L1 Certification Rocket
Built and flew a high-power rocket to ~3,800 ft for L1 cert. Fiberglass airframe, single-deploy, commercial 38mm motor.
Overview
I built and flew an L1 from a kit on a H100 motor to ~2,200ft successfully. The rocket carried a payload of two onions (found at the launch site), giving it the name, Onion 1.
I assembled and flew and L1 from a kit with a H100 motor to ~2,200ft successfully. It was a pretty simple 4 hour project and the final result was a 4” diameter cardboard rocket. It was my first time assembling and testing a launch vec
Process
The build
Since this was a kit rocket, the build was very straightforward and took 4 hours all in plus some extra time to let the epoxy cure. The airframe sections were 4” diameter cardboard tubing, with laser cut plywood bulkheads and fins with the entire build held together by 5 minute epoxy. Recovery was
Final steps
At the launch site, I prepared
Takeaways
- My first experience building, launching, and recovering a launch vehicle and working to ensure it was successful
- How to set up and read openrocket results to ensure stability and find flight characteritics
- Onions make for good ballast mass
Extensions
The L2 comes after the L1 and I hope to have my cert by the end of summer 2026.