ADVANCED ROCKETS AND SPACECRAFT MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE ONE DAY IN THE NEAR FUTURE

Move over space tourism, in the future advanced rockets and spacecraft will have more important tasks to keep busy with besides becoming a cosmic tour train.

Wilfred Ashley McIsaac

GLOBAL ORBITAL DELIVERY SERVICES

   

    As aerospace technology including the advancements of rockets and spacecraft move forward at a seemingly unstoppable pace,  the future in express services to the most remote locations on planet Earth will become shockingly fast.  While most private aerospace companies are now concentrating on sending paying customers into low earth orbit; others, such as Global Orbital Delivery Services,  are looking for better ways of using this future technology for more practical purposes on planet earth.

     From sending medical supplies to impoverished nations suffering from a natural disaster, drought, or some other catastrophe; to shipping out emergency spare parts or critical operating equipment for big industry.  

    Yes, the list of what a autonomous descending spacecraft can accomplish, one which can lift off and land anywhere on the planet in under an hour, is long indeed.  Here are just three very dramatically different examples of why rockets in the future will improve life on our planet while flying at or below low earth orbit.

Disaster Relief

    The powerful typhoon that has recently devastated parts of the Philippines (left pic above) was a reminder to all of us of how quickly conditions on our planet can change in a very short time and paralyze a country within hours.   In the future behind companies such as ‘XCOR Aerospace, Spacex,  Virgin Galactic, etc; and through the support of World Health Organizations including Unicef, help can arrive (right pic) almost immediately from anywhere in the world carrying important medical supplies, food, and water.

      Imagine the surprise from victims of such devastation when within minutes, space capsules, in a controlled descent, begin landing around the devastation carrying life saving supplies.   

Big Industry

     The same express analogy also applies to the shipment of critical operating supplies to big industry such as oil refineries.   Imagine a giant rig in the South Pacific suddenly shut down because of a critical part or instrument breaking down.   With no back-up on board and civilization thousands of miles away,  it would normally take one or two days to have the necessary equipment or replacement parts shipped in to resolve the situation.   As precious time goes by the operating company stands to lose millions of dollars.  

     With the autonomous controlled descent of a rocket's upper stage in the not too distant future,  the emergency supply vehicle can land on the deck of any ship or oil rig within a very short time of being called into action.  Like a helicopter but with no pilot and no propellers.   Instead of losing precious time waiting for conventional transportation currently in use,   the workers watch as within hours or even minutes a rocket lands on deck carrying new equipment.  The employees are back to work almost immediately.  

Buried In Space

   While this revolutionary technology will be able to save countless amount of lives from around the world,  it will also have the capability of giving people a funeral and final resting place suitable for a galactic king or queen.  Space urns carrying the remains of loved ones will be jettisoned from low earth orbiting spacecraft while the deceased begin quietly circling the planet for hundreds if not thousands of years inside memorial type satellites no bigger than a tennis ball.   

    In recent years companies such as Spacex have flown the remains of several deceased celebrities on board their Dragon spacecraft including legendary Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.  If given the option these same people would rather remain up in space for eternity while they endlessly loop around their home planet in a cosmic death dance.

     Perhaps,  some of these memorial satellites will have strong reflective properties which at night can be seen from the ground.  In time an astronomer or anyone for that matter looking up at the heavens may see hundreds or even thousands of these cosmic tombstones orbiting our planet in celestial graveyards eerily moving across the night sky.  

     So the future is looking up (sort of speak) for the aerospace community in more ways than one.   Besides space tourism and trips to the moon and mars,  spacecraft relegated to low earth orbit may surprise you while one day saving your life or morbidly displaying your physical remains for all the world to see.   

     Perhaps,  some of these memorial satellites will have strong reflective properties which at night can be seen from the ground.  In time an astronomer or anyone for that matter looking up at the heavens may see hundreds or even thousands of these cosmic tombstones orbiting our planet in celestial graveyards eerily moving across the night sky.  

     

ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

ROCKET MAIL PROGRAM ENDS IN EASTERN ONTARIO WITH FINAL FLIGHT

                                 

On Tuesday the final flight of Wilfred Ashley McIsaac’s Canadian high powered rocket mail program blasted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario carrying mail with 1936 Gerhard Zucker ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

November 7th, 2012

     A nearly six foot high powered test rocket lifted off from the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario on Tuesday carrying a variety of electronics (EB1 and EB2 [electronics bay 1 and electronics bay 2] in nose cone and booster) as well as twelve pieces of mail with rare 1936 ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postal stamps attached.

   The 3.42 pound Astrobee D IV was a revised Astrobee D high powered scale rocket originally produced by Aerotech in the United States.  A long list of changes were made to the launch vehicle including the addition of two integral black powder side boosters which were to give the rocket almost forty pounds of thrust.

    Unfortunately during Tuesday’s launch attempt the twin boosters failed to ignite followed by an onboard backup system malfunction.  A similar incident took place on June 29th to a Astrobee D III rocket during the third test flight of the program when three strap-on boosters didn’t ignite and the rocket crashed into a cornfield.  On Tuesday’s launch however the Astrobee D IV remained stable throughout the entire twenty-five second test flight confirming the rockets center of gravity and center of pressure were redesigned correctly. Although the altitude was much lower than expected (prior to flight 2000 feet was calculated and only near 800 feet was reached) the 1 and ½ stage rocket did release it’s payload section (Canadian mail) on time while the recovery system returned the upper stage across the airfield shortly downrange.   The booster landed not far from the payload section after making a hard landing due to a parachute malfunction.

   Tuesdays launch was the final flight of a Canadian rocket mail program dating back to October 31st, 2011 with the ultra successful single motor ARCAS high powered rocket made by Aerotech.   According to the ‘Air Mails Of Canada And Newfoundland’ these mail flights are the first and only in Canada’s history to carry official Canadian rocket mail postal stamps on board and later recovered safely.   Back in 1936 a German businessman named Gerhard Zucker produced the first and only series of stamps intended to be launched inside a rocket in Canada however Zucker was arrested by the Gestapo before he could make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean himself.  As per official record the stamps were never launched in this country until 2011 when rocket experimenter Wilfred Ashley McIsaac commenced his private rocket mail program seventy-five years after the fact near the Thousand Islands in eastern Ontario.  Following Tuesday's launch attempt most of the previously unflown Canadian rocket mail stamps from the 1936 Zucker collection have now made a trip inside one of McIsaac’s rockets.

     Since the programs inception most of the nicely decorated mail covers designed by McIsaac himself have been auctioned off on Ebay by a company on the west coast of the United States named Gemada Stamps.  11 of the 12 covers from the November 6th test launch will make the same trip south of the border and should be available on Ebay through Gemada Stamps before Christmas.  McIsaac, who suffers from long term health issues including rheumatoid arthritis will donate $200 to the Arthritis Foundation on behalf of the Canadian rocket mail program.   In the future more test flights are expected to take place with the three motor Astrobee D IV while the rocket's payload bay will only carry ballast weight.

 

  

(left) Wilfred Ashley McIsaac shows off his precious cargo following Tuesdays rocket mail flight in eastern Ontario.   The letters were later officially cancelled at the nearest post office in Gananoque,Ontario. (right) The upper payload section was returned to the ground safely under a bright orange parachute.    Pictures provided by my Father, Rennie McIsaac.

A short circuit in the booster ignition system may have been the cause of the integrated side booster malfunction.  The test flight did prove however the Astrobee D IV was stable and that future launches could continue.

ASTROBEE D IV © ROCKET ROARS OFF THE LAUNCH PAD IN GANANOQUE, ONTARIO

The skies above the cracked runways of the Gananoque airport in eastern Ontario came alive Thursday afternoon (October 17th,2013) after Wilfred Ashley McIsaac launched a large two stage solid fuel hybrid (composite and black powder) high powered rocket.  In the rocketry world McIsaac is best known for his October 31st, 2011 rocket launch which carried Canadian mail on board including never before flown ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage stamps from 1936.  

        

 The Astrobee D IV © High Powered Rocket was launched and recovered yesterday (10-17-13) at the Gananoque Airport in eastern Ontario after completing its second successful test flight in the past eleven months.  The solid fueled hybrid rocket was powered by twin black powdered integral side boosters as well as a much more powerful composite solid fuel main engine.  

    Last November this same rocket completed the fourth and final flight of McIsaac’s rocket mail program although the launch was only partially successful.  During the flight the twin side boosters failed to ignite however the launch proved the rockets design to be sound.   During Thursday's launch attempt the Astrobee D IV © carried the SPAK science package blasting a hundred grams of reflective powder into the atmosphere.   The line-of-sight experiment was inconclusive however the experiment itself was deployed properly and on time.  

    Seconds after the rocket roared off the launch pad,  the left integral side boosters nose cone detached from the vehicle and fell to the ground.   After analyzing the telemetry as well as examining the rocket the cause of this booster malfunction has already been determined.

     A vent hole located near the forward end of the left integral booster was accidentally covered up resulting in a buildup of high pressure gasses.    The increased internal air pressure inside the smaller booster (caused by gases released from the black powder motor) forced the nose cone, which may not have been properly secured, to pop off early in the flight.  Once the nose cone was separated and when the black powder rocket fuel in the booster was consumed, the high wind speeds being squeezed through the now uncovered or exposed body tube ripped the motor casing out of the aft end along with the engine hook which usually helps keep the motor secure.  Flight data recovered from the Astrobee D IV © rocket support these findings.   

    Although the nose cone incident reduced the apogee or peak altitude of the rocket,  both the main booster and upper stage payload returned to the ground safely under their own recovery systems approximately 1500 feet north east of the launch pad.  Electronics Bay #1 (nose cone) and Electronics Bay #2 (aft booster) performed flawlessly during the flight including recording important telemetry or on board flight data.  

     The next launch of the Astrobee D IV © high powered rocket  is scheduled for late November or early December. The on board flight cameras used on previous launches will return when the Astrobee D IV flies again..   

ASTROBEE D IV(C) OCTOBER 17TH, 2013 FLIGHT DATA

FLIGHT #:  2

WEIGHT:  3.55 lbs

TOTAL MAX. THRUST: 38.4 lbs

STAGES:  1 ½

ALTITUDE:   600-700 feet (expected altitude was 1000 feet)

VELOCITY:  160 feet per second

ACCELERATION:  7.07 g’s

MAIN MOTOR BURNOUT:  2.6 seconds

AVERAGE ON BOARD TEMPERATURE:  63.8 f

KALMAN FILTER APOGEE:  6.2 seconds  

NOTES:  The G77-7 redline motor was designed to have a 7 second delay.  However,  during Thursday’s launch

                the delay was recorded at only 3.6  seconds.  This resulted in a 3.4 second loss in flight time or 544 feet in    

                altitude.  

1936 ZUCKER STAMPS ROCKET MAILED IN CANADA

 A private rocket experimenter in Canada named Wilfred Ashley McIsaac launched the last of his high powered rockets on November 6th, 2012, carrying Canadian mail on board.  A total of thirty-one letters using a variety of original 1936 Gerhard Zucker  ‘ Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage stamps have taken flight in four separate rocket flights at an old World War II relief airfield outside Gananoque, Ontario near The Thousand Islands, Canada.

    The rocket mail program commenced on October 31st, 2011 with the launch of an ARCAS high powered rocket carrying seven mail covers with Zucker ‘First Canadian Rocket-Flight’ postage attached.  According to the ‘Air Mails Of Canada And Newfoundland’ the stamps are the first rocket mail postage made for Canada and were intended to take flight in an actual rocket. However Gerhard Zucker, the German businessman/rocket engineer responsible for the stamps was arrested by the Gestapo under Adolf Hitler's orders and unable to leave the country.  A reluctant friend named Karl H. Hennin Sr. was recruited by Zucker to travel to New York in his place. Hennin arrived in time for the 1936 Philatelic Exhibition on Lexington Avenue with the Canadian stamps, cachets, and even one of Zuckers mail rockets.   Worried of Nazi reprisals however Hennin kept a low profile during his stay in New York while the Zucker collection vanished into obscurity.  

    No rocket mail stamps in Canada’s history had ever taken flight in a rocket until McIsaac’s launch seventy-five years later using these very same stamps.   The Halloween 2011 launch was fired in a parabolic trajectory before reaching an estimated 2500 feet in altitude while crossing county lines and eventually returning back to the airfield in Gananoque, Ontario.  The incredible flight was captured by an onboard HD Gopro camera which has since gone viral on YouTube.  

    Three more mail flights have taken place in 2012 behind the Aerotech Astrobee D rocket and the upgraded Astrobee D III, and Astrobee D IV one and ½ stage rockets designed by McIsaac himself.  On June 29th the Astrobee D III crashed into a cornfield outside Gananoque after suffering from strap-on booster ignition problems.  The rocket as well as two onboard cameras were destroyed in the crash with damages estimated at over $700.  Seven pieces of mail hidden in a protected partition received only minor damage.

    Tuesdays launch had similar booster problems however this time the rocket activated its recovery system on time and the upper payload returned safely to the ground under a bright orange parachute.  Twelve pieces of mail were recovered immediately from the cargo bay and shuttled across the airfield to the nearest post office in the small town of Gananoque where they were either cancelled or simply mailed through the Canadian postal service. More test flights with the Astrobee D IV are expected to take place in the future although the rocket's payload bay will carry only ballast weight.

   The unique covers from McIsaac’s Canadian rocket mail program are now available on Ebay through Gemada Stamps and come with a certificate of authenticity.