[GCARC] Rowan rocket launch successful!

[Jon Pearce]

Apologies if this has already been posted but here's the official video from the rocket that the Rowan University students launched last week in the 2024 Spaceport America Cup in New Mexico. Among other functions it was carrying two radios with which GCARC club members assisted. The first was the telemetry radio that operates on 70 CM and sends data to a ground-based station, which needed an antenna designed for it. After a long Saturday AM clubhouse discussion several months ago it was decided that the best design would be a vertical half-wave dipole that Chris AD2CS constructed. In addition, club members assembled a 5.8 ghz video transmitter to be installed in the rocket along with a ground-based receiver that would output HDMI to event officials. The telemetry unit apparently worked flawlessly; it's not clear if the video unit was successful. But the YouTube video linked below shows most of the flight, including the deployment of the drogue parachutes (the mains also opened successfully). The Rowan team has some additional video that they'll show when they present at one of our monthly meetings.

Congrats to that team and thanks for letting us join in in the project.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxLr2G68K7cCOu4ZYE8g_gVj1kaFfedyUX?si=oaqsBtglppPp3bRk

73 de Jon WB2MNF