About Kevin Wickart Expertise I can answer questions on sport rocketry, competitive rocketry, and some questions about rocket history. I will also field questions on science related to model rocketry. While I can answer some questions regarding high power rocketry, I am not an active high power rocketeer.
Experience I have been a model rocketeer since 1967. I have been competing at the national level since 1996. In 1998 I was the Adult Division winner of the National Championships, and I am one of the three members of the current Team Division National Champions. I am one of the NAR's designated mentors for the Team America Challenge. I have delivered numerous seminars on competition and physics at the National Association of Rocketry's annual convention. I have conducted sections on rocketry for the Cub Scouts, and led the local 4H organization's rocketry day camp. I have been the director for Regional competitions, and wrote the NAR's Contest Director's Guide. I am the list owner and co-founder of the NAR's two special-interest groups on scale model rocketry and nostalgia rocketry.
Organizations National Association of Rocketry (NAR); Wisconsin Organization of Spacemodeling Hobbyists (WOOSH)
Publications Sport Rocketry Magazine, "The Leading Edge" newsletter, "The WOOSH Pop" newsletter; author of "The Contest Director's Guide."
Awards and Honors C Division National Meet Champion, NARAM-40
2001-2002 National Champion, Team Division
2002-2003 National Champion, Team Division
2004 Event Director, NAR National Convention
What is your take on the "making your own rocket engine" subject.
I recently retired and would like to try model rocketry as a hobbie. For me, part of the fun is to start from scratch after doing some research.
As with most hobbies/activities there is sometimes some danger involved, biking, swimming, flying, sailing etc. It is in Model rocketry that the subject of making your own engines is a no no.
Why is that?
Sincerely,
Hans Leenhouts (not a chemist)
Answer Hi, Hans.
You've posed a very good question, one I've been in a position to answer several times before. Let me start by quoting The Handbook of Model Rocketry by Harry Stine. Harry was the father of model rocketry, founder of the National Association of Rocketry, and was an engineer at White Sands Missile Range.
"The business of making rocket propellants as well as designing and making a rocket motor of *any* type or size is a very complicated, dangerous, and delicate affair that must *not* be attempted by anyone with less than many thousands of dollars for the proper equipment, an advanced college degree in chemistry, several years' experience in handling explosive materials, several acres of land providing a safe place to work, and a very large life insurance policy. (Three professional model rocket motor technicians have been killed while making model rocket motors under the most carefully controlled conditions with all of the safety equipment available. the model rocket motor manufacturing companies therefore take grave risks and assume the awful hazards of rocket motor manufacture so that model rocketeers can enjoy the hobby in safety.)
"There is no safe way to make a rocket motor of any type. This is a statement of fact, not a matter of opinion."
In the early years of "rocket fever," many people--young and old alike--were maimed or killed by their attempts to manufacture rocket motors. Sometimes the person killed was the friend or family member of the "rocket scientist." Homes were destroyed by fire.
All of that stopped when pre-manufactured model rocket motors became readily available. Nonetheless, even the manufacturers of rocket motors suffer occasional mishaps, though they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on proper storage facilities, automated equipment, and fire suppression systems.
Even if you do "some research," attempting to make your own rocket motors as a hobby is exponentially more dangerous than *any* dangers you would face in biking, sailing, etc. A close analogy would be the idea of doing some research and then taking up bomb disposal as a hobby.
Aside from the risks to life and limb of yourself and everyone around you, there is the possibility that any life and homeowners insurance you have could be canceled.
Then there is the matter of training and licensing.
You will find a number of books on the subject of rocket propulsion, even some that tell you how to make your own motors. None of them will give you the training you'll need in laboratory design, scientific method, engineering, etc. to significantly reduce the likelihood of seriously injuring yourself. For that, you need specific training in a hands-on environment. You need to learn methods and techniques, and to develop good laboratory habits, that only come with years of practice in controlled situations. College courses, trade school, and apprenticeships are designed to provide this experience.
Then you have to apply to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for permits to purchase and store the chemicals needed. You need other federal permits to manufacture what the government currently views as explosive devices. You will likely need permits from state and local fire authorities as well. Unless you live in a rural area with no close neighbors, and are willing to build a federally-approved powder magazine a specific distance from any other structure, you will be turned down for most of the required permits.
On a more immediate note, the BATFE has taken steps to attempt to regulate all model rocket and high-power rocket motors, steps which may effectively render the hobby extinct. The National Association of Rocketry and the Tripoli Rocketry Association are even now in the middle of a long legal battle in federal court to render pre-manufactured rocket motors exempt from this regulation.
Counsel for the NAR and TRA indicate that the chances for victory are very, very good. But even one amateur propellant chemist could give the BATFE the example it needs to turn the tide against model rocketry.
There are *many* other aspects of model rocketry that you could explore without risking your safety and an unpleasant visit from the FBI (if not the Grim Reaper). Aside from sheer sport flying for fun, you could delve into scale model rocketry (one of my own passions), competition, rocket-powered gliders (free-flight or radio-control), aerial photography, designing and flying scientific payloads, and attempting high-altitude flights. You could delve into the deeper mysteries of aerodynamics, optics, structures, dynamics, meteorology, and materials science.
Once you're comfortable with the basics of model rocketry you could work with Scouts, 4H groups, or Civil Air Patrol cadets and introduce them to the hobby, possibly being the mentor for a future astronaut, air force member, or aerospace engineer.
These are just *some* of the areas to explore with model rocketry, and there are more that we haven't thought of yet. One of the great things about rocketry is that we get to delve into as many as we want, as deeply as we want. And it's all possible because we have safe, reliable, federally-approved motors to do it with.
Bottom line, we need as many talented, interested rocketeers as we can get. We don't want to lose any of them tragically.
Thank you for your question, and my apologies if my response came off as too "preachy." If you have any other questions or would like any clarification on my answer to this one, I promise to try to keep the response shorter.
