Thursday, November 12, 2009

Pb2k9: .38 Spatial in the Skidmark mass launch

I'd planned many flights over the weekend but prep and recovery took much longer than expected so I only had three flights total. The middle flight was on Saturday night and my new .38 Spatial was one of 21 rockets launched simultaneously on the new CTI H123 Skidmark motor. This propellant formulation isn't new but, with recent California State Fire Marshall approval, these impressive motors pretty much dominated the launch. They employ particles of titanium metal in the propellant that burn bright white/orange and pop loudly. In aggregate a single Skidmark motor yields thousands of these sparks and, as a result, roars loudly well above a normal motor's decibel level. Here's a video of all 21 rockets launching at once (well 20 if you exclude Frank's entry which failed to ignite due to my error):
Here's another of the seven including .38 Spatial (third from the right):
And here's a photo of my design isolated with some nice dusk lighting:
This launch was the clear crowd pleaser of the weekend. John Bowman did an excellent job of coordinating the event and the crowd loved it!

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