I named Vulcan after the Roman god of fire. It just seemed appropriate for a rocket!  It's a scratch built rocket that was originally built to carry my video transmitter module for live video downlink. It first flew on April 28, 2001.  It went on to have a total of three successful flights without the transmitter.  However, during the third flight with the transmitter it was damaged and it can no longer carry it.  The damage has since been repaired and Vulcan remains operational as a non-video rocket. I hope to post more photos of it here as I continue to fly it in the future.

Vulcan Specifications Length: 8 feet, 8 inches Diameter: 5.5 inches Weight: 38 pounds with M1315 motor and video payload Motor: 75mm mount accommodates up to M1315 motor.  (Aerotech 6400 NS case) Altimeters: 2 each, Missile Works RRC2 Locator: Walston radio transmitter Payload: CCD video camera, 1.3GHz transmitter, GPS info overlay Parachute: Rocketman R14 on rocket, Rocketman R12 on payload module Built: Jan. - Mar. 2001 First Flight: April 28, 2001 on K700 at Crater Rings launch site near Mountain Home Idaho Construction: Body tube: flexible phenolic + 2 layers of 6 oz fiberglass Fins:  G10 fiberglass Nose cone:  plastic   View Vulcan construction details here.

Vulcan Launch Photos

The last flight of Vulcan -- Flight #26

Vulcan was launched for the 26th (and final time) at the Oregon Rocketry Summer Skies launch on June 17, 2007 near Brothers Oregon.  An Aerotech M1315 motor lifted Vulcan smartly off the pad. However, it tipped off the rail just a bit and headed up at a slight angle.  By the time it reached apogee it was also suffering from the effects of a gradual gravity turn as a result of the long burn time and the long coast time from the big M motor.  Consequently, it was still going pretty fast at apogee.  The main chute was deployed (as planned) at apogee but the airspeed was too much for it.  It was immediately shredded.  Vulcan had reached 11,017 feet.  It's highest flight ever, but it was doomed at that point and fell to its destruction during the two minute ride back to the ground.

Vulcan was carrying a digital camera and a digital camcorder on this flight.  The photo at the left is from the onboard camera and shows Vulcan high above the desert floor during its descent back to the ground.   The booster is still in fine condition in this photo but it would not be much longer!

The photo at left above shows the Vulcan fin can as it landed.  It was destroyed.  The photo at right above shows the body tube that got zippered by the recovery harness.  Vulcan was built in a "zipper less" configuration but it still suffered a massive zipper as well as impact damage to the body tube. The onboard cameras and the electronic altimeters survived the flight.  The motor case and plastic nosecone were fine too.  The airframe was a total loss.          Vulcan was designed to be a single deployment system. It would deploy the main chute at apogee along with the cameras in the payload bay.  To help avoid the kind of failure mode suffered on this flight, it might be a good idea to pack the main chute in a deployment bag that delays the opening of the main chute for at least a short while.  During that time a drogue chute could be used to slow it down a bit.  The drogue could then pull the main chute out of the deployment bag.  This type of system has it's own set of failure modes, so it's not clear if it is a net improvement in overall reliability or not.  However, it probably would have prevented this particular failure mode. Vulcan had a total of 26 flights. That's a good number.

Vulcan Flight #25 May 26, 2007 FITS 2007 Launch Mansfield, Washington   Vulcan was launched on an Aerotech M1297 motor. It flew upwind after leaving the launch rail and then drifted right back toward the launch pad. It landed less then a 1/4 mile away after reaching 8,502 feet.  This was the 25th flight of Vulcan but only the second time it has flown on an M-motor.  It was recovered with no damage.

Vulcan Flight #24 Oct. 15, 2006 Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site. Vulcan lifted off on an Aerotech L850 and had a nice straight vertical flight to 6,858 feet.  The chute was deployed at apogee (as planned) and Vulcan softly touched down 1.02 miles away with no damage.

Photo by Chic Slutz

Photo by Jennifer Kane

Vulcan Flight #23 May 6, 2006 SpudRoc-11 Tripoli Idaho Vulcan lifted off on an AMW L1060GG and reached 4,945 feet.

Photo by Joe Bowen

Photo by Vern Knowles

Vulcan Flight #22 Nov. 12, 2005 Vulcan lifted off on an Aerotech K700 at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site. Slight weathercock but otherwise a very nice flight to 3,707 feet.

Vulcan Flight #21 Vulcan was launched for the 21st time on August 13, 2005 at the Tripoli Idaho launch site near Fairfield Idaho. This flight was on the Animal Motors Works L700 "Blue Baboon" motor and was almost an exact carbon copy of flight #18.  It reached 4498 feet and landed almost one full mile from the launch site.   This sequence of photos was taken by a Canon 20D digital camera positioned close to the launch pad and using a 50mm lens.  The shutter speed was 1/8000 of a second. The images above are spaced apart by 200ms.

Photo by Dave McIntyre

Vulcan Flight #20 June 4, 2005   It was a perfect day for flying rockets!

Vulcan liftoff on an AMW L700 "Blue Baboon"  It was a very nice ride up to 4,223 feet.   Good recovery and no damage.

Vulcan Flight #19 April 16, 2005 Vulcan lifted off on an Aerotech K700 at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site.  Besides the usual two Missile Works altimeters for parachute deployment, it also carried an ARTS recording altimeter. Apogee readings: Missile Works altimeter #1 reported 3403 feet.  Missile Works altimeter #2 reported  3526 feet. ARTS pressure altitude reported 3243 feet. ARTS accelerometer altitude reported 3716 feet.   Max velocity was 301.2 MPH.

These four plots were generated from the data recorded by the on-board ARTS altimeter. Click on each plot to see a larger version of it.

Acceleration

Velocity

Altitude

Descent Rate

Vulcan Flight #18 July 17, 2004 A very nice Vulcan flight on an AMW L700 "Blue Baboon" motor at the Tripoli Idaho Fairfield launch site. Surface winds were only 5-10 MPH, but Vulcan landed a full 1.0 miles from the launch site.  Apparently the wind up higher was a bit stronger! Altimeter #1 read 4476 feet.  Altimeter #2 read 4502 feet.   A short "Pad Cam" video of this launch is available here!

Vulcan Flight #17 Vulcan was launched on a K1275R redline motor at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site on Nov. 1, 2003.  Very nice flight on a bright red exhaust flame to 3389 feet. Photo by Joe Bowen Vern with Vulcan. It was a cold day, but bright and sunny with no wind so an otherwise great day to launch rockets!

Vulcan Flight #14 Another great Vulcan flight on a K700 at the Tripoli Idaho Fairfield launch site on August 23, 2003.  This  was a very nice vertical boost into a clear blue sky.  Absolutely awesome!  The smoke column hung in the still air as the parachute was deployed at 3671 feet. Photo by Neil Pyke

Vulcan Flight #13 Vulcan was launched on an Aerotech K700 at the Tripoli Idaho Fairfield launch site on July 26, 2003.  It reached 3656 feet with a very nice flight.

Vulcan Flight #12 The photos below show Vulcan flight #12. It was on a K700 motor on June 21, 2003 at the Brothers Oregon launch site.  It was not perfectly vertical, but a very pretty flight with a gentle wind arc.  Altimeter #1 reported 3320', Altimeter #2 reported 3328 feet.  The rocket was 26 lbs at lift off.

Photo by Rich Boltizar

Vulcan Flight #10 Vulcan flew on a K700 on April 19, 2003 at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site. Nice flight to 3440 feet.

Vulcan Flight #8 Another nice liftoff shot of the Vulcan in action.  This launch was on October 19, 2002 at the Tripoli Idaho launch site.  Vulcan was once again boosting on a K700 motor to just over 3600 feet.  One altimeter reported 3625 feet and the other one reported 3632 feet.  It was a very pretty flight!

Vulcan Flight #6

Photo by John McVey

Photo by Michael J. Blackburn

Photo by Scott Carter

The first time I tried to launch Vulcan on an M1315 motor was at the SpudRoc-7 launch in May 2002. The weather conditions were ideal.  These photos show me getting it ready for launch.  The KD7KYL on the fins is my ham radio call sign.  That call sign is also transmitted with the video from Vulcan for identification purposes.

Photo by John McVey   Vulcan launch on an M1315.  The snow covered Owyhee mountains of Idaho are in the background.

Photo by John McVey   Vulcan dropping out of the sky on a shredded parachute about seven seconds after launch.

Click here to view videos of this launch Description of Events The launch started out great.  The M1315 motor came to life and lifted Vulcan smartly off the pad.  Unfortunately, it was a short ride!  At about 500 feet, one of the altimeters malfunctioned and ejected the parachute while the motor was still boosting the rocket.  The parachute and the motor ended up fighting each other and the rocket did a lot of "sky writing".  The parachute ended up totally shredded and Vulcan dropped from the sky with the chute acting like a streamer rather than a parachute.  Vulcan hit pretty hard and suffered some landing damage to the airframe.  Fortunately the video module was ejected and thrown clear during the mishap.  The parachute on the video module deployed properly and lowered it slowly to the ground.  The root cause of this mishap has never really been determined.  One altimeter reported 454 feet and one reported 1714 feet.  These were both brand new altimeters that had never flown before.  I had tested them in a vacuum chamber prior to flight and they checked out fine.  Extensive post flight testing in the vacuum chamber also showed no problems, even with the video transmitter antenna operating right next to it.  Mechanical vibration was also applied to them and they continued to operate fine. Since the rocket did not go anywhere near 1714 feet, I assumed that the altimeter that malfunctioned must be the one that reported that bogus altitude.   So I returned it to the manufacturer for more testing.  However, no problems were found!   The repairs to Vulcan left it a bit shorter so it can no longer carry the video module.  A new rocket called Wildfire has been built to do that now.  One thing that was added to Wildfire was to put the altimeters inside an RF shield.  I have never seen my video transmitter cause interference problems with any altimeters, but since the root cause of this malfunction could not be found, it seemed like a reasonable precaution to take in all future designs.  A slide show of this whole sequence is presented below.

Vulcan launch failure at SpudRoc-7 This is a slide show of the event. View slide show Note: This mpeg file is about 17MB is size.  Be prepared for long down load times if you are using a phone line internet connection! Ground based video and on-board video of this launch can be viewed here.

Vulcan Flight #7

Photo by Scott Carter

Photo by Scott Carter

Photo by Richie Boltizar

After repairing Vulcan its next flight was as a non-video rocket on July 20, 2002 at the launch site near Brothers Oregon.  This launch was on a K700 motor.  Lift off weight was 25lbs, 11oz. Ejection was very early, but at least it was well after motor burn out.  One altimeter reported 3197 feet and the other 2619 feet.  I usually don't see that much discrepancy between altimeters, and that combined with the early ejection means something was obviously wrong!  As usual Vulcan was using two altimeters that day, one which had been flown many times in other rockets without incident.  The other was one that was on-board Vulcan during the early deployment on the M1315 flight described above.  It was the one which I assumed was good and did not return to the manufacturer since it had reported a correct altitude of 454 feet. However, in retrospect I now suspect it was probably at fault during the previous launch.  For some unknown reason, it detected apogee while the rocket was still boosting but was only at 454 feet.  It fired the ejection change, and that caused the rocket to begin to violently flip, flop, twist and turn as the parachute and the motor were fighting each other.  I suspect that during all that, the turbulent air flow across the static ports might have confused the other altimeter.  Causing it to report 1714 feet for apogee even though the rocket never went anywhere near that high.   That was the one I originally assumed was at fault and therefore I returned it to the manufacturer.  I now think it was probably fine!  Consequently, I have now retired the questionable unit and put yet another altimeter inside Vulcan. The next Vulcan flight (#8) was completely nominal. It add no more altimeter problems. I will close this long story by mentioning that I use Missile Works RRC2 altimeters.  In fact I have 12 of them and until this particular one malfunctioned I have never had any problems in over 80 altimeter based flights using them.  (I have 12 because I tend to use them in pairs for redundancy.)   At any rate, I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.  I think they're a great product at a great price and they are reliable.  Furthermore the one time I did have a problem, Jim Amos at Missile Works was extremely responsive and did everything humanly possible to help.  (I have no affiliation with Missile Works, I just like the products and I like Jim's attention to customer satisfaction!)

Vulcan Flight #5

Photo by Michael J. Blackburn

This flight carried a color video camera and a HAM band amateur video transmitter at 1.3 GHz.  It transmitted live video with GPS information overlaid on the image to show altitude, speed and location.  The camera, transmitter and GPS unit were inside a “satellite” that was deployed at apogee and descended on it’s own parachute.  The beauty of the GPS unit is that for recovery, all I had to do is enter the touch down coordinates into my handheld GPS unit and then proceed directly to it.   This was Nov. 3, 2001 at the Tripoli Idaho launch site near Swan Falls. (south of Boise.)  Weight at liftoff was 35 lbs  (with video module payload and L850 motor)

Photo by Daron Drown

The Vulcan lifts off on an Aerotech L850 motor.  This flight was on Nov. 3, 2001 and reached 4644 feet.  It was the second flight of my video transmitter system.   The on-board video is available here. The ground view video is available here.

Photo by Nadine Kinney

Vulcan Flight #4 Vulcan ready for launch at Black Rock Desert on Oct 6, 2001. This was the first flight of my video transmitter system.  It worked quite well for a first try.  Although the video would definitely benefit from a higher resolution camera, and the sound had some buzz in it.  I was still pleased with my first attempt.  (It's more difficult to transmit high quality video than it is to simply put a digital camcorder on board.)  The video is available here.

Photo by Nadine Kinney

Vulcan lift-off on an L850 motor.  Peak altitude was 5519 feet above the desert floor.  Down link video was captured for the entire flight.  It was recorded on a VHS cassette at the site and then converted to mpeg once I got home.   The video is available here. Everything recovered very nicely, no damage.  Let's do it again!! You can also see a close up of the ignition process of this launch right here.

Vulcan Flight #3

Photo by Scott Carter

I flew the Vulcan twice at Brothers Oregon in 2001. Once in June on an L850 and once in July on a K1275. (No video transmitter either time.)  This shows the launch on a K1275 redline motor.   Lift off weight was 25 lbs, 12 oz. Peak altitude was 3793 feet. (Conditions: 70F, 50%RH, 4567 ft launch site altitude.)

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