IKARUS.jpg
My IKARUS class rockets are designed for maximum altitude with no recovery system. This rocket is basicially a large rocket engine with fins glued on. the engine is 24" long x 1" id PVC pipe. It has a 1/4 inch bore through all 500g of case bonded KNO3/Sucrose propellent grain. The KNO3 and Sucrose are mixed in a 65/35 ratio. According to calculations performed by a spreadsheet provided on Richard Nakka's website, this engine should produce over 400lb of thrust for about .6 of a second. In reality, it will probably burn for a few seconds since i am not igniting the propellent at the front of the engine.
Nozzle view
this shows the nozzle and ignition system (cannon fuse) the nozzle is made of pourstone ceramic cement anchored into the pvc with 6 holes which were drilled into the pvc before casting the nozzle. It has a 3/8 throat dia.
Side view of fins
The fins are cut from 1/4 thick plexiglass. Its not the lightest stuff to use but its nice and strong. I would have rather used some sort of lightweight plywood but none was availiable. I used 2 part epoxy to glue them to the body. You can also see the nozzle anchor holes clearly in this picture.
