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January Launch
Introducing OpenRocket
Open Rocket
The ability to design and test your rocket before actually building it is quite the asset for the rocket designer. Many programs exist for this. One of these programs is the Java-based open source software appropriately named OpenRocket.
About OpenRocketOpenRocket features realistic wind modeling, clustering and staging, just to name a few. It contains components such as free-form fins and canted fins. OpenRocket is an Open Source project licensed under the GNU GPL.
This means that the software is free to download and to use for whichever purposes you desire. You do not need to purchase or register for a license code to use this software.
As well the source code is also available for studying and extending. So for those of you that are Java programmers, OpenRocket source code may be downloaded analyzed and modified to suit your purposes.
As with many software programs the best way to learn it is to give it a try. You may download OpenRocket from the download page here.
OpenRocket is hosted on the SourceForge network and you may visit the website of OpenRocket by clicking here. To use the software download the jar file of the latest version and double click on it. You will need the Java runtime library installed on your computer. You may download the library from the java.com website by clicking here.
As Java is platform independent you may run OpenRocket on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X or any other platform that supports the latest Java Virtual Machine. For those of you using Mac OS X you may not need to download Java as the latest version should be installed with the Operating System.
Please note however I was not able to run OpenRocket on a G4 Mac running Leopard but I didn’t have a problem with an Intel based Mac running the same OS. This is due to the fact that the version of Java needed for OpenRocket (the latest version) is not available for non-Intel Mac computers.
Getting InvolvedAs OpenRocket is an open source project there are opportunities to get involved with the development, testing and documentation of the program. As of this writing the project is currently looking for Java Developers, people to assist with aerodynamic computation methods and people to help write the documentation. Getting involved would be an excellent way to not only improve the program but to help you in your aerospace education.
For more information on OpenRocket please visit the website at: http://openrocket.sourceforge.net.
©2011 Sigma Rockets and Aerospace Inc.
New Years Day Launch
Ground, Air or Rocket Mail?
Rockets are a useful tool for many pursuits ranging from educational tools to placing communications satellites into orbit. However, there is one use that has been brought up time again over the years and that is for the delivery of mail. That’s right, delivering mail through the use of rockets, or rocket mail for short. In this article we will discuss this concept.
Image: The Canadian Aerophilatelic Society Library
The History of Rocket MailIn 1931 Friedrich Schmiedl launched the first rocket with mail in Austria. The rocket carried 102 pieces of mail for 400 kms between two Austrian towns. He followed it up with a flight that carried a spectrograph along with the mail. Special postcards were printed after the flight to commemorate this achievement.
In the 1930s as well, a man by the name of Gerhard Zuker displayed his mail carrying rockets throughout Germany before attempting to convince the postal service in the United Kingdom of the viability of his technology. Zuker continued his attempts to validate rocket mail technology with flights across the North Sea. Despite his determination rocket mail never caught on.
Around the same time in India, Stephen Smith the Secretary of the Indian Airmail Society experimented with 270 flights and was successful in sending rocket mail over a river as well as delivering a parcel.
Successful rocket mail flights occurred in the United States in the 1930s and in 1959 the US Navy submarine, the USS Barbero implemented “missile mail” services for the American Post Office Department. This was accomplished through the use of cruise missiles converted to carry mail instead of a nuclear warhead. Excitement over the future of rocket mail built up however, many in the US Defense Department simply saw the exercise as a demonstration of their missile capabilities. The cost of using these cruise missiles for the purpose of delivering mail could not be justified.
Further rocket mail flights occurred with the launching of mail carrying missiles from Russian submarines as well as rockets launched from Fort Churchill in Manitoba, Canada. The flights at Fort Churchill were mainly done to gather scientific data. The mail carried aboard was merely just incidental and the impact of the rocket on the ice of Hudson Bay upon re-entry didn’t help make a strong case for rocket mail.
In the 1950s amateur rocket fliers began to fly rockets carrying mail. As we discussed in one of our articles last year post cards addressed to Pierre Trudeau and the Queen were flown aboard a model rocket in 1972 in Ottawa.
These flights are generally symbolic as the mail flown in them is retrieved close to the where the rocket was launched and the mail is then dropped into a mail box where it is delivered through the postal service there.
Due to the high cost of launching rockets accurately the future of rocket mail does look dim. Still the idea of launching a parcel or a payload of letters in a rocket through the air at high speeds reaching their destination in a matter of minutes will continue to fascinate many. Rocket mail will surely continue to live on in science fiction especially in the realm of retro-futurism.
Ashley McIsaac and Canadian Rocket MailBelow we have an embed of a video shot and edited by Ashley McIsaac of Ontario, Canada. Ashley launched mail aboard a rocket recently believing the attempt to be the first flight of rocket mail in Canada. Although it was not the first it is certainly a very entertaining video to watch as an on-board video camera is used to record the flight. In the payload section of the rocket were letters with Canadian rocket mail stamps from 1936 plus additional stamps to top up the amount. After the flight, three of these letters were cancelled at the post office making them symbolically (as the rocket flight did not play a role in the moving the letters from one address to another) delivered by rocket mail. We would like to thank Ashley for his video.
©2011 Sigma Rockets and Aerospace Inc.
YouTube launches space contest
YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing website, has launched a contest challenging students to come up with new space experiments. YouTube’s Space Lab channel, in cooperation with NASA, JAXA and ESA, allows students to upload videos describing an experiment they would like to see performed on the International Space Station. The History of YouTube
YouTube was created by three former PayPal employees in 2005 as an idea to share videos over the internet. It gained popularity quickly and was sold to Google in November of 2006 for $1.65 billion USD.
The first video uploaded to YouTube was on April 23rd, 2005 and it was entitled ‘Me at the zoo.’ It was created by one of the founders of YouTube and is only 19 seconds long. It can still be viewed and is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw.
The Space Lab ChannelYouTube’s Space Lab channel can be found by going to the url www.youtube.com/spacelab. Educators can use the channel to teach students about space through the use of related videos found across YouTube. The channel has been set up to promote and conduct the Space Lab contest.
The ContestThe Space Lab contest challenges students to create a science experiment to be conducted on the International Space Station and streamed live through YouTube. It is geared towards students age 14 to 18.
Judges from around the world, including distinguished Canadians astronaut Chris Hadfield and space traveler and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte, will determine the winners of the contest. To enter, the contestants are to submit a video describing their experiment. The deadline for the contest is December 7th.
Space Lab VideoBelow is a video from the YouTube Space Lab channel explaining the contest. For more information about the contest visit the website at www.youtube.com/spacelab.
©2011 Sigma Rockets and Aerospace Inc.