Estes Astron Goblin

Estes Astron Goblin D-motor powered sport model with streamer recovery, photographed in front of my childhood home in Nürensdorf, Switzerland, approximately in 1978. This particular Goblin was likely ordered from the 1978 Estes catalogue, at a cost of $ 5.25.

At that time, one had to send a letter containing the list of rockets one desired to order to Estes in Penrose/CO, whereupon Estes calculated the overseas surface shipping charges for the order and then returned a letter containing the total cost of the order. One then had to go to the bank and obtain a registered cheque (itself quite a procedure) and then send this in a registered letter back to Estes. Each one of these letters commonly took around seven days to cross the Atlantic. All one could then do was to wait for the "4 to 6 weeks for delivery".

Needless to say, it rather took determination to be a rocket modeller in Switzerland.

Black Rock Desert Impressions, Part 1

One of the launch pads operated during the BALLS 10 experimental high power rocketry launch, held on September 30 and October 1, 2000, at Black Rock Desert/dry lake, north of Reno, Nevada. The launch was conducted under Tripoli Rocketry Association sanction, and sponsored by the National Experimental Rocketry Organization (NERO) and the Experimental Rocketry Association of Arizona (XRAA).

The lower photo shows the launch pad tilted to a near horizontal position, in order to facilitate loading the rocket onto the guide rail.

Vehicle 70 Before Launch

Vehicle 70 Dominator, a sport payload model loosely inspired by Centuri's X-16 model rocket as featured in the company's Power System Handbook of 1979. The rocket had a diameter of 41.5 mm and measured 605 mm in length, and it was built using Estes and Centuri parts.

Vehicle 70 was designed to be flown using D to F-type motors and is pictured here on an Aerotech Mantis launch pad, before its maiden flight with an Estes D12-5 black powder motor. The rocket carried an Estes Transroc II sonic beacon. Northern Switzerland, June 17, 1999.

1970s Model Rocketry

An old-style Estes Astron Alpha with balsa wood fins and nose cone on one of the excellent Centuri Power Tower launch pads, pictured at what was then our regular launch place in the farmland of northeast Switzerland, in July 1978. This rocket was possibly a self-made clone.

Photography by Hans Hofer.

Black Rock Desert N Project

The three rockets of the N project, photographed at what was then the Leonhardstrasse 21 machine shop of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, in September 2000. From left: 4" aluminium/glass fibre/carbon fibre rocket, 4" glass fibre/carbon fibre rocket, and, behind it, 6" glass fibre/carbon fibre rocket. All three rockets were designed to be powered by Aerotech N2000 composite motors in Dr. Rocket 98 mm aluminium motor cases.

The N project was conceived by Professor of mathematics Eugene Trubowitz, who generously invited me to be a main partner in this extraordinary endeavour. We were supported by a fantastic team of friends as well as Federal Institute of Technology students. Two of the rockets were eventually launched during the BALLS 10 launch at Black Rock Desert in Nevada, USA, in September and October of 2000.

Swiss Model Rocket Competition, 1978

A young teenager in September 1978, I entered the 6th Swiss Modellraketen-Flugtag, a model rocket competition organized by the Technorama science museum in Winterthur. It was the first of only two such events I would ever enter. The competition was held at Allmend Frauenfeld, concurrently military training grounds and recreational area just north of the town of Frauenfeld. Altitude determination capability was provided by Contraves AG, Zurich, the company that built the payload fairings for the European Ariane launch vehicle.

The rocket I entered was pretentiously named HIAC-38 Radial and constructed from Centuri parts. It was designed for 18 mm motors and measured 390 mm in length. Radial performed well, ranging near the top of the recorded altitude results. The second of the two required flights resulted in a disqualification, however, due to the separation of the recovery system at ejection.

Nonetheless, I still received a performance certificate. A restored version is reproduced above; the original is significantly damaged by scorch marks due to the unexpected combustion of solid rocket motor fuel during ill-advised experiments at my home, later that year.

Incidentally, Dave Sharma and I became aware of one competitor whose motors emitted an unusual sound while his rockets attained stellar altitudes. We reported our suspicion of tampering to the competition leaders, and it was subsequently revealed that the individual in question had clandestinely drilled a bore into the Estes motors he was supplied with by the competition authorities, in order to increase their performance.

First Flight Of Enigma

Vehicle 39 A Enigma launching from customized theodolite metal tripod on a Flight Systems E60-8 mid-power black powder motor. This was the rocket's first flight. 

Vehicle 39 was built during March and April of 1986, loosely based on a design for a smaller rocket constructed by my best friend Dave Sharma in 1978. Utilizing CMR and Estes parts, Vehicle 39 measured 835 mm in length and 41.5 and 29.5 mm in diameter. It was originally intended to be flown with Flight Systems E and F motors and later converted for use with Aerotech motors.
 
Photographed by Martin Kyburz at Allmend Frauenfeld, Switzerland, on Saturday, April 26, 1986.