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Old 08-11-2013, 10:20 AM
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Sather Sather is offline
Entropy Demonstrator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Northern Illinois
Posts: 120
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7. Rewards... In addition to eternal bragging rights, each of the top three finishers gets an engraved trophy, with ribbons for 4th thru 10th place. All pre-registered participants get a nifty certificate suitable for framing. And I am rolling over last year’s cash prize, so that this year the winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Wildman Rocket Supply. Second place gets a new AeroTech 29-40-120 hardware set and a G64-W reload. Third place gets a G79-W motor in his/her choice of 4 or 7 second delay.

8. Expanded explanations & examples - Some effects are under our control, some are not. We can adapt, i.e. a damaged rocket may still result in a successful mission. This is a unique challenge, and all results will be treated as if occuring during an actual spaceflight mission, with due respect to those failures and successes. Some examples are listed below. Actual flights may demonstrate combinations of these.

(a) - someone stepped on your rocket in the prep area. Bummer. (NOAA-19, Sep 2003) - During final servicing by Lockheed-Martin, engineers failed to check if the weather satellite was bolted down before moving it, and accidentally dropped it. Whoops! Repairs to the satellite cost $135 million, and it was eventually launched in Feb 2009 = no point loss, variable self-imposed time and monetary penalties.

(b) - launch anomaly resulting in loss of 1st launch vehicle, but with recovery of descent stage and 2nd launch vehicle, i.e. you lose the launch vehicle but recover the descent stage. The descent vehicle must be recovered, and the ascent vehicle must make the 2nd launch and be recovered, along with the cheese. In the Apollo program, the huge Saturn V lofted the Command, Service, and Lunar Modules to the moon. Only the lunar module made the descent to the surface, and only half of that left the surface. The Saturn V was not recovered. So, if the launch vehicle is damaged, you may lose some points in “Quality of Flight (or Recovery) #1”, but if separate and (1) you recover the descent vehicle and (2) are able to refly it = no further point deduction. Mission continues.

(c) - launch anomaly resulting in loss of descent stage. (Orbital Carbon Observatory, Feb, 2009) - A payload fairing is a clamshell-shaped cover that protects a payload during early flight, and they are always jettisoned as soon as possible after a rocket has climbed high enough that heating from air friction will not damage the payload. The OCO fairing failed to separate after second stage ignition. The extra mass of the fairing was not a significant factor during the flight of the larger lower stages, but it kept the small third stage from adding enough velocity to reach orbit, so the resulting sub-orbital ballistic path put the payload into the ocean near Antarctica, 17 minutes after liftoff = loss of all “Quality of Flight” points, as well as all subsequent categories.

(d) - launch anomaly, vehicle remains fully functional. (Apollo 12, Nov 1969) - was struck by lightning (twice, at 36 and 52 seconds) during launch, knocking electrical systems offline. Power was restored about four minutes later. The astronauts spent additional time in earth orbit to make sure the spacecraft was functional before firing their S-IVB third stage engine and departing for the moon = no point deduction.

(e) - your recovery system fails resulting in complete loss of vehicle. (Mars Climate Orbiter, Dec 1998) - In one of the all time great engineering gaffs, NASA subcontractor Lockheed Martin created thruster software that used Imperial units, not the metric units used by NASA. NASA did not know this, never converted from pounds to newtons, and the probe hit the Martian atmosphere and burned up = loss of points under “Quality of Recovery” of the applicable flight, and all subsequent categories.

(f) - you literally lose your rocket. (Mars Polar Lander, Jan 1999) - on December 3, 1999, after the descent phase was expected to be complete, the lander failed to reestablish communication with Earth. (Beagle 2, Jun 2003) - All contact with it was lost in Dec 2003, upon its separation from the Mars Express orbiter six days before the Beagle’s scheduled entry into the atmosphere. = start looking. You have until Sunday to find it, else loss of points under “Quality of Recovery” of the applicable flight, and all subsequent categories.

(g) - partial recovery failure with no damage to descent vehicle. (Apollo 15, Aug 1971) - During descent, the three main parachutes opened successfully. However, when the remaining reaction control system fuel was jettisoned, one parachute was damaged by the discarded fuel, causing it to collapse. The Apollo 15 capsule and its crew still splashed down safely, at a slightly higher than normal velocity, on the two remaining main parachutes. = mission may continue, no point loss.

(h) - partial recovery failure with non-repairable damage to pad / platform but not ascent vehicle. You land hard and break a leg on the lander, but the ascent rocket section is still deemed flyable. (Apollo program, never utilized) - We are going to treat that as a rejected landing with an abort to orbit. If a fault occurred during an attempted moon landing, the astronauts had the option of firing the ascent engine and returning to the Command Module in lunar orbit, and subsequently to Earth. Simulating this, you may remove your ascent stage from the lander’s launch platform, return it to the range, and re-launch it from any appropriate WOOSH pad. Since the rocket flew twice, this will in itself not generate a point deduction in any categories other than “Mission Success”, since when you waived off you didn’t acquire any cheese. There may be, at the discretion of the judge, a points penalty for “Quality of Recovery #1”, if that is what damaged your lander. But you were fully “re-launchable” and your astronauts returned safely. Congratulations!

(i) - partial recovery failure with repairable damage to ascent vehicle or pad / platform. You only have what you can carry. Nothing can be added to the mission after the first launch. But you can make repairs using what you happen to have brought along in the lander, with no penalty. In fact, everybody can earn a couple bonus points for having flown a representative sample of things you may need to make the trip home. Think of that scene in Apollo 13: “We need to make this… fit into this… using this.” If you break a fin on landing #1, you can repair it only if you flew the tape or adhesive you need to do so. If your second launch attempt burns the igniter, hope you flew a spare. In the actual operation of Apollo 11 (Jul 1969), while moving within the cabin, Buzz Aldrin accidentally broke a main engine arming circuit breaker. There was concern this would prevent firing the engine, stranding them on the Moon. They used a felt-tip pen to activate the switch.

(j) - partial recovery failure with non-repairable damage to ascent vehicle and/or loss of ability to re-launch. (Apollo program, never utilized) - Your lander is stranded. President Nixon had a prepared speech for such an occasion during the Apollo program. Think about what you may want to say, and full point deductions in all categories of 2nd flight.

(k) - landing site suitability, example #1. (Apollo program, all) Apollo had pilots, you don’t. Neil Armstrong famously overflew a field of boulders to find a better place to land. Your first flight hangs in a tree, or tips over on landing due to wind. This does not mean the end of the mission. Since, assuming unlimited funds and training and given the ability to do so, you would have picked a better area and safely landed upright in a flat spot, AND under rule 4b you must re-launch from the range, you will be allowed to move your rocket back to the range, and upright it back to its legs (if so equipped) = with no point deduction.

(l) - landing site suitability, example #2. Your intended landing site turned out to be a “water world” and your mission landed in the lake. Hey, the Huygens probe was designed to float upright, why didn’t you think of that? (Soyuz 23, Oct 1976) The landing capsule broke through the surface of a frozen lake and was dragged underwater by its parachute. The crew was saved after a very difficult rescue operation. = no point deduction, but you get wet. However, any water damage to your ascent stage may result in penalties under example (j). And you still got wet.

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Challenge dates - ECOF 2014, dates to be determined. Saturday, __ July 2014 and Sunday, __ July 2014
9:00 AM - tent and table setup
10:00 AM - group photo (bring your rocket)
10:00 AM to 3:00 PM - preflight judging and qualifying flights (thru Sunday if weather forecast acceptable)
preflight judging - max of 40 points
inflight points - 1st flight - max of 30 points
inflight points - 2nd flight - max of 30 points
postflight points
- bank points deducted if used - max of 9 points
- bonus points added - max of 20 points
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM - point tabulation
4:00 PM - awards ceremony


edit - clarified cheese gathering and moved some text from post 1 to post 2 to fit 10,000 character limit.
__________________
AP used in 2010: 28,044 Ns (36.9% O)
AP used in 2011: 43,488 Ns (6.2% P)
Highest altitude achieved: 21,981' AGL

"Gravity is a cruel and unpredictable mistress"
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