This winter I am building an M - M two stage rocket.

The Booster: The booster is 7.5 inches in diameter and 6.5 feet long. It has 98mm motor mount that is long enough to hold an N2000. The fins are a Nike style with a diamond airfoil. They are made from a plywood core that is built up to create the diamond airfoil.

The Sustainer: The sustainer is 6 inches in diameter and 10.5 feet long. It has a 75mm motor mount that is long enough to carry the M1315 motor. Directly above the motor (separated by a bulk plate) is a JVC Mini DV camcorder. The camera bay is designed in such a way that the camera can slip into its bay from a hatch in the side of the booster airframe. The sustainer is very similar to my 6 inch IQSY Tomahawk.

The Inter-stage Coupler: The staging coupler consists of 4 half inch stainless steel rods that slide into half inch I.D. stainless steel tubes in the sustainer. I prefer this design to using a regular coupler because it is stronger and it reduces friction during stage separation.

Booster Electronics: 2 PML Co Pilot Altimeters, 1 Alts 25 Altimeter, Missile Works PET Timer (for stage separation).

Sustainer Electronics: 1 Missile Works PET Timer (sustainer motor ignition), 1 Missile Works RRC Extreme altimeter, 1 Adept Alts 25 Altimeter, 1 Adept DCS Altimeter.

Where am I so far in this project? The inter stage coupler is finished. I am very happy with how the stages slide apart (soother than a knife through butter). Also the design is extremely ridged and should have no problem holding the sustainer in place during flight. It is nice to have this part of construction finished because it was a pain. The finished product looks and works great.

What do I plan to do next? I plan to finish up the sustainer booster by attaching the fins and building the camera bay. After that I will move on to building the first stage booster. The rocket should be painted and ready to launch by June 1.

How high will it go? Well the guess right know is 15,000 feet on an M2500 to a M1315.

Where do I plan to launch it? That?s a great question. Obviously not LDRS 23 because the waiver is ridiculously low (8000 ft.).

The project is moving along but there is still much to be done. The sustainer booster is finished (it took forever, over 3 months). I just finished building the, awsome diamond aifoil built up, first stage booster fins. I have started construction on the forward sustainer avionics, and the first stage Nike booster is comming along quickly. The entire rocket should be in the paint shop by the middle of July. I intend to show the rocket off at the July launch (sorry I'm not launching it). I'm going to launch the rocket at the Aeronaut launch in Black Rock, Nevada on July 31st.

Unfortunatly, I have decided to cancel the launch of my two stage rocket at Aeronaut in Nevada. I talked to John Cocker, the Prefect, and he informed me that there would not be a launch pad large enough to safely launch the rocket. The rocket was supposed to liftoff on a new Cesaroni N2500 and stage to a M1315 in the sustainer. Presently, I am thinking about flying the rocket at Midwest Power 2 (30% chance of flight) or flying it next year in Alberta, Canada for LDRS 24 (100% chance of flight).

The M to M two stage rocket is almost finished. As soon as the semester finishes here at Michigan (late April) I will be back at home putting the final touches on the rocket. Electronics boards, paint, and ground support equipment are all that is left to finish up. The sustainer will have its first flight in late May or early June. The scheduled launch date for the two stager is mid July at LDRS 24 on an N2500 to an M1315.