LOST 2.5" RATTWorks M900 Motor + Rocket - Northern Colorado Rocketry

This topic has 9 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 4 months ago by bryans.

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May 27, 2009 at 2:25 am #40654
edward
Moderator
On Sunday at about 11:30 I flew my L3 project – a ~120″ tall rocket with a RATTWorks M900. It was a purple casing with ~4′ of filament wound tubing on top, minimum diameter at 2.5″. The fins were an aluminum fin can slid onto the bottom of the motor. The main parachute was a 48″ dark blue and orange with a black/yellow edging drogue approximately 30″.

It has a transmitter in it in the 218 Mhz range with a battery life of ~ 7 days.

Projected Altitude was between 22-24k. I had a good signal between 40-50 East of North for ~15 minutes. Below is a map of the projected path (white) and where I walked/drove (red).

If anyone is wandering NE of the launch site and finds it, please contact me at 97O.4O2.3252 or edwardcw(AT)gmail.com

Thank you!!

Edward
May 27, 2009 at 5:20 pm #50563
Ed Dawson
Edward,

If you recover this intact, are you good for the L3 Cert?

How about a search party for the missing rockets tomorrow afternoon?
May 27, 2009 at 6:45 pm #50564
Adrian
Participant
If you guys are thinking about going out again while the transmitter is still running, the bluffs would make an excellent location for the radio scan. The one that’s the 2nd from the right in the picture below has a commanding view of your whole likely landing area, which is mostly to the right of where this picture is looking.
May 27, 2009 at 6:52 pm #50565
edward
Moderator
Here is a topo .PDF that I made of the area, I marked all the high points.

http://www.alphahybrids.com/Media/TopoMap.pdf

Edward
May 28, 2009 at 4:47 am #50566
Adrian
Participant
That’s a beautiful map. Where did it come from?

Now I know where that nonexistant, mystery road in Google maps came from: the jeep track that was visible when the USGS created this topo, probably decades ago.
May 28, 2009 at 1:50 pm #50567
edward
Moderator
I have the USGS topo maps for Colorado on CD. They are a very nice resource. The map for this quadrant is called Chalk Bluffs East. Circa 1972. I purchased these in 2003 so that part is fairly recent. If you’d like I can get you a .pdf version that doesn’t have my scribblings.

Edward
May 28, 2009 at 5:34 pm #50568
Ken Plattner
Participant
FWIW, I searched for two days when I lost Carbon Diem last year, and I was sure I’d never see it again. So I printed some small “reward if found” signs with the rocket description and my contact info. I had them laminated and then I stapled them to about ten telephone poles and fence posts north and east of the launch site. Specifically at the Tee where CR122 ends and then north on CR 124, 125 and 126. It was only about a week later when I got a call from a rancher who found the rocket while riding his horse checking up on his stock tanks.

Definately worth the effort and the $20 or so I spent on the signs and the reward I gave to the rancher.

Ken.
May 28, 2009 at 5:47 pm #50569
bryans
Ed, where did you get the Colorado topo maps on CD? whats the disclaimer on the CD? If its created by USGS, should be public domain and ok to copy.

I have been trying to find em on USGS site but unable to so far… there are lots of references to “digital data for purchase on cdrom” but i cannot seem to find where to do so.
May 28, 2009 at 6:40 pm #50570
Murdock
Download them here
May 29, 2009 at 5:42 pm #50571
bryans
Thanks Chris, i saw that… those are helpful scans of the 7.5 minute quads we used to buy at Chinook in Colo Springs.

But Ed’s map seems different and quite a bit crisper, and there is definitely alot to be said for having the whole state on CDROMs instead of downloading one quad at a time.
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