Rocket Recovery System - Building Lumineer

Thanks to Charlie Garcia, Andrew Adams, Jenna Kay, and Xyla Foxlin for all their help and support through this whole process.

For more info:

[HeathGreen]

Foul mouthed collection of people working on something they are passionate about? Sign me up! Love to watch the behind the scenes chemistry.

[AstroCharlie]

The Lumineer 2 recovery system is going to be a work of art!

[kevinrabideau]

25:51 Answering a phone call with "Go, Flight" is simultaneously the nerdiest and coolest way to answer a call.

[edrose]

I hope you don't mind if I add my 2 cents. I used to skydive, so I became very familiar with parachute gear that's used in high risk situations, and there are some very neat (not to mention tried and tested!) solutions to these exact problems you're trying to solve.


We also had devices called automatic deployment devices (ADD) that would release the reserve parachute if we got too low (for example, losing consciousness or awareness in freefall). Those have a pyrotechnic cutter that cuts a very small bit of nyon to reliably release the reserve parachute. No need to blow up bits of metal, with a 3-ring release system it's only a thin bit of nylon holding the entire system together. Once that is cut, the aerodynamic forces do the rest. The cutters can actually cut steel rod, so are massively overpowered, but that's good when it needs to be reliable. You can buy the cutters without the rest of the device, and they just need an electrical signal to operate. The main manufacturer of AADs, Cypress, have never had a failure that's led to loss of life.

The tandem deployment method, 3-ring release, and AAD cutters put together would give you an incredibly reliable, well tested, and simple system. If you have a parachute centre near you, wait for a cloudy day and head down there. I expect you'll be able to find a packer who will happily show you the systems and how they all work.

One last thing I want to add is that it's possible that the nose-cone being attached to the drogue is what caused the failure. If the nose cone pulled the drogue lines around too much, it could cause it to collapse and then re-inflate repeatedly and with a lot of force. The drogue only needs to end up in the airstream, after that the wind will do the rest (how we deploy a solo parachute!) so keeping the nose-cone attached to the main body in a way that minimises the risk of entanglement with the drogue will probably be a much better way of doing it

[VincentGroenewold]

You know what I like about you? Your ability to be self-critical and therefore learning from failures. It's pretty rare to see that so well and you should be proud of that good Sir! :)

[sightlok]

2:39 'it was extremely not zero'. that's just the best quote ever XD

[CanineDefenseTechnologies]

I think the way Xyla filmed the clips in the house gave me The Office vibes but with rocketeers

[natalie]

I enjoyed the behind the scenes stuff with a bunch of people messing around and going slowly insane. It gave me fond memories of messing around with my college buddies, which had a very similar vibe. I'd definitely be happier to see more of it.

[Ranger_Kevin]

I would be up for watching footage of you guys just messing aroung with rockets in the house :-)

[nicoloncke]

oh hell yeah! give us that 6-7 hours of footage :)

[stochasticsignal]

Hey Icarus I would love to see a video of you and your rocket cluster losing their minds while prepping a rocket for launch 🙃

My hype for avionics is growing every video. Can't wait for the next video.

[robaust]

Every flight you can learn from is a good flight. A great L3 attempt and we know for your next launch will be flawless. Also, ironically L3 is an individual achievement, although better achieved with the help of a strong team around you. Great video and breakdown.

[BingtheLizard]

You have no idea how much of an encouragement it is to see the people we look up to struggling and losing their minds over things. It helps to validate the difficulties we face and inspires us to overcome them. With that said, release the video footage XD

[benmorrow]

That moan when the nose cone finally popped into place was really something

[TusharGoyal]

That's an amazing opening sequence!

We really appreciate you taking time to make these videos look visually appealing, in addition to all the work at goes into actually working on the projects!

[nicmotter]

I absolutley love the depth and clarity of these videos. I am on the recovery sub team of the University of Akron Akronauts and we are currently developing a mechanically activated co2 based system for high altitude recovery deployment. Seeing the challenges here, some we have had on our launches that have had similar consequences to the ones you have had, really shed some light on how complex and nuanced recovery is. As with any new design or rocket there are learning curves and many unknowns when we strap it to the launch rail. All we can do from the ground after that engine is lit is cross our fingers and hope the other sub teams are forgiving when parachutes fail

[laltin]

I watched important parts of the video a few times and here are some suggestions and questions that I have:
- You already ask the question at 22:14 but I see a problem. If the drouge chute line is shorter that nose cone line, nose cone may hit the drouge while flapping around. Also nose cone line may entangle with drouge chute. And I guess that is what caused the issue.
- Can you show more of the remaining of the drouge chute? Where did it snap from? If it snapped due to shock I expect it to snap around the line connections and I expect snapped lines. If it snapped in the middle of the cloth, then I would assume it is something hitting there, like nose cone itself.
- I would also try to reduce the complexity by removing some of the lines & other elements. Here some suggestions:
* Can you remove the connections from tender descender from the god knot and only keep the secondary ones you put. (for the case if both TDs fire). Since removing that link doesn't change anything, TDs will still be connected to god knot with secondary lines. I am trying to reduce complexity by removing some stuff.
- And lastly, I hope the line from main bag the tender descender line is long enough. If only one of TDs fire then the load will go through tender descender line to line between main bag and tender descender line to drouge riser. Main chute line won't be loaded. And from what I see in 26:18 it seem like it is the black line that frees up after breaking TD. But it uses same connection type as the drouge unloader so I don't see keeping it because it will behave exactly same as unloader. Correct me if I am wrong but otherwise I don't see a point in increasing complexity.

[theshadowninja]

Watching this series has quickly made me realize my shortcomings as an engineer. Despite being on my school's rocketry team, I have very little experience or understanding of what really goes on when it comes to the rocket I helped build. Things I managed to learn for this series so far: 1. Specializing on the engineering team has found me success and experience regarding the specific subsystem I was working on, which is great and good for growth. 2. The engineer at I am today, really does not like specializing as much as I had thought, I look back and feel as if I should've have been a bit more broad with my approach on the engineering team. Learning and experiencing a lot more. 3. In order to experience and learn a lot more, I'm gonna try to earn my certifications this summer.

[nubrigol]

Logging the correct data and being able to analyse that data post mortem to figure out what went wrong and improve on the next run is also great engineering. Good work.

[victorreppeto]

I want you to know that I am grateful that the videos are still coming out. Thank you!!