The Rocket boys who made the ‘October Sky’ a ‘November Sky’

Well it is not the rocket boys of Coalwood but the rocket boys of Bangalore. Although people won’t call us that way we have called ourselves ‘Rocket Boys’ after our rocket was successfully launched on the auspicious day of Deepavali. The festival of lights stood as a witness for this launch and what better day could we have chosen for this.

Being a science enthusiast, I like experimenting and playing with science. Along with me Adithya, Kiran, Sathya and the most important of all, my uncle Murali Mohan (I call him Murali Chikappa) joined together to execute the experiment which I thought of doing. Well since younger days I was interested in rockets and wanted to experiment with one. Others who joined me were equally interested in this experiment.

People while referring to any easy work say ‘it is no rocket science!’ but does that mean rocket science is that difficult? But if it is challenging and exciting then who cares if it is difficult. I was browsing the web for help regarding making rockets. I found an interesting link which said Water bottle rockets. What else does one need to start of with when you want to build a low budget rocket? As I browsed through the link, I came to know there was a whole community behind it. In the west it is an undergraduate level science project where groups of students demonstrate their rockets by launching it. Lot of enthusiasts like us, have experimented with these rockets and there is a lot of information about it on the web. Well when I came to know about the building of the rocket, I discussed about it with my group. We started designing the rocket and its launch pad. As the name itself suggests, a water bottle is needed for the rocket. We also needed a parachute to recover the launched rocket and a launch pad to launch it.

We picked a big cool drink bottle which was sturdy and which could withstand the crash during fall in case the parachute fails. Murali Chikappa had brought special material to make the fins and nose of the rocket. The fins were attached to the inverted bottle and a nose was designed to create enough lung space to house the parachute. The nose was tied to the bottle and placed over the bottom of the inverted bottle. We prepared a nice big parachute of 32 inches and with the help of strings tied it to the bottle and placed it in the area below the nose cone (pay load area). The rocket was ready to some extent and now we had to prepare the launch pad. The design was finalized and Murali chikappa who was indeed our chief architect had asked a plumber to prepare it. Ah! When did plumbers get involved in rocket making? Don’t get surprised after all it is a water bottle rocket and who else can prepare the launch pad for it. Ya the lauch pad was made out of PVC pipes. They were arranged in an H-Shape framework in order to provide a firm base for the launch. The plumber got the launch pad ready in a couple of days and all we had to do was to fix some accessories to it to help the launch.

Provision for fixing a cycle pump to the launch pad was made, and clamps and other necessary accessories were mounted on the launch pad. Now it was time for some testing. We threw the rocket from top of the house and tested whether the parachute was opening. Adithya really helped us out in this testing. After a number of trials we fixed various defects in the parachute. The final touches were made to the apparatus before the launch.

The first test launch was exciting. We were nervous because all the work we had done before was theoretical. This was our first practical experience of flying our own rocket. The apparatus was assembled on top of our house. The bottle was filled with water till the half mark. The bottle was inverted over the launch pad and fixed tightly using the clamps so that the water inside should not leak. Air was pumped into the bottle using the cycle pump. This increased the pressure inside the bottle. After the pressure inside the bottle reached an optimum pressure (which we came to know from a meter attached to the pump) we stopped pumping air inside the bottle. Then we pulled the clamp that was holding the bottle. The water gushed out of the bottle opening, and drenched me completely. In no time the rocket was around 30 feet above our head. Wow it was an achievement. We jubilated with excitement and happiness. The first test launch was a real success and it was a source of inspiration for the rest of the launches we made. Well after this launch we celebrated a pollution free deepavali by launching our rocket as many times as it excited us.

This was not the end… The rocket went on for its display at two science exhibitions. While it became an inauguration event at the science exhibition in Sri Vani Education Institute, Subramanyanagara it won an award at the other science exhibition. We had named the rocket AZAD and it proved to its name. It was a colorful and wonderful November Sky for us when our hard work turned into reality when the rocket had kissed the sky. I would like to thank and congratulate all the team members who made the rocket a big success.