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PLEASE NOTE: To
view these videos it is probably best to right-click on the "Play Video"
link and then select "Save Target As ..." so that it will store the movie file on
your computer. You can then open the file and view it as a movie
once it is completely downloaded. Doing so will allow it to play
cleanly and continuously without all the starts and stops caused by
internet traffic. It will also provide an easy way to see how long
the download will take and to track its progress. |
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The 19th flight
of Starfire was on September 15, 2007 at the XPRS launch
held at Black Rock desert in Nevada. Starfire flew on an AMW M2200
"Skidmark" motor. It reached 4,017 feet and was recovered with no
damage. |
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Starfire carried a digital
camcorder in the payload bay at the top of the booster. The camcorder is
a Sanyo HD1 Xacti. (model VPC-HD1) The beauty of this
particular camera is that it does not use tape. It records directly to an
SD memory card. This is much more tolerant of
acceleration and high vibration than a tape based camcorder. This
particular model can also record in HD video. (1280x720 pixels)
Click here to see the camcorder setup |
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The camcorder looks out
through a hole in the side of the booster coupler. The main body
tube slides over this coupler and has a mirror mounted that allows the
camcorder to look down the side of the rocket during launch. At
apogee the body tube separates from the booster allowing the camcorder to
look straight out to view the horizon and surrounding scenery as it
descends on chute.
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The 18th flight
of Starfire was on an AMW
M2200 "Skidmark" motor at the LDRS launch
held at Jean Dry lake near Las Vegas on July 14, 2007. It reached
4,145 feet and was safely recovered with no damage. |
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The 17th flight
of Starfire was at "Fire In The
Sky" (FITS) launch on
May 26, 2007 at the launch site near Mansfield Washington.
Starfire was boosted on an AMW M2500 Green Gorilla motor and three J420 Redline
outboard motors. It reached 6,961 feet
above the ground and was recovered with no damage. |
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The "click-click-click"
sound in the video above is from a 35mm film camera mounted next to the
camcorder. Just before launch the film camera was triggered to start
taking photos at seven frames per second.
Those still photos can
be seen here. |
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Split Screen Flight Video #1
Video by Greg Fannin, Shon Heiner and Vern Knowles |
This video shows the view
from the flight line but also includes a pad cam video insert and a video
insert from the onboard camera all synchronized together. There is
also a great piece of video at the end that shows the touch down of
Starfire from about 100 feet away. Check it out!
View
High Resolution
MPEG2 version
(35 MB)
View
QuickTime version
(41 MB)
View Low
Res
Windows Media Player version
(9 MB)
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Onboard Flight Video
Video by Vern Knowles |
This video was captured by
the onboard camcorder inside Starfire. Unfortunately, I accidentally
set the zoom a little too high on this camera and consequently it did not
include the back end of the rocket and the fins into the field of view
like I wanted. There was also quite a bit of rapid spinning going on
during parachute descent. However, all in all, it's still fun to
watch.
View
High Resolution
MPEG2 version
(41 MB)
View
QuickTime version
(44 MB)
View Low
Res Windows Media Player version
(4 MB)
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Starfire's "Lucky 13"
flight was at the
OROC
Summer Skies Launch on
June 17, 2006 at the launch site near Brothers, Oregon. Starfire flew
on an AMW M2200
"Skidmark" motor along with six out-board J-motors that were
supposed to be air-started in two sequential sets after main motor burn
out. A first set of four and then a second set of two.
Unfortunately, only the second set of air-starts lit. The reason the
first set got skipped was found to be that there was simply not quite
enough current to fire the four motors all at once. The rest of the
flight went just fine and Starfire was safely recovered after reaching
5,316 feet. |
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The twelfth flight of
Starfire was at FITS on
May 29,
2006 at the launch site near Mansfield Washington. Starfire was to
liftoff using an
AMW M3000
"Super Tiger" motor and then ignite four J350 outboards at
five seconds and then ignite two J570 motors at eight seconds.
Unfortunately, none of the J-motors ever lit because the onboard timer got
reset during the main motor burn. The cause of the reset was later
found to be due to ESD picked up by the trailing break wire used to start
the onboard timer. The result was that Starfire coasted on up to
4,867 feet and then deployed the chutes and cameras. It was safely
recovered with no damage. |
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Video shot by Greg Fannin |
Ground video of the
Starfire flight. Greg Fannin shot this video from the XPRS flight
line using a handheld camcorder. Turn up the sound and enjoy!
Play High Resolution Video
( 17.0 MB mpeg2 file )
Play Low Resolution Video
( 3.0 MB wmv file )
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Video shot by Shon Heiner |
"Pad Cam" video of the
Starfire liftoff. Shon Heiner placed his camcorder up close to the
launch pad to capture this liftoff video. In this video you can
begin to appreciate how much of the hot metal sparks from this motor reach
the ground. They rain down all around the launch pad!
Play High Resolution Video
( 5.6 MB mpeg2 file )
Play Low Resolution Video
( 1.0 MB wmv file )
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Unfortunately, there is no
on-board video from this flight. The on-board camcorder stopped
tracking at the instant the motor ignited. Apparently the
acceleration was more than the mini-DV camcorder could tolerate. This has
never happened before. The camcorder did not resume recording until well
after apogee when Starfire was on parachute.
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The ninth flight of Starfire was at the
Desert Heat launch near Brothers Oregon
on July 29-31, 2005. Starfire flew on an AMW
M3000 "Super Tiger" motor plus three
Aerotech
J350 motors that were air-started following a short coast period after
main motor burn-out. Starfire reached 8,159 feet on this flight.
View photos from this launch. |
| Preflight activities video |
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This video was captured by the onboard
camcorder while Starfire was being loaded onto the launch pad and prepared
for flight.
A mirror allows the camera to see down the side of the rocket toward the fins.
Play high
resolution video
(16.2 MB mpeg2 file)
Play low
resolution video
(4.1 MB wmv file) |
| Preflight activities video |
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Starfire on-board video from Oct. 24, 2004 at
the Tripoli Idaho club launch. Starfire flew on an Aerotech M1315
plus two J420 redline air starts. Starfire
reached a peak altitude of 5257 feet for another nice flight.
Still
photos of this flight
can be seen here. |
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Starfire at XPRS 2004
On-board video from Starfire on an
Animal Motor
Works M2200 "Skidmark" central motor plus two air-started J420 redline
motors at the XPRS launch
at Black Rock desert on September 24, 2004. Liftoff was awesome!
It was loud and the Skidmark kicked out tons of sparks. The J420
redline motors ignited just after Skidmark burn out. Starfire
reached a peak altitude of 5768 feet for another nice flight.
Photos of this flight
can be seen here. |
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The pad cam is an 8mm video
camcorder that is fixed in position up close to the lift off. |
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This on-board video was
captured using a mini-DV camcorder that is positioned in the booster
section of Starfire. It looks out and down the side using a mirror.
The mirror moves away when the ejection charge deploys the parachute so
the camcorder is then looking straight out the side of the booster for a
view of the horizon on the way down.
View still
photos of this flight here. |
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Ground based video of Starfire on an M1315 central motor plus two air-started J350 motors at
an Oregon Rocketry
launch near Brothers Oregon on June 26, 2004. This was the second
flight of Starfire and the first
time it was flown with air starts. The flight was outstanding! Everything
worked perfectly. Turn up the volume and enjoy!
View still
photos of this flight. |
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The on-board video camera
is looking down the side of Starfire during launch. The image at
left is one frame from the video just before M1315 burn out. The flight
line can be seen on the ground below. The video begins with the arming of
the two out-board J350 air start motors. Then shows launch and
recovery. Fasten your seat belt and take a ride! |
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Starfire at SpudRoc-9
On-board video from Starfire on an
Aerotech
M1315
at the Tripoli Idaho Swan Falls launch site on May 1, 2004. Liftoff was awesome! Starfire
reached a peak altitude of 4988 feet on this its maiden flight.
Photos of this flight
can be seen here. |
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The pad cam is an 8mm video
camcorder that is placed up close to the launch pad. |
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