Breathing fire on the ground, the rockets lifted off into the windy skies one after another. Exhibiting different features and unique recovery systems, the rockets were the result of eight months of brainstorming, designing and fabricating by some enthusiastic minds of TU Delft.
‘Small Rocket Project – The Scrambled Eggs’ competition is held annually by the Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE) society for amateur rocket engineers yearning to leap into the exciting world of rockets. The aim is to launch a rocket that harbors an egg in its belly and retrieve it back safely on the ground.
This year’s competition, held on May 7 at the military artillery range ASK in ‘t Harde, saw five knowledge-hungry teams take on each other in good spirit. The entire DARE crew started out on May 6 to set up the launch towers, with every member offering their best hands to assemble the vertical rails that would guide their rockets to success. The uncommon cold winds in spring did nothing to blemish the spirit of learning and anticipation of the opportunity on hand.
Once everything was set for the launch, the newbies were led to scouting huts by the seniors in the group to spend the night. A delectable Chinese dinner, a warm campfire, music, drinks, some geeky rocket talk and an awe-inspiring display of fire tricks by a first year member, ensured a memorable night in the forest.
The following morning, all geared up for the event, the teams reached the launch site. The motors were secured, the igniters were inserted and connected to the control unit. The audience, nearly half a kilometer away from the launch towers, awaited for the speedy dangerous beauties to do their act.
Rocket engineering isn’t exactly for the weak-hearted, as a million things can go awry. While rockets like ‘Hamstar’ and ‘Rocket Propelled Egg’ had a victorious mission, others like ‘Fumelfu’, ‘MEAT 52’ and ‘Hammertime’ were not entirely successful. Troubles with the deployment system led to crashes, sending the army personnel scrounging for the remains in the field of the artillery range. The sight of blue waste bags filled with rocket remains however did not dispirit the teams from their quest for knowledge.
A crowd surrounded the crashed ‘Hammertime’, which carried a camera onboard, hoping that some data revealing the turn of events in the sky could be recovered. Despite the data card being intact, the most recent file seemed to have been corrupted. Undeterred, the team discussed ways to retrieve the data, while rockets made by Dutch amateur rocketry societies, like NAVRO and NERO, took flight.
The successful rockets were disassembled by the excited teams eager to check on the egg. If it was found intact, applause and commendation echoed on the tarmac.
The project did not end at the launch day. The winner is decided based on the report that each team must submit within three weeks of the launch, explaining the design, build and the launch phases, while also describing the errors and giving recommendations for future projects.
After the launch, those who started off knowing little about rockets were now swearing to devote their lives to it. For it is hard to find a scientific mind that is not impressed after seeing something so complex yet gratifying like rockets being launched!
Learn more about DARE at the Stratos II kick-off event on June 8th, 12:30-13:30 in the main hall of EEMCS (EWI)
www.dare.lr.tudelft.nl
Aan: Jochem de Jong (21, IO)
Ontvangen: 15 augustus 01:03
Van: Jochem de Jong (21, IO)
Als je mijn telefoon hebt, hij is van jochem de jong, de zanger van de laatste band. Bel naar dit nummer als je hem hebt. Dank! Jochem
Vlak voor het optreden van zijn Virgiel-band Iets beters tijdens de slotavond van het IO-eerstejaarsweekend geeft zanger Jochem zijn telefoon af aan een ‘groupie’. Deze heeft echter geen zakken. Nadat ze de telefoon eerst nog heeft opgeborgen in haar BH geeft ze later die avond, in kennelijke staat, de telefoon aan een wildvreemde. Wat volgt is een zoektocht van Jochem die het toestel uiteindelijk pas de volgende ochtend in een uithoek van de faculteit vindt.
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