. We started this project with a simple 2-Liter bottle with a total flight time of 2.7 seconds. Although the modifications of our second day launch (2 fins made from construction paper) did not show much improvement compared to the first launch, we did learn how not to make fins and modifications in general. The materials used to make the fins were not sturdy enough and easily shifted in the wind, causing the rocket to spiral as it landed. Therefore, for future adjustments, we needed to use sturdy materials that would be able to endure the conditions of the flight.

The real improvement showed in our third launch, when the most modifications were made. We were able to obtain a flight time of at least 3 seconds by using 2 2-Liter bottles duct taped together, 4 fins made from thick sheet protectors, a parachute made from 3 plastic bags hot-glued together and attached by string, and a cone made from the top half of a 2-Liter bottle (without the cap). The rocket flew well above Konia building and landed in between the middle staircase, without the deployment of the parachute. The flight was good because of the time and height of the launch. However, the direction and parachute deployment needed work. Due to the immense pressure against the rocket that the cone had during the fall and the small area used to contain the parachute, the nose cone trapped the parachute and caused the malfunction in its deployment. The possible reasons for the off direction of the rocket could be because of imprecise placement of the fins on the rocket and the wind factor.

With these errors in mind, we managed to make some adjustments. For the fourth day launch, we added a new nose cone with more space and a cap in hope that it would provide enough mass for it’s descent and releasing of the parachute. Unfortunately, the parachute still didn’t deploy, the rocket still flew in an off direction and to top it off, we were unable to retrieve our rocket because it flew on the roof of Midkiff. Discouraged, we still managed to make a new rocket with proper adjustments for the final launch day. Our rocket consisted of properly aligned fins, large nose cone attached to the rocket, wide parachute, 2 bottles, and the addition of mass within the nose cone. The mass within the nose cone would allow the nose cone to descend ahead of the rest of the rocket, giving the parachute room to deploy. However, we learned that we needed to use more water in order to support the increased mass. Altogether, these modifications made a successful launch with a final time of 10.6 seconds that achieved the required time limit. From the final launch, we noticed that the increased mass from the cone tugged down on the rocket and caused a shorter flight time than if there was no mass pulling down on the rocket. If we were to make adjustments, we would decrease the mass slightly so that it would create less of a drag but still leave enough mass so that the cone would be able to detach. Overall, this was a fun experiment that I would gladly take part in again, even though it caused sleep deprivation and lots of stress.