Long time no write!
Firstly, our website is down. We’ve had a dispute with our Hosting Service.
We are now making new hosting arrangements and will be re-designing our website, taking into account all the developments that have occurred over the last couple of years on the internet.
In the meantime, we are still here and still working!
David has manufactured a new prototype valve that goes inside the input end of the rocket in an attempt to prevent backfires on start-up. We’ve had a couple of incidents on hot days where back-shock from the idling rocket has destroyed a throttle valve. We are installing this in one rocket and we’ll be conducting a test to see if it has the desired effect. We have also developed a new purging procedure that should prevent any recurrences of the problem.
Attempts to co-operate with a couple of Universities have come to nought. We had been warned that this may well turn out to be a waste of time, and so it has been. All kinds of positive emails and undertakings were received, but when it came time to ‘DO’ we have been met with deafening silence.
We are not yet ready to give up on working with educational institutions and we are trying again with another college. Actual research and development of challenging engineering seems to be something these institutions can’t actually do. If we are ever to get youngsters interested in engineering and science, in the numbers needed by our economy, something has to change in education.
We know that youngsters love the car and the rockets and they rapidly engage in learning the moment they get near the car. Unfortunately the teachers don’t seem to want to be bothered.
We will be at Sywell Aerodrome in a couple of weeks to take part in their superb ‘Youth in Aviation’ event. We expect to be overwhelmed by bright young people who can’t get enough of this kind of stuff. We spent the event last year utterly bombarded all day.
