Carbon Fiber Sponsor

Fortunately, we recieved a product sponsorship from the generous Braider.com. They have decided to donate a huge amount (10 feet) of fiberglass and carbon fiber sleeves. That will be used to reinforce the pressure vessel(s). Also, we found a new sustainer shape: an FTC tube. FTC tubes are more aerodynamic than 2 liter bottles, but can't be used for a booster. If used as a booster, the high G acceleration will crush the tubing. So, we'll use it for the SECOND stage, when Gs are already tapered down a bit. Whether or not a 4 foot tube or 8 foot tube will be used is still being decided. Finally, we may consider using only an 8 foot tube with carbon fiber to set the single stage world record. We're gonna pwn both records of single and multiple stages.

Anyone Can Join!

If you want to check out the club, come to Mr. Wittrock's room at 8:30 AM, Monday, October 19th. All members must attend. It would be very helpful if you could bring in some plastic 2 liter bottles (like the ones for soda). That is all.

Cmon! Show some support!

Hey Everyone,
Show some support by commenting, or sending us an email! We want to know how our readers feel about our blog - it doesn't have to be long, but just to let us know you're there. Or, you could follow us by clicking the "follow" button on the right.

PS: We'll be taking some more videos for ballistics analysis.
PSS: Recruiting is still active. If you want to join, send an email to us at
hvwaterrockets@gmail.com, with a couple sentences on why you should be on the team.

New Club at FCMS

Attention all Falcon Cove Middle School students!!!!!

There will be a new club that is focusing on building and raising money for the world record rocket. If you like rocketry or science, then this is a club that you should join. Send us an email telling us why you should be a member of this club to hvwaterrockets@gmail.com.

Booster Launch Video

This is a video of a BOOSTER launch. Notice how I emphasized booster. This is not the world record attempt rocket! It's a booster that drops away from the main rocket - that's why its altitude is so low. However, it should give you a good idea of what a rocket launch should look like. Please note that this rocket was also launched at a relatively low pressure, and there was much more potential altitude. Anyhow, enjoy!

Some Pictures

Here are the pictures that I promised. The first picture is a spliced pair I was talking about. Notice the black coordinating lines and the brown glue. This illustrates how spliced pairs are basically just 2 Two - Liter bottles with their bottoms cut off, curled, and spliced. The second picture is of two spliced pairs joined together with what is called a tornado coupling. A tornado coupling lets air and/or water move through the spliced pairs. The third picture is a close-up of the aforesaid mentioned tornado coupling. The fourth picture is of our lovely launcher with a clark release mechanism. Cable ties lock on the the neck of a bottle, and a PVC coupler hold it there (I'll explain this in a seperate post). Finally, the fifth picture is to give you all an idea of how many bottles we need PER WEEK. Yep, that's right. A lot of bottles will be needed, so we'll need to work hard! That's it for now, but stay tuned for more pics!

More Bottles - The Harvest!

As you may all know, simply getting bottles is hard. Thus, I have to collect them with my team every Wednesday morning - because of recycling day. Today I got about 10, so I'll make them into spliced pairs. I'll also get some pictures up to show you what the heck a spliced pair is anyway.

Spliced Pair Tests

Today we tested the new spliced pairs. Unfortunately, the launcher began leaking at around 20 psi, and the pressure test was aborted. Even more unfortunately, the rocket self-launched, but made minimal damage. More pressure testing will follow after we get an o-ring for the launcher this weekend.