July 2011
Members of the Spacefleet team attended the UK Space conference at the University of Warwick, July 4th-5th. A brochure outlining the project was printed and distributed.
A sub-scale model of the EARL took to the sky at a meeting of the East Anglia Rocketry Society, on Sunday July 3rd, the day before the UK Space Conference. Useful early, low-cost, tests of the hull design can be carried out under amateur rocketry and amateur model aircraft regulations. In this test we were able to show that the hull design enabled a clean undeviating ascent. Furthermore, after the rocket engine thrust ceased, even though uncontrolled, the EARL model made a stable descent at around 45 degrees and hit the ground nose first. An earlier test flight with the fins angled upwards indicated that they were fully effective in controlling the attitude of the hull in pitch. Plans are being made to test the gliding phase of flight with a fan or jet-powered model, with radio control. Higher ascents with a larger-scale hull, more powerful rocket motors and on-board video recording are planned. You can download a video of the test flight here.
EARL-002, 1/5 scale test flight takeoff July 2011
EARL-002
Ray Wright (L) and Ray Wilkinson (R) with EARL-002
If you want to know more about the Spacefleet EARL Project, or the SF-01 space tourism sub-orbital vehicle project, then please email us at: