SERPENTINE WEEKEND

On the 15th of May, Monash High Powered Rocketry attended the Victorian Rocketry Association’s (VRA) Serpentine launch day to perform a test flight of our Spaceport America Cup entry Project Aether. Over 30 members from the team were in attendance, with a small number camping overnight. 

Throughout the day, there were numerous rocket launches from the VRA community, as well as two launches from Monash HPR’s own Yog Shah, and Leonidas Kapnias. Yog successfully launched his Level 1 rocket Bloody Ripper on a certification flight, and successfully recovered it as it touched down near the pad. Bloody Ripper flew on an Aerotech H219T, reaching an altitude of 2897ft. Congratulations to Yog for achieving his Level 1 rocketry certification. Unfortunately Leonidas’ rocket was lost to the Serpentine wilderness and was unable to be recovered that day. Additionally, our Team Lead Isaac Sims, and Angus McLennan both performed successful deployment tests for their level 2 rockets. Deployment testing is a crucial step of rocketry, as it allows flyers to verify that their deployment systems will function correctly when in flight. We can’t wait to see these rockets fly!

Project Aether launched on a M3400 in the late afternoon, reaching an altitude of 13,447ft. Unfortunately, a tangled line in our mains parachute release system resulted in a faster than expected landing, however the rocket was recovered and will prove invaluable for gathering data. We are so excited to see Project Aether fly at the Spaceport America Cup! We are looking forward to competing at Spaceport, and are immensely proud of the hard work that our team has put in!