Mach Wave II Stage

Updated 11/15/21

This is my favorite rocket to date. A 4″ Madcow Nike-Tomahawk kit, it can be flown as a multistage or sustainer alone. I’ve done both several times, and I hope to keep flying this one in the years to come. Simulations show it can reach over 20,000 feet (6096m) on a K-K configuration, so I hope to do that someday. 

I purchased this during a sale in May 2018, but the package arrived just after I left for my summer internship with NASA that year. I spent the summer planning its assembly, and how to turn the booster transition section into an altimeter bay. That was honestly the most fun part: experimenting in OpenRocket with various motor configurations, writing assembly steps and instructions for myself, and deciding the various electronics to include. 

I built the sustainer in August 2018 and the booster throughout September and October. It flew in a boosted dart configuration and attempted multistage before successfully airstarting an H73J in August 2019, over a year after buying the kit.

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Total flights (including sustainer-only flights)
  1. 9/1/18 – Argonia, KS. Sustainer only, RRC3 test flight.
    Motor: Aerotech H148R
    Apogee: 799ft (244m)
  2. 10/28/18 – Argonia, KS. Boosted dart configuration.
    Motor: Aerotech J270W
    Apogee: 1717ft (523m)
  3. 2/9/19 – Argonia, KS. First attempted multistage flight.
    Motor: Aerotech I284W to Aerotech H73J (attempted)
    Apogee: 1065ft (325m)
    View Flight 1 report
  4. 3/30/19 – Argonia, KS. High-G sustainer test flight (26Gs).
    Motor: Aerotech H669N
    Apogee: 1230ft (375m)
  5. 8/4/19 – Argonia, KS. First successful multistage airstart.
    Motors: CTI J760WT to AT H73J
    Apogee: sustainer 6089ft (1856m), booster 3307ft (1008m)
    View Flight 2 report
  6. 9/1/19 – Argonia, KS. LDRS 38.
    Motors: CTI J760WT to AT I211W
    Apogee: sustainer 8560ft (2609m), booster 3127ft (953m)
    Video by RocketVlogs from the spectator line
    View Flight 3 report
  7. 10/13/19 – Argonia, KS. Sustainer only flight (25Gs, 0-500mph in 2s).
    Motor: Aerotech J350W
    Apogee: 5502ft (1677m)
  8. 11/15/21 – Argonia, KS. Distant Thunder 2021. 
    Motors: AT K1100T to AT J500G at T+5s
    Apogee: sustainer 11845ft (3610m), booster 4128ft (1258m)
    View Flight 4 report
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