2 Stage FTC Water Rocket

This is most certainly a project we wanted to do for a while, a multistage water rocket with a FTC sustainer. While designing the rocket, I thought about one of the major unknowns, how much the sustainer will bend during the acceleration phase of the flight. We will probably use a small nozzle for the sustainer around 9 or even 7mm. While doing a bit of research, I discovered that one of the first water rockets to break 1000' was a multistage water rocket with a FTC sustainer and a PET bottle booster. This is very convincing. We test fitted a test rocket together to get an idea on how tall the rocket was going to be.

Yes, the ladder is going to be needed to help set-up the rocket! It stands about 14 feet tall without the parachute deployment system(still yet to be designed). We are likely to use a 15 or 16mm nozzle for the booster and 9mm for the sustainer. For the stager, we are likely to use AirCommand's MK3 stager. The Capacity of the whole rocket is likely to start out at around 7 liters(4 liter booster, 3 liter sustainer), and increase the booster capacity later on. The initial launch pressure is likely to be around 100 psi, although we may bring it up to around 130PSI later on. After this project, we will likely start up the fiberglass rocket again.

11/28/13

Today we glued the fins to the sustainer with PL Prenium.

I just eye-balled the fin allighment so I'm taking a chance of the fins being off. We did a rough simulation of the rocket on Cliffard's Health simluator. It predicts around 900' at 100psi. This calculation is pretty sketchy because we don't know the weight or final volume of the rocket. It's also hard to enter the two diamaters of the booster and the sustainer, so the altitude could be a lot less.

12/22/13- FTC Rocket's Parachute Deployment System

Today we designed the parachute deployment system for the FTC sustainer. The system is very similar to the one shown here: http://www.wra2.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2217

The main difference is that the coriflute plastic was replaced with a plywood base.

 That does add a little more weight, but is more stronger. In total the system weighs

56 grams. 

We have tested the system many times, a 9/10 

Successful deployment. The one time the deployment system 

Failed is when the rubber band didn't come off of

The timer's spindle. A little silicone grease fixed

it up. I also did a quick seal check of the rocket to 75

PSI. I decided that we are going to fly the rocket as a single

stage first to test the deployment system this week.