Project Complete

July 5, 2008

Well, it's done at last. I initially tried a combination paint job: gold, white, flat black, and aluminum, in order from top to bottom. Looked like crap, so I repainted the sustainer white and left just the gold cone. A few decals from some mid-ninetys Estes sets finished it off; I've used Future as my clearcoat again, with fine results. The fleet page entry for this rocket can be found here.

Pharos I: Fantasy Scale Rocket

February 7, 2008

Here's my latest creation: Pharos I, a "fantasy scale" rocket. It was on a Sunday, April 1, 1973 when the Pyramids of Mars were first recognized as artificial by astronomers, but the political trials of the time (in particular, the Watergate scandal) delayed any American project to investigate them. When at last in late August, 1974, President Ford signed the bill funding NASA's project to visit Mars, the Soviet Union was known to be well ahead of us. The Pharos project, initiated by that Presidential signature, thus started significantly behind the competition; but the United States would not be daunted by any Russian challengers. In order to make up the travel time to Mars (in case the Soviets launched their expedition first), NASA was for the first time permitted to design and build a spacecraft with a nuclear powered upper stage. The Pharos I vehicle thus consisted of two conventional chemical fueled lower stages generally similar to the Saturn rockets, mated to a nuclear upper stage carrying the crew capsule. This more powerful system permitted the astronauts aboard to make a much quicker trip to Mars, and to return with similar speed when their mission was done. It is no accident that this shorter mission led to fewer health issues for the astronauts (due to interplanetary radiation) than the cosmonauts suffered on their own return. Though later missions to Mars would use a similar design, the original Pharos I rocket design was retired after only two actual missions; the vehicle's rather ad hoc design was deemed unsuitable for continued use. Well, that's my story, anyway. The pictures attached show the rocket "naked" as I have not yet had acceptable weather for painting. The main body is 18" of BT-70, topped with a Semroc BNC-70AP cone decorated with bits of cardstock, balsa, and birch dowels. The fins are a laser-cut Taurus fin set, also from Semroc. I used a 9" piece of BT-20 as an engine mount and stuffer tube combo. The green wrap is a piece of corrugated paper originally intended for scrapbooking. A friend simulated the rocket for me and reports the following recommendations: Engine Altitude Deployment Velocity A8-3 74' 38.16 fps B6-2 209' 34.27 fps B6-4 222' 28.69 fps C6-5 566' 23.63 fps The DV values for the A8-3 and B6-2 are pretty hot; if it's really going that fast at deployment, I'm losing the chute for sure. Even the B6-4 is too fast to suit me. I can see I'm going to have to make a pretty tough chute for this bird; the standard Estes breadsack just ain't gonna cut it.

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