X-12 Water Rocket Snatches
World Record during Shakedown Flights with
1,715 foot (523 meter) average altitude.
Updated: 10:25 p.m. EDT (02:25 GMT) October 24, 2005
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U.S. Water
Rockets' X-12 Prepares to set a new world record!
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GALWAY, New York (Routers) -- With an average altitude of 1,715 feet (523 meters), U.S. Water Rockets X-12 rocket sets a new WRA2
record altitude.
Late last
month, U.S. Water
Rockets finished construction on a new and improved Water Rocket
Design. After performing a series of pressurization tests while
secured to the ground, the time arrived when the rocket would be put through
a series of in-flight stability and nozzle calibration flights. X-12 was
soon screwed into the
launch bracket on the launching pad and the test
series was initiated.
The weather was very favorable
for launching, and there was plenty of sunlight left in the day for
the onboard video camera to record the flight, so the
launch crew ran through the pre-flight checklist as a rehearsal
for future World Record launches.
After the lengthy pressurization phase of the
countdown, the landing target area was cleared of spectators and the
onboard computer was instructed to take control of the rocket. The
controller immediately started the video camera and initiated in-flight
telemetry. The controller was then decoupled from the launchpad operator
cable and the onboard telemetry signaled that all systems were nominal.
After a brief 5-second verbal countdown by the launch crew, the
launch pad clamp was released and X-12 streaked into the air, leaving only
a fine mist of water droplets in its wake. The upward velocity was so great
that the rocket soon became invisible to the naked eye on the
ground. Roughly 10 seconds later, the small orange parachute was seen
unfurling in the sunshine. The recovery crew quickly retrieved X-12 and
connected the computer cables for data download.
Once the data was
retreived, it became obvious that the improvements made to X-12 over the
previous X-rockets had paid off in a big way. The flight reached
a maximum altitude of 1,720 feet ( 524 meters). This was higher than the current
world record.
Turning this fortunate outcome
into a new world record became a race against time, as the
ground crew knew that they had to get a second launch (to be averaged with
the first) off the ground within two hours of the first flight, in order to
claim the record. Crew members scurried about furiously resetting
the launch systems and preparing X-12 for a second flight. It was not long
before the rocket was secured back in the clamp and pressurizing for the
second flight.
The second flight, launched under identical
conditions as the first, so as not to risk spoiling the record by pushing
the envelope too far, also went flawlessly. The second flight achieved an
impressive altitude of 1,709 feet (521 meters).
The whole team was quite pleased with their
accomplishment that day, and has promised to begin expanding the flight
envelope of X-12 in the future.
