Kimbo-III

Highlights: Validated skin-and-stringer structures design.  Successful GPS data log.  In-flight photos.

Payload(s):  GPS data recorder.  On-board camera.

The Kimbo-III flight team successfully launched the Kimbo-III vehicle on Saturday February 19th, 2000 at the Reaction Research Society's Mojave Test Area.

Click here to view more pictures of the Kimbo-III launch.

More details below.

The Kimbo-III finally took flight shortly after noon on Saturday the 19th of February 2000. Weather, primarily low clouds, forced the team to delay the launch for several hours, but once some breaks in the cloud deck developed, the final countdown went smoothly and the vehicle took off on the first attempt and was visible throughout the entire flight.

Visual observations and preliminary data reviews indicate that the rocket performed nominally throughout the ascent to apogee (circa 15,000 ft). The engine burned to depletion and did not suffer any chamber burn-through like those experienced in previous tests (Chris' new technique for laying up the ablative liner was an obvious improvement over the previous method). Due to wind, the vehicle did weather vane about 30 (?) degrees.

The recovery phase was the only part that had less than perfect performance (no surprise to those in the amateur rocket field). The nosecone and drogue chute successfully deployed at around 40 seconds into flight (it looks like deployment occurred slightly after vehicle pitch-over at apogee, so we don't know whether the command came from the accelerometer calculations in the ALTACC unit, or the timer, which was set to fire at 40 seconds). The vehicle then entered into an energetic spin. The set of three main parachutes should have deployed no later than 55 seconds into flight and the charge in the associated pyro block did indeed fire. However the 'chutes never deployed and the vehicle consequently hit the ground hard and tail-first, as evidenced by the sheered bolts that had held the engine chamber to the injector. Despite the impact, the on-board 35 mm camera survived and K.Mark has already developed the set of 36 photos. An initial download at the site also indicates that the ALTACC survived and recorded data (Chris and Mark will be looking at this data more closely in the next few days). We'll hopefully hear from Kevin as to whether his GPS unit captured data and survived as well.

In summary, the flight test was a success (even with some unexpected challenges in recovering the vehicle after landing). With the exception of the engine, it looks like the high-value items in the air frame survived and can be used again.