02-27-2011, 02:02 AM
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Master Modeler
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 6,507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Olivola
This is really not relevant to small rockets under parachute recovery. Think about the force vectors involved. A sub one pound rocket descending at 18 ft./sec vs a full size hot air balloon with a "crew" of probably 1000 lbs. And the upper limit on wind velocity is lower for launching a balloon.
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I respectfully suggest that you re-read Reply #22 more carefully. I wasn't referring to the passenger-carrying hot-air balloon that the local balloon tour pilot flies; I was referring to the small helium-filled toy party balloons that he releases and tracks as pibals ( pilot balloons, a term which has *no* relation to a large balloon with a human pilot onboard) to determine if the wind velocities and directions at various altitudes are favorable for his desired flight direction.
Since he seldom flies above 2,000 feet AGL (Above Ground Level), which is also the altitude region in which most model rockets fly, and since the wind force vectors acting upon the small pibals are comparable to those acting upon a model rocket descending under a parachute, the experiment would be a useful one.
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