The trip to Black Rock

This years trip to Balls19 was a great year for successful rocket launches, but different as far as travel there and back was concerned.  First of all our group was divided by those flying and those driving.  Not a big thing in the grand scheme of things, however a change in the dynamic never the less.  Those driving had a surprise when our axles for the trailer came off 400 miles from our destination.  In the middle of the night, in the middle of Nevada we heard a loud thump and a bit of a jerk like we had ran something over.  When we went out to check the tires we found out that the trailer was missing a complete axle and the other one was askew.  As we were outside checking things on the side of the interstate someone stopped to tell us the axle was in the passing lane a ways behind.  We called highway patrol to inform them of the matter and pulled forward a quarter mile to  get to an exit and to see the mile marker to better locate the hazard in the road.  After we spoke to the highway patrol someone else pulled up to let us know they saw the axle and moved it out of the roadway. (Whew!)  After locating another trailer to rent, towing assistance, and a weld shop where we could leave it for repairs we headed back the 30 miles out of town to the trailer on the side of the highway.

When going to transfer equipment from the damaged trailer to the rented trailer so the trailer could be loaded onto the flatbed, we found out that the axle had been stolen from the median of the interstate.  We had the weld shop mount the only axle we had and lightened the trailer on the return trip.  After a 14 hour delay we were back on our way to Black Rock.

Trailer photos by Tom Tweit.

Trailer being loaded onto flatbed after finding out the other axle was stolen.

This year we had driving the bus and the trailer out to Black Rock, Brian Elfert, Tom Tweit, Tim Covey, Dave Leininger, and myself.  Flying out to Reno and renting an RV then driving to Black Rock was Gary Stroick, Gerald Meux, and Steve Anderson.

Once on the playa we connected with Gene Nowaczyk, Craig Snyder, Mark Brown, as well as the Tripoli Southern Minnesota group with Richard Hagensick, Ron Freiheit, Andy Limper, Carl Hasbargen, and others.

Balls19

The weather this year out on the playa was the best that anyone has seen in years, great weather for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with the wind coming up a little on Sunday shortly after noon.  Even then the wind was just the normal breeze you get from heating and only blew up the dust that was disturbed by driving around the camp.

This year Team UMERG put up only tried and true rockets with nothing really pushing the envelope, this being said all flights were successful except for Tim Covey’s rocket ‘Hybrid 4-5′ which appears to have suffered damage from a previous launch attempt.  It appears that the nitrous was bleeding off as fast as it was going in, leaving it essentially empty when attempting the launch.

Steve Anderson had a great launch on an N1900, got video of this flight from back on the flight line in the video at the bottom.

Big Yeller, Team UMERG’s project

Big Yeller, UMERG's group project taking off the pad

Big Yeller on a Pitch Black Sparky motor

Spike

I had the opportunity to launch a motor in my rocket that from start to finish I did everything, design, mixing, etc.  Working with the UMERG team I had helped mix motors for the last 5 years.  This time was the first that I has gone through all of the steps to work it through, going from a small ‘G’ test motor and scaling it to a near full ‘M’ motor.

Rob Grygar's Spike on an Everclear M motor

Tripoli Southern Minnesota’s ‘Miss September’

The TSM group launched their rocket ‘Miss September’, a two stage huge rocket with a ‘P’ motor in the booster and a ‘P’ motor in the sustainer.

Graphic for Miss September

Tripoli Souther Minnesota's 'Miss September'

Both Andy Limper and Ron Freiheit launched their 2 stage rockets as well, I captured Andy’s flight on the video at the bottom.

72,000 ft flight

Curt Newport and Jeff Taylor launched Proteus 6.5 off of the UMERG launch pad to 72,000 ft.  The flight was perfect with both telemetry and a camera.  Proteus captured a wonderful photo at apogee.  Congratulations Curt & Jeff.

Curt Newport preping the camera on Proteus 6.5

72,000 ft. with Pyramid lake 50 miles away.

Tim Covey’s ‘Hybrid 4-5′

Tim Covey made an attempt to launch his rocket called ‘Hybrid 4-5′ on Saturday of Balls, and the rocket went just off of the rail then fell down to the side of the pad.  Tim said the rocket was miss fueled and the tank was empty.  He was able to get more nitrous and worked to get the rocket prepped for Sunday.  On Sunday the rocket went a little higher and just seemed to hover for a few seconds, then fell to the side of the pad once again.  Upon inspection later Tim was able to find out that on a previous misfire a crack developed that he was not able to see which allowed the nitrous to boil off as fast as it was coming into the tank.

Tim Covey, Craig Snyder, Gary Stroick, & Bruce Lee.

Here is a link to a video that shows our launches as well as those of others we were able to capture.

Balls19 2010

The Umerg team L to R, Greg Oseid, Gary Stroick, Rob Grygar, Dave Leininger, Steve Anderson, Bill Assimies, Tom Tweit.

The UMERG team (Upper Midwest Experimental Rocketry Group) traveled to launch our rocket, Locomotive Breath, at the Tripoli Rocketry Association’s Research rocketry launch, BALLS, on the Black Rock dry lake bed, in NW Nevada, near Gerlach.  The trip out was fantastic, without any mechanical problems, and the weather & driving was great.  We made probably our best time traveling out to this launch on this trip.

With that being said, the rest of the time was interesting to say the least.  We had colder weather than anyone recalls, and wind, which you expect at the Black Rock; but adding the cold to the wind made the trip memorable.  Saturday’s launch was scrubbed at about 1 pm because of the wind.  Temps plummeted overnight to the teens or low twenties, causing trouble with many of the large projects which spent the night on the pad.  Apparently, even though it warmed up a bit on Sunday, the batteries were still cold enough to loose much needed power for staging and deployment charges.  Sunday afternoon’s weather was not much better, with occasional snow squalls randomly moving through the area.  Snow & ice in the mountains east of Salt Lake City made for a white Knuckle drive on the return trip.

UMERG’s high altitude project, ‘Locomotive Breath’, was launched on Friday like many of the projects were, as reports of the upcoming bad weather created a sense of urgency.  The rocket screamed off of the pad much more aggressively than any of us had expected, only to rapidly shred in the air at about three seconds into the flight.  The longest portion of time for the flight, was all of the “rocket rain” fluttering or spinning down in an elongated debris field.

After analyzing the wreckage, it appears that a weld in the aluminum fin to the base flange, may have had a flaw that could not be seen.  The result was a spectacular, but disappointing flight.  Sometimes the things that go wrong are more interesting to watch than the rockets that perform as they should.  It has been said, “You only learn from your mistakes, not your successes”.  Next time we will be using a bolted fin design.  Analysis is still in progress to improve motor performance.

Locomotive Breath at Launch, about 3 seconds before the shred.

Immediately below is a link to a video of the launch and ‘Death Dance’ of Locomotive Breath.

Locomotive Breath

Here is a collection of videos from Balls that you may enjoy.  The videos, ‘UMERG Balls18‘, and ‘Various flights Balls18‘, show a collection of video clips from the UMERG team, and other flights that were videoed.  The videos with the individual rocket names are full length footage of the rocket flight, as much as I could get.

UMERG Balls18

Skydancer III Balls18

Spike Balls18

T2 Balls18

Heads Up Balls18

Cross-eyed Mary Balls18

Lightspeed Balls18

Robert DeHate 2 Stage Balls18

Tim Covey O Hybrid Balls18

And below is a compilation video of rockets that were not with our group, but I had the ability to capture them here.  If you flew at Balls18, you may see your rocket here.     enjoy.

Various Flights Balls18

Well the group has been hard at work getting ready for our trip to Balls18 in the Black Rock Desert, out on the playa of the Black Rock dry lake bed.  Brian and Tom have been getting the bus ready for the long trip.  Many of the group have been active in mixing propellant for test motors, beer keg rocket, and today the mixing is for Locomotive Breath.

Below are some photos of the group working on Locomotive Breath.  I have photos of this because this is the project where my time has been focused.  If anyone in the group has been taking pictures while working on ‘Cross Eyed Mary’ or the bus, let’s get them posted.  The photos are not representative of everyone who worked on this project, only the those who happened to still be around when we thought of taking a picture.  Enjoy.

Dave Leininger laying out pieces before we started working on them.

Steve Anderson tapping a miriad of holes.

Gary Stroick, Wayne Johnson, and Tom Tweit with motor casing/lower airfram after all holes are tapped.

Coupler

Electronics Bay before being turned on the lathe, welded for us by Jim Brown.

Key Lime Green. Painting before assembly.

Fins now painted yellow, looks like a John Deer. Propellant grains in background.

Below are photos from the ‘Cross-Eyed Mary’ project.

Nose cone being made by Pat Arneson, for 'Cross-Eyed Mary' the beer keg rocket.

Nose cone after creative sanding & some paint.

The keg sits in this part, and the nose cone & threaded rods slide down around the keg to hold it in place.

Booster section of Cross-Eyed Mary, the keg rocket.

For 2009 the UMERG team has two Balls projects.  One is ‘Locomotive Breath’, as in Jethro Tull’s song of the same name.  The other is ‘Cross-eyed Mary’ also going on the theme of Jethro Tull.  You know the tunes will be cranked at launch time.

Locomotive Breath, will be a 6″ minimum diameter ‘P’ project with about 14,000 lbs. of  thrust, flying on a blue propellant.  This will be our “Big” project, going for an altitude of about 70,000 ft, as well as down-link telemetry.

Cross-eyed Mary, will be our entry into the ‘Keg Lofting’ contest.  Three teams will be launching ‘Cornelius’ kegs of ‘Home Brew’ beer.  The final rules are still being hammered out, but it will all be in fun anyway.

Another favorite that may also take to the sky, is the return of ‘The Flying Red Bull Table of Death’.

There is rumor that Rob Grygar’s rocket ‘Spike’ may make a comeback in time for the Balls trip.  Stay tuned.

Stay tuned for more on these projects, as this post will probably be updated as time goes on.  Below are some photos of Locomotive Breath’s nozzle carrier/rear retainer and it’s graphite insert.

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Today, August 23, 2009, the UMERG team tested an ‘L’ motor with the propellant that will be used in Locomotive Breath.  The motor tested is a scaled down version of the larger motor.  Locomotive Breath’s motor will not be run at as high of pressures as the test motor was.  The test was successful.  Below is a link to the video of the test.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBVLkmTyXmY

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Sunday May 24th saw the successful launch of Big Yeller, for the record of the largest amature rocket launched in Minnesota.

Tripoli Minnesota held it’s research launch on a rocket flying perfect day.  Team Umerg with the rocket, Big Yeller, set the record for largest amateur rocket flown in the state.

Here are some video links to videos of the launch.

UMERG Big Yeller

Big Yeller: Largest Amateur rocket in Minnesota

And below is the link to the on-board video.

Big Yeller North Branch Launch, on-board video

For more information, you can read the article below.

Come watch us fly ‘Big Yeller’, on Sunday May 24th.  We will be setting up and preparing the rocket starting around 10:00 a.m.  The rocket takes some time to prep, so be patient.  When the rocket is set to go, we will launch as soon as possible.  The prep process should probably take a couple hours.

If weather is not good, Monday the 25th is our alternate launch date.

Photos of the nozzle for Big Yeller before assembling the motor.

Here is a proposed press release for the planned Memorial Day Launch of Big Yeller.

200lb Rocket Scheduled to Launch at North Branch Sod Farm

Tripoli MN (www.tripolimn.org) is hosting a rocket launch this Memorial Day weekend at the Harley sod farm located just east of North Branch, Minnesota. There is a rumor going around that there will be an 18 ½’ tall rocket weighing about 200lbs scheduled for the event, According to President, Dave Leininger. This will be one of the biggest rockets ever flown at this location and has an expected altitude of about 14,000ft. The public is invited so check their web site for directions and bring a lawn chair if you would like to witness this auspicious event. “This should be the event of the season” according to Dave and he expects a large crowd for the event. During the summer months Tripoli MN hosts a monthly launch the second Saturday of each month May through November at this same location. “At a typical launch we launch around a hundred rockets varying in size from the small Estes type rockets all the way up to the big bruisers” Dave told us. “You never know what to expect, when we have a good day we can have flights up to 12,000ft 2 or 3 times a day with many other High Powered flights ranging anywhere from a 1,000ft or more” he explained.

This isn’t the first time that this rocket has took flight, as a matter of fact it’s last flight was this past September in the little town of Argonia, Kansas known best for hosting the Tripoli National Launch known as, LDRS. Before that she took flight in the Black Desert located at a remote dry lakebed in Nevada. This year this ambitious team of Minnesotans plans to fly a rocket to over 60,000ft in the Nevada desert. Dave told us that the rocket that they are building will be almost 14’ long and 6″ in diameter holding about 75lbs of fuel and should easily break mach 2. “We should have had this rocket done last year but due to injuries to the main designing engineer it was pushed back to this year’s event” explained Dave. Along with the Minnesota team there are many other teams and individuals that go to this remote spot every year to test their designs at a place so remote that the FAA will allow flights up to 100,000ft. This event is called BALLS, for obvious reasons, and that is where you will see some of the biggest and baddest projects put together by anybody short of the real pros. Dave told us that a rocket achieved an altitude of over 93,000ft at this very same spot just 3 years ago and was followed up by two flights the following two years that went over 80.00ft.

For more information on the upcoming launch or how to join the Tripoli MN club please visit our web site www.tripolimn.org. To find out more about our national organizations or find a club near you look into www.tripoili.org or www.nar.org for more information. To watch the progress of upcoming projects designed and built by the daring young, or maybe not so young, men that brave the desert southwest you should take a peek at our newest group www.umerg.org. Come join the fun and exhilaration of High Powered Rocketry, you won’t find a better group of people anywhere. Remember that big or small we fly’em all at Tripoli Minnesota.

Big Yeller made the centerfold of the December 2008 issue of Extreme Rocketry magazine.

There is also another photo and short writeup on page 30 as one of the featured projects of LDRS. The photographs were taken by Brent Hill at LDRS27 in Argonia Kansas.

The future is bright!  We have a great core group of people who want to build and fly large projects.  We’ll be well represented at a number of the big launches this year, and we have a couple new projects in the works.

Our Fleet for 2009:

• Big Yeller – This rocket has flown several time and will fly again.  When and where are still to be determined, but we’re planning on flying it at our home field in North Branch early in the 2009 Minnesota rocket season.
• Locomotive Breath – This is a brand new project.  We’re planning to fly it at BALLS this year if not before.  It’s a whole lot of motor with some fins and a nose cone thrown in for good measure.
• Flying Red Bull Table of Death – It’s a table, it’s a rocket, watch it fly.
• Yet to be name Keg Lofter

Launches our members are planning to attend:

• Winter Nationals 2009
  (Palm Beach Count, Florida)
• Fire on the Farm 2009
  (Pickrell, Nebraska)
• Rocket Mavericks 2009 International Civilian Space Competition
  (Black Rock, Nevada)
• LDRS 28
  (Penn Yan, New York)
• BALLS 18
  (Black Rock, Nevada)
• Tripoli Minnesota (monthly club launches)
  (North Branch, Minnesota)