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Starfire is a scratch built rocket that was designed
to fly on a variety of cluster motor configurations while carrying several
different electronics payload packages including a digital camcorder, a TV
transmitter and a digital still camera.
Starfire
construction details can be seen here.
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Length: |
12 feet, 5.25
inches |
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Diameter: |
7.7 inches |
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Weight: |
45 lbs without
motors |
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Motor: |
Central 75mm
motor and six 38mm outboard motors |
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Altimeters: |
2 each,
Missile Works RRC2 |
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Payload: |
Mini-DV
camcorder. |
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Parachute: |
SkyAngle
Cert-3 XXL |
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Built: |
Dec 2003 -
April 2004 |
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First Flight: |
May 1, 2004 at
the Tripoli Idaho "SpudRoc-9" launch |
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Construction: |
Body tube:
flexible phenolic + 3 layers of 6 oz fiberglass
Fins: G10 fiberglass
Nose cone: plastic
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| Click on any photo to see a larger version of it. |
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Photo by Rick Clapp |
Starfire Flight #19
September 15, 2007
Once again Starfire flew on an AMW
M2200 "Skidmark" motor at the XPRS launch held at
Black Rock desert. It reached 4,017 feet and was recovered with no
damage. More photos of this
Starfire launch can be found on the XPRS 2007 page at the link below.
More Starfire Flight #19 photos |
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Photo by Vern Knowles |
Starfire Flight #17
May 26, 2007
Starfire flew on an AMW
M2500 Green Gorilla motor at the "Fire In The
Sky" (FITS) launch near Mansfield Washington. Three J420 Redline
outboard motors also helped boost Starfire to an apogee at 6,961 feet
above the ground. It was recovered with no damage.
More Starfire Flight #17 photos |
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Photo by Vern Knowles |
Starfire Flight #16
October 14, 2006
Starfire's "Sweet 16"
flight was on a perfect 75 degree day at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls
launch site. No wind and blue skies. It doesn't get any
better!
The AMW M2500 "Green
Gorilla" motor lifted Starfire to 6,047 feet. It landed about 1200 feet
away.
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Photo by Mike Choules |
Photo by Vern Knowles |
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The Snake river canyon is two miles from the
launch site. This view of it is looking west. |
This view is looking south west. |
Another view looking north west. The
Swan Falls dam can just be seen in the lower left corner. Click on
the photo to get a better look at it. |
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A great view of the Snake river canyon and the
Swan Falls dam. Sinker Butte is in the center on the other side of
the river. This is the Snake River Birds of Prey national
conservation area. It is habitat for eagles, falcons and other birds
of prey. |
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Starfire hangs in the sky with the Snake river
canyon in the distance. |
Starfire captured this view of the launch site
and flight line just before gently touching down. |
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Photo by Vern Knowles |
Starfire Flight #15
September 24, 2006
This was the best
Starfire flight yet! Absolutely spectacular! Starfire
lifted off on an AMW M2200 "Skidmark" motor. After that motor
burned out, four J350's lit and gave Starfire another good boost.
After those burned out, two more J570's gave it another good kick,
pushing it on up to 8,416 feet.
The on-board video system
worked great and the two onboard digital still cameras captured some
great shots of the Black Rock desert and the flight line.
Everything about this flight went perfectly! It remains one of my top
personal favorites.
There are many more
photos and some great videos from this flight. Check 'em out by
clicking on the link below! A whole page is devoted to this one
launch.
See more photos and videos of Starfire
Flight #15 at XPRS
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Starfire flew on an AMW M3000
"Super Tiger" motor along with a full complement of six
out-board J-motors that were programmed to air-start in two sequential
sets. A first set of four J350's would ignite at 5 seconds and then a
second set of two J570's would ignite at 8 seconds. Everything worked
exactly right! The total motor impulse for this flight was
12,290 NS which is in the "N" class and it pushed Starfire to 9,812 feet.
This was the highest Starfire flight to date. |
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Starfire flew
on an AMW M2200
"Skidmark" motor along with six out-board J-motors that were
supposed to be air-started in two sequential sets after main motor burn
out. A first set of four and then a second set of two.
Unfortunately, only the second set of air-starts lit. The reason the
first set got skipped was found to be that there was simply not quite
enough current to fire the four motors all at once. The rest of the
flight went just fine and Starfire was safely recovered after reaching
5,316 feet. |
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Photo by Vern Knowles |
Starfire Flight #12
May 29,
2006
FITS Launch
Mansfield Washington.
Starfire was to
liftoff using an
AMW M3000
"Super Tiger" motor and then ignite four J350 outboards at
five seconds and then ignite two J570 motors at eight seconds.
Unfortunately, none of the J-motors ever lit because the onboard timer got
reset during the main motor burn. The cause of the reset was later
found to be due to ESD picked up by the trailing break wire used to start
the onboard timer. The result was that Starfire coasted on up to
4,867 feet and then deployed the chutes and cameras. It was safely
recovered with no damage.
More Starfire Flight #12 photos |
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Photo by Vern Knowles |
Starfire Flight #11
May 6, 2006
Spudroc-11 Launch
Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls site
Starfire liftoff an
AMW M2500
"Green Gorilla" motor. Starfire weighed 72 pounds on the pad and
reached 5,781 feet. It landed about 0.5 miles away.
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Starfire lifted off very
quickly on the central M3000 "Super Tiger". After it burned out,
all three Aerotech J350 air-starts ignited. These gave a real nice kick to
the velocity and Starfire eventually reached 8,159 feet.
Starfire touched down
almost one mile
from the launch pad and was recovered in perfect condition. A
special thank you goes out to August Degner for helping me retrieve
Starfire from the sagebrush. |
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Photo by Gary Gardner |
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Liftoff on the
AMW
M2500
"Green Gorilla" motor.
Starfire had a very nice flight reaching
5,882 feet. |
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A view of the Snake River
canyon from Starfire at about 5,000 feet above the ground. |
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A view of the flight line
just before landing. The smoke from the M2500 still hangs in the
air. |
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Joe Bowen checks out the Starfire landing
site. No damage. |
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Photo by Tom Jensen |
Starfire Flight #5
Vern with Starfire at the
Tripoli Idaho launch on October 24,
2004.
Starfire carried a mini-DV
camcorder and a digital still camera on this flight.
The
video from this flight is available here!
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Photo by Tom Jensen |
Photo by Tom Jensen |
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Starfire ended 2004 like it
started the year, by flying on an M1315. This flight also included two
J420 redline air starts. The timer was set to fire the air starts
7.5 seconds after liftoff. This was well after main motor burn out.
It worked great, but Starfire was already pretty high by then, so they
didn't add much to the overall look of the flight. Starfire
also had two I218 redline motors that were supposed to fire after the
J420's burned out. However, the timer malfunctioned and went
into a reset state when the J420's ignited, so the I218's never lit.
This is the same failure mode that occurred at XPRS on the previous
flight. The root cause has not been found. Extensive ground
testing has not shown the problem. The single most obvious reason, would
be that the battery voltage dropped too low when lighting off the first
set of air starts. However, I've done a awful lot of ground testing
that proves that's not the cause. Investigations continue.....
Starfire reached 5257 feet
and was safely recovered with no damage. |
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Looking back down toward
the launch site from on-board Starfire during the motor boost phase.
This is a single frame from the mini-DV camcorder.
The full video is
available here. |
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The snake river canyon is
about 2 miles west of the launch site. This image is also from the
on-board camcorder. It was taken as Starfire was descending on
parachute. |
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This aerial view was taken
from a small digital camera on-board Starfire. It is looking north at the
Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site. A small grouping of cars at the
launch site is in the lower right corner. The dark areas across the
ground are the shadows of the clouds that over head. A little bit of the
smoke from the M1315 still lingers in the air. It was dead calm that day. |
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Starfire Flight #4
(XPRS 2004) |
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The fourth flight of
Starfire occurred at the XPRS launch on September 24, 2004.
XPRS is held at Black
Rock dry lake bed in the northwestern corner of Nevada.
Helping Vern load Starfire
on to the launch pad are
Tripoli Idaho
Rocketry members Rich Boltizar, Joe Bowen, Richie Boltizar, Greg Spohn
and Frank Ross.
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Photo by Richie Boltizar |
Starfire on a M2200 Skidmark
motor!
I am standing next to
Starfire just prior to launch. Starfire was flown on the
AMW M2200 Skidmark
motor at XPRS 2004. It also carried two J420 redline air-starts and
two I218 redline air-starts. As planned, the J420's ignited just after
main motor burn out. The I218's were supposed to ignite just after the
J420's burned-out but never did. Cause is still being investigated.
Starfire carried a mini-DV camcorder in the lower payload bay.
The video from it is posted here. This was the fourth flight of Starfire and
it reached 5,768 feet. Starfire weighed 72.5 pounds on the pad.
The video for this
flight is available here!
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Liftoff photos by Vern Knowles |
Liftoff on the M2200 Skidmark
What a great motor!
These photos just don't do it justice. You really have to
experience one of these motors. And once you do, it will become an
instant favorite. They are very loud and produce lots of smoke and
lots of sparks! They are very exciting to watch.
The video for this
flight is available here!
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Photo by Rick Clapp |
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Starfire liftoff on an
Animal Motor Works M2500 Green Gorilla motor. Two air start J350
outboard motors were also ignited about five seconds after liftoff and
carried Starfire on up to 8598 feet. The air starts kicked-in about
1.5 seconds after main motor burnout to cap off a spectacular liftoff.
Videos of this flight
can be seen here. |
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Photo by Fred Azinger |
Starfire in flight at mid
boost phase on an AMW M2500GG motor.
Starfire landed 0.7 miles
away due to a light breeze and a nice slow descent on the parachute. |
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Aerial view of the Brothers
Oregon launch site on July 24, 2004. This is one frame taken from
the on-board video camcorder while Starfire was about 0.5 miles away and
still a few minutes from touch down.
The on-board video is
available here. |
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Starfire Flight #2
Starfire was flown on an
M1315 plus two out-board J350 motors at the Oregon Rocketry "Summer Skies"
launch near Brothers Oregon on June 26, 2004. This was the first
time Starfire was flown with air starts. The air start timer was set
to six seconds after liftoff assuming the J350's would come online at
about seven seconds. This timing proved to be just right as the
J350's ignited about one second after main motor burnout and the flight
was a real beauty. Starfire was 63.4 pounds on the pad and reached
5770 feet. Starfire carried an on-board mini-DV camcorder during
this flight.
Ground based video and on-board video from this flight can be seen here. |
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View from on-board Starfire
looking back down at the launch site and the fight line at Brothers
Oregon. |
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Photo by Fred Azinger |
Photo by Fred Azinger |
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Photo by Fred Azinger |
Parachute landing at the
Brothers Oregon launch site.
Starfire touched down about 200 yards from the
launch pad! |
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Starfire Flight #1
Starfire liftoff on an
M1315 motor on May 1, 2004 at the Tripoli Idaho "SpudRoc-9" launch event.
It weighed 55 pounds on the pad. The liftoff was "slow" but steady
and nearly perfectly vertical. It
reached 4988 feet and then deployed a big SkyAngle Cert-3 XXL parachute
for a nice and slow descent. It was a picture perfect maiden flight
on a beautiful day for flying rockets.
This flight carried an on-board mini-DV
camcorder that was looking down the side of the rocket during liftoff.
Video of this flight is
available here! |
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Photo by Greg Fannin |
Vern with Starfire at the
Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site on May 1, 2004. Starfire itself
is over 12 feet tall, so when it's 4 feet above the ground on the launch
pad it really looks big!
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Looking down the side of
Starfire at the launch site below. At this point the main motor has
burned-out and Starfire is coasting to apogee.
This is a single frame from
the on-board camcorder.
See the whole video
here! |
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View of the Snake River
canyon while Starfire was descending on the parachute. |
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