[imagesource: Cape Rocketry/ Facebook]

The last time we wrote about a South African rocket launch, the results were less than spectacular.

Thankfully for the four Cape Rocketry team members – Dino Marx, Mark, John, and David de Bruyn – their effort on August 3, which took place in the Karoo, was a massive success.

They were after the African altitude record for amateur rockery, which had previously stood at 9,5 kilometres. Having broken through the elusive 10km mark, the rocket, made entirely from South African parts, topped out at 10,37km.

David de Bruyn, writing on Good Things Guy, described the launch in great detail:

It was a clear and still morning in the Karoo. On the launch pad stood JR101, just over 2m in length and loaded with 8 kilograms of solid propellant. In a few moments, a countdown to send the 20 kg rocket to Mach 1.8 would begin.

Three! Two! One! A power bank is connected to a transmitter, sending a radio transmission to a receiver next to the launch pad. The receiver floods current through a segment of wire salvaged from a kitchen toaster. Located deep within the core of the rocket combustion chamber, the wire begins to glow red-hot and initiates a preliminary chemical reaction in a precisely orchestrated sequence of events. After what feels like an eternity, white smoke begins to billow out of the graphite nozzle, followed by an intense spike of yellow flames. Within a single second, more than a kilogram of propellant has been burnt. JR101 begins to climb the launch rail, built from a curtain railing just a few days earlier.

Yes, a curtain rail.

To read David’s full account of the day, head here, but let’s focus on the video that was put together by Cape Rocketry.

For those who want to know a bit more about the electronics involved in the launch, here’s David:

Congrats to everyone involved!

[source:goodthingsguy]