LOHAN to straddle meaty titanium rod

I am not an engineer...

Will there be any effect on the position of the launch platform from the force of the exhaust hitting the plate behind it? Will it not make the support spin/tilt?

I doubt that LOHAN would slide free of the truss by gravity, as the greater air resistance of the glider would cause it to be snatched free of the truss by the wind.

Premature ejection

> The Vulture 2 will simply slide off the rod, its weight breaking the rocket ignitor wires (not shown in pic), and it can then fly back to base.

Presumably if the igniter wires are broken in the situation described, that would boot up the electronics in Vulture 2, to that it's glide could be documented and its radio beacon used to find where it ends up.

Looks spot-on to me. Perhaps provide a hole in the back plate for the motor to thrust through so the truss isn't affected by the takeoff?

Two comments

1) Why not keep the launch rail short and combine with a tethering system that is released on ignition; my own suggestion is based on pinholes at opposite sides of the exhaust tube and a loop of fishing line through these to tether the rocket. The line will be destroyed when the engine ignites, releasing the rocket to slide along the rail.

2) Use a tension sensor (probably a DIY job) on the line holding the balloon to detect when the line goes slack; combine with a timer so that when the line goes slack for a suitable period (5 seconds?) the launch is triggered.

gyro?

Would a gyroscope on the truss stop it from spinning, or at least control it a bit?

It would be good to take some video of the departure of LOHAN from the truss - maybe a prism mounted to see above the rail?

You _could_ mount LOHAN like a PIAT round, ie with a great big spring. That way even if the rocket doesn't fire you can get a launch.

ttfn

Swingers Delight

Is there any chance that the swinging motion will be violent at any point in the ascent? If freezing is deemed not to be a problem with materials used, would a two rod option provide mitigation against any unwanted swinger related damage?

The deisgn is very elegant, top work. Although I do have zero experience in this field, apart from the fact I always wanted to build a rocket.

Why titanium rod?

Ok, it's sexy and allows for a few cheap puns.

But wouldn't a tube serve the same purpose, at perhaps a quarter of the weight? And if it becomes a tube, are there any reasons against using a carbon fiber tube? Since you already have your low temperature test facility, dropping a piece of CF tube in there (in similar proximity to the exhaust as in the final launch setup) probably wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Rod vs Rail

Have you considered a C shaped teflon thing with the gap at the top instead of a ring shape?

Then use a strip attached all the way along to a rod inside the C as the rail. This allows more attachment points to the truss to keep the rail straight. So, in pictures... C with a o-| rail inside it, all rotated left by 90 degrees.

Now lets hope that doesn't get translated into some kind of smiley when I hit post.

Tail.

"For obvious reasons, the Vulture 2 must have a "V" tail elevon configuration."

Nothing obvious there and no need for the dihedral tail. I'd have thought a conventional horizontal stabiliser / elevator configuration with a fin / rudder at each end would be simpler and more practical. Have a look at an Avro Lancaster for a practical implementation. You still have to tie the two rudders together (assuming rudder control to be a requirement at all), but you don't have to get into the horror of managing the synchronisation of the two "rudderators" independantly to produce the desired turn / pitch movements.

Pedantry bit: An "elevon" is something found on a "tailless" aircraft (usually delta wing designs), being a combination of the elevator, for pitch control and the aileron, for roll control. Your design combines the rudder, for yaw control and elevator as mentioned. I've used "rudderator", there's probably a proper word for this..........