US Space and Rocket Center Launches 5k Rockets Simultaneously

al.com

55 points·kouh··14 comments

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EsvR6cPVno

Did the parachutes deploy? looks like they might have been too close together and straight dropped down. Which is probably safest.

It looks like these were the smaller models that only deploy a streamer rather than a full parachute. They still got pretty tangled together.

Yep. Got my hands on a couple afterwards. Silver streamer style that looks like aluminum foil, but feels more like a plastic.

A big list of other Apollo 11 anniversary events: http://orbitalindex.com/apollo-11-anniversary-events/

Now let’s try to break the record for the most rockets landed simultaneously!

I wonder what they did to ignite all of them at the same time? The normal Estes rocket electric matches have pretty poor timing in my experience.

Igniter delay and variance can be reduced by increasing the current pushed through them.

The power delivery setup for this launch was probably the most interesting bit. Estes igniters are typically rated to require 2A. Supplying that times 5000 is no simple task. The video seems to show five large boxes (~1m on a side), each surrounded by a cluster of rockets. These boxes probably each concealed a pile of batteries and relays.

I suspect a capacitor bank could provide such starting currents.

Typical US saber rattling...

I wonder if they notify Russia China ... etc

5k *model Rockets

FTFY

There was nothing to fix. A model rocket that flies is a rocket.

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