New J and M Class Altitude Records Set

Curt von Delius, using a modified version of his record-setting Level 3 airframe, crushed his previous "M"-class altitude record of 37,762 feet by flying it to a GPS-verified altitude of 45,328 feet AGL on September 19th 2008 and also set a new "J"-class altitude record of 19,758 feet on September 21st 2008, during the XPRS launch in Nevada"s Black Rock Desert. The altitudes were recently certified by the Tripoli Contest and Records Committee. Scorched from aerodynamic heating after reaching almost 2,000 miles per hour, von Delius" "MMAX" flight used an 8,060 newton-second, Kosdon by AeroTech Animal-Compatible (KBA A-C) M1450W reload kit (AeroTech P/N K13145P, $300.00 MSRP) that generates a peak thrust of 480 pounds during a burn time of 5.46 seconds. The rocket pulled 24 Gs and the time to apogee was 46 seconds, with the vehicle coasting for nearly 40 seconds after motor burnout.

The airframe was separated at apogee using black powder charges and was recovered with custom hybrid and Kevlar® parachutes, of von Delius' own design and construction. A Beeline GPS was used to verify the maximum altitude and provide tracking during the over 5 minute descent (launch photo by Steve Wigfield). Less than 20 days earlier at the AeroPac Aeronaut Launch, also in Nevada's
Black Rock Desert, von Delius clinched the previous Tripoli "M"-class altitude record by achieving a GPS verified altitude of 37,762 feet. Curt is also the holder of the "L"-class record of 31,316 feet. Von Delius' high-altitude design was constructed with lightweight carbon fiber
composites and weighs 56 oz. without the motor. The modified design now measures 59.77" in length and 3.13" in diameter with a flying weight of less than 20 pounds. After ignition, the vehicle reached 71 miles per hour before exiting the custom-built 8-foot aluminum launch tower.
"We had excellent conditions for this launch with mild surface and aloft winds. It all seemed to come together on this flight with an arrow straight boost and all systems and recovery working flawlessly," said von Delius. AeroTech/RCS President Gary Rosenfield added, "We are thrilled that Curt chose to use AeroTech products for his record attempts. The M1450W reload especially represents a convergence of performance parameters that are ideally suited for this kind of effort." Two days after setting the new "M"-class altitude record of 45,328 feet, also at the XPRS launch, Curt von Delius improved on his existing "J"-class record of 19,240 feet by flying his state-of-the-art carbon "JMAX", setting the new Tripoli single motor record of 19,758 feet.

Von Delius' J-class record-setter. Flying on an RMS-38/1080 motor loaded with an AeroTech J570W reload kit (AeroTech P/N 10570M, $80.00 MSRP), von Delius' latest JMAX design is his fourth attempt to crack 20,000 feet AGL, and the third time
to set a new "J"-class record using a J570W.  A total of three airframes have been built and flown, each improving on the original record design.
"This flight boosted incredibly straight out of the tower, and the flight and recovery went very smoothly, too bad it didn"t clear 20,000 feet," said von Delius. At 29.625" inches long and 44 oz., the all-carbon screamer hit 1,954 miles per hour and pulled 93 Gs for two seconds, coasting for another 28 seconds to apogee.  The JMAX was launched from an 8-foot custom aluminum tower and was recovered with a hybrid chute system deployed at apogee, all designed and constructed by von Delius. AeroTech Consumer Aerospace is a division of RCS Rocket Motor Components, Inc., Cedar City, UT.

New Zealand Single Motor Altitude Records

If you are attempting an altitude record, please fill in the ALTITUDE RECORD FORM and send it in to the address given on the form for official NZRA approval.

World Single Motor Altitude Records

Staged and Clustered Records

New European Amateur Altitude Record

On 17 March 2009, 10:28 UTC, the student rocket Stratos was launched from the Swedish Esrange Space Center. The rocket, an amateur rocket developed by students from the Delft University of Technology in Holland, reached an altitude of 12551 m (= 41,167 ft). This is from now on considered as the new official record for European amateur rockets. The record was earlier held by the British amateur rocket society MARS, which launched a rocket to 10.7 km from Black Rock Desert in USA in 2000.

'Our rocket performed like a dream. Everything worked as planned, the two rocket stages ignited nominally and the impact was within the safety area', says Mark Uitendaal, the Stratos project leader writing his thesis on this project.

The two-staged Stratos has been developed by a team of students from the faculty of Electrical and Aerospace Engineering, all members of the studentassociation Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering (DARE). The purpose of the association is to involve students in the designing and launching of experimental rockets. Dutch Space, a space company located in Leiden, is the principle sponsor of project Stratos.

Website: http://www.projectstratos.nl/index.php

 

Please note that 'outer space' is said to begin at an altitude of 100 km and the world record for a group of amateur rocketeers is 116 km set on 17 May 2004.

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