currently planning on making a small scale space programme
my aim is to send some stuff to the stratosphere and return it but im hung on what type of propellant to use.
should i use multi stage solid or use a larger liquid stage using asparagus staging with solid boosters to supplement it?
A sugar based propellant, super easy to make if you're not into spending a lit of $ on other chemical compounds.
there are also a lot of guides and things that can point you in the right direction for your project.
A common sugar based propellant is
64% KNO3
35% Regular table sugar
and 1% Iron(III)oxide (Fe2O3)
The iron oxide will act as a catalyst to increase burn rate.
sending stuff the stratosphere is not a space program
fuck this guy, just use mentos and cocacola
Asparagus staging doesnt work in real life you mongrol fucktard. Life isnt ksp.
it would with solid fuel, just activate each pair seperately
>activate each pair separately
You would need a shitton of thrust from each booster for that to work. There's a reason why rockets are launched the way they are.
Make a space mountain so you can just wheel barrow your satellites up then use a kite to get them into LEO.
It doesn't work that way though.
Still need to go sideways really fast
What is geosynchronous orbit?
Much much higher than 100km, and still going sideways very fast
You are thinking of a space elevator
There's no friction up there so slow you down.
So?
If you are playing to send stuff to the stratosphere you should start out with helium balloons and testing conditions of sending spacecraft in the area you are in.
Weather balloon
Just make sure not to collide any suns of lava and suns of ice into each other.
this
>currently planning on making a small scale space programme
Neat. What kind of mass and altitude are you aiming for? And where are you going to be launching from?
>should i use multi stage solid or use a larger liquid stage using asparagus staging with solid boosters to supplement it?
Definitely none of those.
You should be using a single-stage rocket. The dV retirements for a sounding rocket are pretty small, and increasing the complexity will increase the construction time, cost, and probability of failure. As for propellants, solid boosters are the traditional choice. Most liquid propellants have at least some difficulties with handling, and your performance requirements probably aren't high enough for them to be beneficial.
>solid single stage rocket
yea that'll make it to orbit(lol)
>yea that'll make it to orbit(lol)
But no-one said anything about going to orbit.
OP said "send some stuff to the stratosphere and return it", which is well within the capabilities of a single-stage solid rocket.
yeah i just wanted to send stuff to the stratosphere. so will a large solid booster get it there? should i use some smaller boosters with a higher burn rate to help it out while using a slower burning main rocket?
the final plan is to send a small rodent to see how they fare in terms of health during launch. so the payload would most likely be about 600-700 grams for the rodent, parachutes and parachute trigger.
>yeah i just wanted to send stuff to the stratosphere. so will a large solid booster get it there?
Easily. Go look up some sounding rockets on Wikipedia for scale.
>should i use some smaller boosters with a higher burn rate to help it out while using a slower burning main rocket?
No, the main rocket will produce more than enough thrust.
>so the payload would most likely be about 600-700 grams
That's really not a very big rocket.
Why not a balloon?
> larger liquid stage using asparagus
Yeah. I don't think asparagus soup will get your toy into orbit.
What some people will do to get out of eating vegetables is beyond me.