JP Aerospace Blog

New name for an old vehicle.  This was the back up vehicle for the rocket we launch from balloon and flew to 72,233 feet back in 1999. This is the rocket we’ll be using to carry PongSats to space. It will carry 20 PongSats to 65 miles when launched from 100,000 feet. Publicly we called this rocket the Spaceflight Rocket. Internally we called it the “M” Rocket because it runs on an “M” motor (7000N).  Now it’s the PongSat Launcher, and that’s what it does. It will be carried aloft by the Tandem airship, a Dark Sky Station or straight balloons depending on the mission requirements.

This is also our entry into the suborbital reusable launch vehicle arena.

We’re cleaning up all the old molds and tooling and putting her back into production.

All the MHD generator units have been broken down. We’re building them back up with smaller tiles. The large tiles tend to crack under the high thermal shock. The smaller tiles should be able to expanding and contract.

One generator will be for the ‘D’ and ‘E’ motors with the Faraday configuration. This will let us start to get a electrical power to thrust curve (we have the ‘C’ data). The other unit will use the small motors and be set up in a Hall effect configuration. I expect twenty or so firings before we see our first electron.

It’s Christmas Eve and the shop elves are busy clipping propeller blades and building a cardboard drawing board.

Have a safe and happy one!

Here’s the new hatch for the crew module mock up:

A reporter from a local news station just spent a couple of hours in the shop filming a story about the Sand Bricks (the other thing we do). He also spend time filming on the JPA side of the house for a future story.

It will be a late night in the shop tonight. He’s coming back at 10pm to film a live teaser piece. The story is going to air tonight at 10:30 on FOX40NEWS. It should go on their website soon after.

Inside the the Ascender 100. This is from about a year ago.

Today was crew module mock up day. First we routed power through the wall and ran velcro electrical cable lines up the walls. This eliminated the trip hazard and the mess of extension cords running through the hatch. We also made a reversible hatch door for the hatch. You mounted it outside and it a traditional hinge hatch like on a submarine. Flip it move it inside and it has the back frame and works as a plug hatch. The plan it to have the first flight vehicles use plug hatches, then we’ll move to hinged hatch.