10X Mars Lander Update

well, i may be biased...

...no, I *am* biased...

but none the less, my #1 would be the 38mm Deuce's Wild! built by Carl Tulanko... (featured on the cover of the Nov/Dec Sprocketry), just incredible

jim

Jerry Irv> >

I wanna see a 1:1 of the lander that inspired the Estes model :)

Problem is, the legs don't really work.

Assume the Estes Mars Lander is one of those prototype drawings. Anyone remember the prototype drawing for the space shuttle, or even that wood and paperclip Lunar Excursion Module?

What would the real lander have looked like? Working legs, door not in the middle of the fuel tanks, etc.?

For that matter, what would the real Orbital Transport have looked like? I've heard it argued that it would have needed strap-on boosters, at the very least. The glider would have wound up looking more like the shuttle. What else?

Zooty

They don't? Mine stood up just fine. Isn't that what legs do? ;O)

YES! Here are some cool proposal drawings:

Well, the ascent stage would need to be somewhat aerodynamic, which was not a concern of the LEM since it operated in a (virtual) vacuum. Assuming that they might have a fuel depot already in place on the surface, you could imagine that the entire LV would take off again, except for the legs and attached hardware, and equipment offloaded during the stay. Chutes would probably pop out of the nose section, which could also be jettisionable after landing.

So except for the doors in the fuel tanks, perhaps the M.L. was not too far off the mark?

I defer to the URL above.

For something to even remotely resemble the O.T., it would have to be carrying a very small payload - perhaps passengers and carry-on baggage only. There's just no room for the propellant necessary to achieve orbit, otherwise. Even so, the orbiter component would have to be ~80% fuel storage by volume unless (as you point out) it utilized strap-ons or external fuel tanks.

Thanks. I missed that one on Google.

Good points, all. Same on the O.T.

I've wanted to build a model of each some day, as it might have been had it been "real."

It's a silly game I play in my head. Still, it brings up some interesting questions.

Zooty

The first flight to pop into my head upon reading your question was the Gates Brothers Jayhawk flight where the booster pegged the landing and remained upright. I still smile watching the video of that one.

Yeah, that was my number 3. Got to see it live! I went back to work (L2 cert flight) after the drogue came out and my advisor said "wait, watch this" just as the dual cutes deployed. wOw! Then, thump, right in the sandbed. The unedited video they showed at the NSL town meeting was the icing on the cake.

Toss my level 2 bird in there somewhere. I think my all time favorite is my Aerotech Mirage launch(es).

Joel. phx

Thanks Jerry!

I have a video, I'll try and get it online this coming week.

-Mike

How about the 5 weirdest, strangest, or most amazing flights?

As a kid, I had a an Estes WAC Corporal go horizontal off the rod (I don't need those heavy washers), zoom towards the road and almost prang a moving Piggly Wiggly grocery truck. The ejection charge fired and we couldn't believe it as the rocket and chute were sucked into the draft of the trailer. The perfectly deployed WAC was carried along behind the truck and was last seen heading south on Juan Tabo road. Not to the next scheduled delivery, but to a place not listed on regular route sheets or marked on normal maps. Its next stop; the Twilight Zone. (It was on TV when we got home.)

Ace Monocopter H5 USR Powerdive Kit (there's a liability magnet) The first USR Firestarter at LDRS-5 (IIRC). A Ace/Kline RC controlled cruise rocket which did acrobatics under rocket power(1981 ish) Pretty much any Centuri UFO,, Estes Snitch,, Irvine styrofoam hat flight.

The single most impossible flight was a USR All Weather flown in Ocotillo by my kid. It landed back ON THE ROD. What I would pay for a video of that!!!

Sounds unlikely till you know how many rockets he flies a week. By sheer numbers it ought to repeat soon. And Andrew should be on Barry Tunik's Christmas card list :)

Jerry

We had a Level3 rocket motor land near us at Plasterblaster. I'm not sure if that counts as weirdest, strangest, or most amazing. But what was amazing was I managed to film the whole event. M casing came right out the nose of the V2 some distance off the pad (25'?) and flew under power arcing into the ground. The two slower guys scrambled to get out of the way,...

I watched a rocket take the launchpad with it over the crowd and into a pickup truck. Seems the radius of it's arc'd flightpath was the same as the length of the launch control cable.

Unbolivbable.

In the early 70's I watched an Estes Quest drift away forever. Launched on a 'C' and caught some current up there. Dad chased it in the car, but it never started to drop. Snif, snif.... bye bye first rocket,...

Joel. phx

ROFL. The best power dive I ever saw was also at Ocotillo (Plaster Blaster vicinity).

Despite all this, rockets are STILL the safest hobby on the planet. More evidence any over regulation whether by associations or by aurthorities is vastly misplaced.

Jerry

I loved the way it shrieked as it took off on two big Blue Thunder M's at LDRS

I once saw a rocket chuff loudly and jump up about 10 feet off the rod, start to come down tailfirst, then suddenly ignite for a successful launch. Looked kind of a sub-launched ballistic missle taking off!

Another cool flight was a rocket that had regular fins with tube fins on the tip of each fin. It was flown on a very fast motor. About halfway through the burn, all four tube instantly turned into a small cloud of confetti, while the rocket continued on unimpaired.

NOW THAT'S COOL!

Randy

Actually saw that happen on a duration contest launch for egg lofting... egg went over the mountains... we tracked it visually for over 20 minutes...

I know whose rocket it was, but they don't post here, and I don't think I will post someone's name who might not want that.

They had a mylar chute on a very warm day.

Too bad you have to retrieve the rocket to win the competition. The result would be a permanent record.

~ Duane Phillips.

And it doesn't take mylar or a rocket to do this.

One time, while skydiving in the Mojave on a hot day, I jumped out of a Cessna (I was first out), fell 500 feet while the parachute opened, and by the time the plane circled back for my wife (then girlfriend) to jump, I had already risen ABOVE the level of the plane (and still going up!!!). If I hadn't reefed in the lines, I'd probably still be up there...

David Erbas-White

LOL... that must of been one eery feeling.

~ Duane Phillips.