| [Not displaying correctly? View web version.] | Peak of Flight Newsletter #471: | |
This issue describes and solves what is known as "the Goddard problem." That problem is to find the optimum thrust curve for a rocket engine that will allow a given rocket to fly the highest for a given amount of total impulse. If you want to set an altitude record for a given motor class, this is exactly the issue you'll be solving yourself. It is not as trivial as you might think, because there are variables that change during the flight, such as the drag coefficient that changes as the rocket's speed changes, and that gravity goes down the higher your rocket travels into the air. The author, Steve Ainsworth, walks us through all the variables and how we can use a simple computer program to solve for the optimum thrust curve that a motor has to have for the rocket to travel to the highest altitude. | | Read the rest of this week's article, either on a downloadable PDF for printing out, or on our website (great for viewing on your phone)! Previous issues of our newsletter are found at our archive page. |
|
What is new in rocketry? Here are the latest items to land on Apogee's shelves! | | | The Quest Q-Jet rocket motors are for small light-weight rockets. They feature the "Fast Black-Jack" composite propellant, which has twice the energy as a black powder motor and creates a dense smoke trail at lift-off. Same size and diameter as an Estes motor, so it fits all your favorite rockets. Available now in four motors: A3-4, A3-6, B4-4, and B4-6. Each package comes with two motors, two igniters, and several sheets of recovery wadding. Also available in bulk-packs of 25 motors for schools and groups. |
| | | The Bond Aid® Epoxy Putty (P-1500) is a very fast-setting epoxy for permanent repairs to your rockets or other broken items. It has a million uses around the house and will be your go-to choice for fixing things because it hardens fully in 20 minutes. For rocketry, it is great for field repairs for fixing things like broken fins, launch lugs that popped off, making rail button stand-offs, making a camera hood, sculpting fairings for odd-ball objects, or anchoring the shock cord in the rocket. Just a friendly warning: Don't lend your stick to others... you probably won't get it back! |
| | | It's shaped like a flower, so we gave it the name Petal Protector. Made by Dino Chutes, this new type of parachute protector creates a superior heat shield from the rocket motor's ejection charge because it has triple the thickness of a normal Nomex® cloth blanket. When folded, it is shaped like a cylinder so that it plugs the tube better preventing hot gases getting around the outside to the parachute. There are three sizes available: 2.6" (56mm), 3" (75mm) and 4" (98mm) diameter tubes. |
| |
| | "I love Apogee. They have a wonderful customer service and a great selection of products. Tim's devotion to education is one of the major reasons I come back. The rewards from their loyalty program are extremely generous. I only wish someday I could go to Colorado and thank the people at Apogee personally." -- Joseph Bylander | |
| Have you seen "Barks At Rockets" yet? - The new hilariously funny comic strip by our graphic artist Chris Duran is released every Thursday on our Facebook page. Be sure to check it out and share it with your rocketry friends. |
|
I need help with generating the biweekly newsletter articles since it takes a lot of effort to put them together. And I'm willing to pay big bucks for your help. So ask yourself, are you looking to earn some extra money? I'm now actively seeking writers for articles to appear in this newsletter. And I want unique and cutting-edge articles because that is what you want to read, right? I realize this, so to get articles from outside writers that have the same level of quality, I'm going to have to pay a lot of cash to make it worth it for them. So I've come up with a compensation package where I'll pay up to $350 for good how-to articles. Are you a writer, and does that interest you? That is a lot of cash! Far more than you'll get by writing for other magazines. And with over 23,000 worldwide subscribers, if you write for the Peak-of-Flight Newsletter, you'll gain a lot of notoriety. Writing for the Peak-of-Flight Newsletter is a great way to show off your rocketry projects and your technical expertise, at the same time as helping out other rocketeers. Imagine how great you'll feel knowing that you made a difference to the hobby. If you're interested in writing, see the guidelines on our site. | |
|
|
