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Old 05-15-2016, 07:48 AM
luke strawwalker's Avatar
luke strawwalker luke strawwalker is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Needville and Shiner, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghrocketman
How does it fly finless ?
Are the engine mounts severely canted to impart spin-stabilization ?


John has done a lot of work on flying finless rockets. I've seen his actively stabilized gimbaled motor finless models using a model airplane anti-crash stabilization system and it's VERY impressive. He also mentioned that he's done some stuff with passive finless stabilization as well, including test models of his actively stabilized rockets, in a smaller scale. The key is keeping the weight well forward, since the CP is near the center of the rocket on a finless design. This means very "nose heavy" compared to a regular model rocket, as you have to counterbalance the weight of the motors in the rear, as well as move the CG as far forward as practically possible.

Also, it works better with rockets that have a long, slimmer upper stage. It can be made to work with a long straight-cylinder rocket, like the Gemini-Titan or Peacekeeper. However, "hammerhead" designs like the Ares I wouldn't work well, because the upper stage is a larger diameter (thus more surface area) which would move the CP *VERY* far forward, and make finless stabilization pretty impractical, if not impossible.

Later! OL J R
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