Successful Second Liquid-propellant Aerospike Engine Flight Onboard P-4, Dec. 7, 2003
Following the recent launch of their 1000 lbf thrust ablative annular aerospike engine onboard Prospector-2 two months earlier,
the CALVEIN team accomplished yet another milestone with the successful
second flight of a liquid-propellant aerospike engine on Sunday, Dec. 7.
This flight applied lessons-learned from the previous one to fully
demonstrate the performance of the liquid propellant, ablative aerospike
engine.
Videos of the launch include:
Individuals who attended the launch and who may have pictures of the
vehicle in flight of better quality than the ones below are encouraged
to email these pictures to Eric Besnard (
besnarde@csulb.edu -
Indicate whom proper credit should be given to -and copyrights, if any -
when sending a picture - Thanks!).
P-4 accelerates past Kevin Baxter's launch rail. Photo and Copyright by K. Mark Caviezel, Dec. 2003
The P-4 team on Saturday
The team was ready to fly by mid-day Saturday, but winds in excess
of 20 mph forced it to scrub the launch and postpone it to the next day.
At 8:45 am on Sunday morning, the team was ready to launch, but launch
had to aborted several times while late comers were making their way
to the MTA... Also, the team had to wait for air space clearance from
Edwards AFB which was conducting tests. Finally, at 9:01 am, the
all clear was given and the Prospector-4 took-off in the partly cloudy
sky.
The aerospike engine suffered none of the sub-optimal
performance observed during the first flight (Sept. 21) thanks to
a small modification made to the outer ring prior to laying up the
ablative material. The aerospike engine demonstrated a clean
burn-to-propellant-depletion and both the payload deployment and
single-parachute recovery systems appeared to have functioned nominally.
Due to the wind and small launch rail inclination
(4 deg. from vertical), the vehicle weather-vaned upon leaving the
57-ft launch rail before then entering a straight, stable trajectory
in the direction towards the Koehn dry lake bed reaching an altitude
greater than 4000 ft. The P4 then returned to the ground under full
parachute, with all systems still functional.
P-4 coming back on the 18 ft parachute
P-4 after landing safely.
The payload, a camera system developed by Cerritos High School
students, was ejected near apogee. The student-made parachute was
torn right after deployment, however, and the payload fell from several
thousand feet... (picture below).
Cerritos High School students camera system after impact (note the strings which held the parachute before it was ripped off from aero loads)
It is anticipated that more complete performance data should become
available in the next several days from the on-board RDAS data logger.
The team also recovered the CSULB-developed thermoplastic nosecone.
It appeared to have suffered only minor damage in one area and could be
flown again (it previously had been considered to be a disposable item).
Other activities at the MTA included the launch attempt by the San Diego
State University/Flometrics team to launch their large LOX-RP rocket.
The launch, planned for Sunday, had to be scrubbed since the wind picked
up strength about an hour after the Prospector-4 launch and because the
military needed the air space for tests. Click here for details.
Special Thanks
In addition to Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, other corporate
contributors to the Prospector 4 flight test include Electro-Tech
Machining (ETM) which provided the graphite engine components.
In addition to the "regulars"
(John Engberg, Dave McCue, Mike Novratil, Chuck Castillo and
Mark Holthaus), the CSULB team would also like to recognize the
following individuals who, through their support, made this flight
a success. First , Tom Mueller who was instrumental in mentoring
the students during the engine design process, Kevin Baxter who
brought his launch rail for CALVEIN use, Richard Ornellas for
providing the LOX, Dave Crisalli, President of the RRS,
for giving the CALVEIN team access to the MTA and overseeing
launch operations, and Steve Bartlett and Microcosm, Inc. for
logistics support. Many thanks also to K. Mark Caviezel for the
pictures of the rocket while ascending the launch rail.
Finally, congratulations to Jose "Pepe" Ruiz and Paul Skaar
for their successful development of the new recovery system and
payload deployment system.
For additional information about
either the CALVEIN project and/or the cooperative program between
CSULB and Garvey Spacecraft Corporation, please contact the following
project representatives:
