November 3-5, 2000: Thornton, NH test facility

The level of organization in the team keeps building, as evidenced by the sorted and labeled boxes for various tools and parts. This made it much easier for people to find what they needed throughout the weekend. Even with a smaller contingent early Friday, setup went quite quickly. In fact, little was left to be done on Saturday, such that we were able to do our first liquid nitrogen spin test around 11am Saturday morning. This may be a team record for quick setup. We broke for lunch around 12:30pm, and switched over to liquid oxygen (LOX) testing immediately thereafter.

Spin tests in lab during the previous week had produced consistent data, and we aimed to replicate that on Saturday. Two spin tests went relatively smoothly, such that we were pretty confident that nothing had changed during transport. We were just getting ready for a third spin test (around 6pm) in preparation for a hot fire test later (maybe 9pm) when a neighbor requested that we keep the noise down. (The noise at the time was from the venting of the LOX tank, a high-pitched whistle). We decided to finish the spin test, then shut down for the evening.

That night we got to see the 5 minute teaser video produced by Kiyash Monsef, who is making a documentary of the rocket team's efforts. It was a great video, running up through the summer of 2000. Kiyash has been videotaping almost every trip up to New Hampshire, as well as some of the work in the lab. He is making a documentary of the team.

On Sunday morning we discovered a problem with the gears, and spent some time replacing a gear. We decided to run another LOX spin test or two to make sure that results were still consistent. We were then finally ready for a hot fire test. The LOX tank was filled, the spotters were deployed (to keep traffic from driving along one small stretch of road for about one minute during the test), the engine was spun up...and nothing happened. The computer's conditions for seeing ignition were not met, so it shut down. A quick analysis decided that one time parameter should be changed slightly.

That accomplished, we were ready for a second try at a hot fire test. This was the first time since our first successful hot-fire (back in September) that we were able to go for multiple hot-fire attempts in one weekend. After a quick turn-around on engine prep, we were all set for the hot-fire test.

The LOX tank was again filled, the spotters deployed, and everyone gathered around the video feeds in the control center. The engine was spun up, LOX started flowing, and then...a burst! Another, much larger blast, then nothing for a few seconds, even though the engine was still spinning. Then it came -- Detonation! Flame was everywhere. Parts of the test stand appeared to be on fire, and there were smoke and clouds everywhere.

The test stand and operating procedures worked as designed. No fire spread beyond the cinder block housing, and no damage was done outside the test facility. We were able to quickly switch over to a nitrogen feed, and pump the dangerous gases out of the area. After waiting for the gases to dissipate, we went down to investigate.

The devastation was very impressive. You can see the photographic evidence on the photos page. This certainly spelled the end not only of this test trip, but also of more trips in the near future. But we fully expect to redesign and rebuild the engine, and come back for more testing in the spring of 2001!