Haven't you ever wanted to become an astronaut and fly into space aboard a rocket? To become an astronaut, you need to spend many years in training and training. In the meantime, you can make and launch your own homemade rocket in the yard, which, thanks to our instructions, you can make yourself.

To make a homemade rocket you will need:

A4 sheet of paper

From 35mm film (with a lid that fits inside the opening of the jar rather than over the circumference of the jar)

adhesive tape

Scissors

Water

An antacid effervescent tablet (an antacid used to calm an upset stomach)

Eye protection: sunglasses or goggles

How to build a homemade rocket?

1. Make an enlarged copy of the rocket so that it fits on a sheet of A4 paper. Cut out the template details.

2. Remove the lid from the film can. Using adhesive tape, glue the large one cut from the template to the jar. Make sure the opening end of the can is right on the edge of the paper.

3. Now twist the paper around the jar to make a cylinder and glue it adhesive tape. The jar should be at the bottom of the cylinder.

4. Take the nose cone piece. Glue the ends together with duct tape to form a tapered shape. Glue the cone to the top of the paper cylinder.

5. Take the stabilizer templates and fold along the dotted lines. Glue to the rocket body. Your rocket is now ready to launch!

6. Take your homemade rocket outside and wear goggles to protect your eyes.

7. Turn your homemade rocket upside down and fill the jar halfway with water.

8. Drop half an antacid tablet into the container and close the lid quickly.

9. Set up your homemade rocket on a launch platform, such as a concrete path or paved area. Step back and wait. In a few seconds, yours will take off!

How a homemade rocket takes off and works

When the tablet is placed in a jar of water, it begins to dissolve and hiss. Hissing produces more gas inside the jar, but with the lid closed, it cannot escape. After all, something has to happen! Therefore, the bank shoots the lid. and gas rush outward down, pushing the can, together with the rocket attached to it, up.

Real rockets work on the same principle. Instead of water and an antacid tablet, the rocket's fuel tank contains a mixture of various fuels that causes an explosion. The explosion erupts from the bottom of the fuel tank, forcing the rocket into the air.

The first rocket to launch anything into space was the R-7 launch vehicle. With its help, on October 4, 1957, Sputnik-1 was launched in the USSR - the first artificial Earth satellite (AES)

A rocket made at home is not a fantasy. All it takes to make a flying rocket is paper, foil, saltpeter... and a bit of the practical knowledge outlined in this article.

The origins of rockets begin with the "Fire Arrow", which took off on gunpowder during the Chinese Han Dynasty, with Congreve and Gale rockets during the American Civil War and the discovery of the formula by K.E. Tsiolkovsky. In those distant times there were no powerful computers and high technologies. Of course, at present, a rocket is a product of human thought and science, it is capable of developing tremendous speeds, lifting multi-ton loads and taking them into the depths of space. But rocket science is not shrouded in obscurity and is not kept under a veil of secrecy, it is quite accessible, so that any person can make a simple rocket without much effort.

Rocket design

The rocket consists of five main parts:

1 rocket fairing- This is a part of a conical-shaped rocket designed to reduce air resistance when flying in the atmosphere.

2 fuel tank- this is the part of the rocket design that provides it with fuel. For liquid fuel rockets, the fuel tank is divided into a fuel tank (hydrogen, kerosene, etc.) and an oxidizer tank, which is located above the fuel tank (oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide, etc.). For solid propellant rockets, the fuel tank is connected to the combustion chamber and in the process of fuel combustion itself performs the function of the combustion chamber.

3 the combustion chamber- serves for combustion of fuel and emission of the formed gases. Since the combustion reaction proceeds with the formation of high temperatures, the gases, having heated up, expand, creating a high pressure according to the ideal gas law (PV = nRT, P - pressure; T - temperature; V, n, R - remain constant), which pushes the gases out from the rocket, pushing it up.

4. rocket nozzle- serves to accelerate and set the direction of the jet of gases leaving the combustion chamber. A simple nozzle (venturi tube) consists of a section of gradually tapering section for dispersing gases. Due to the fact that the inlet velocity is proportional to the cross-sectional area, with a decrease in the area, an increase in velocity occurs:

W at the outlet = W at the inlet * S section of the combustion chamber / S section of the nozzle; where W - speed; S is the area.

However, as the cross section decreases, the gas pressure in the combustion chamber increases, so the cross section must be optimal so that the working pressure does not break the chamber.

5. rocket stabilizer- this is a part of the rocket, located in the tail section and serving to shift back the center of pressure of the aerodynamic forces acting on the rocket when flying in the atmosphere. In addition, the stabilizers can be equipped with elevators to control the movement of the missile.

How to make a rocket with your own hands

The simplest rockets are solid fuel rockets, which makes the rocket less dangerous, the fuel is easier to work with and easier to create. But such missiles also have a minus - this is the irreversibility of the launch process, in which it is impossible to stop the process of fuel combustion and a small impulse. But this option suits us, we are not going to launch Belka and Strelka into space!

The fuel is not completely located in the rocket, there is a chute inside the fuel compartment. Its necessity is due to the fact that during the combustion process the fuel heats up, while it expands, creating a load on the walls of the rocket. Such a load can deform or even lead to cracks in the hull, which can adversely affect flight. Therefore, an empty space, a chute, is provided to reduce expansion in the direction of the rocket walls.

Gunpowder (packed in the form of a checker) or paper impregnated with saltpeter can serve as fuel, but they can be better advised - it is an alloy of sugar or sorbitol with potassium nitrate or ammonium perchlorate in a ratio of 2:3. You can also buy a cheap one with a large selection of momentum (lift thrust) and use it to create a rocket for flight. Such engines already have a nozzle, which simplifies the assembly task, and a used engine can later be replaced with another one, making the rocket reusable.

The body and fairing of the rocket is best made of parchment, as it is heat resistant compared to paper or aluminum pipe. A parchment rocket nozzle can be made by squeezing the end of the rocket into four pieces and twisting them so that the hole narrows. Later fix the nozzle with a thread. For rockets with a metal case, you need to select a plug with a hole in the middle. The plug is attached to the surface by soldering with cold welding or soldering acid.

You can also make rockets without a nozzle, but the speed of the rocket will be lower from this. The stabilizer is made of cardboard or plywood and glued to the body with glue.

The fuel is ignited by a fuse or electric fuse.

The engine diagram is shown in Fig.1. And now the first rule:

1) do nothing "by eye".

You need a simple set of measuring and drawing tools: ruler, caliper, pencil.

The engine casing is made from 10 layers of high quality office paper. To do this, two strips 69 mm wide are cut to length from a standard A4 sheet. Next, a mandrel is taken - even, smooth and durable, preferably metal, a rod (or tube) with a length of more than 80 mm and a diameter of 15 mm. To prevent the case from sticking to the mandrel, you can cut a piece of wide tape along the length of the mandrel and roll it onto the mandrel in the transverse direction. Then strips of paper are sequentially wound onto the mandrel, which are plentifully, without gaps, smeared with silicate glue during the winding process. Of course, it is not necessary to coat the side of the first turn adjacent to the mandrel with glue.

It is necessary to wind, or rather, roll the paper on a hard, even surface, so that the turns lie on top of each other with little or no shift and very tightly, without bubbles. Lay down a sheet of newspaper to not only keep the surface clean, but also to remove excess glue released during the knurling process. To avoid shifting the turns, I recommend that you first roll the strip “dry” so that it goes correctly, then make a neat “rollback” to the first turn without lifting the mandrel from the table, then start rolling again with glue. Be sure to coat the initial edge of the strip so that it sticks clearly on the first turn. Of course, some experience is needed for this operation to succeed. However, do not throw out substandard cases. They are useful for adjusting the diameter of the nozzle, plug, for the manufacture of various conductors and retaining rings. After the strips are glued, you can roll the body on the mandrel with a flat board to seal the turns. This should only be done in the winding direction.

After that, it's a good idea to drive the still raw case through the outer mandrel - a metal cylinder with an internal diameter of 18 mm. The engine body must pass through this mandrel tightly enough, this must be achieved without fail, since in the future it will be necessary to stuff the body with fuel, which cannot be done without a tightly seated external mandrel. If such a tube cannot be found, it will be necessary to make an external mandrel by winding at least 15 layers of office paper on an already finished engine case, also on silicate glue. Having slightly dried the case, it is necessary to remove it from the mandrel by first turning it against the winding. Further, until the body is completely dry, it is necessary to insert the finished nozzle on one side. For this, of course, it is necessary that the nozzle has already been prepared.
So, we make a nozzle. I recommend making two nozzles at once, then it will be clear why. It is usually easy to find a wooden rod with a diameter of 16-18 mm, preferably from hard wood like beech or hornbeam. We carefully end it, i.e. we make a smooth cut perpendicular to the axis at one end. To do this, it is necessary to cut off an even strip of drawing paper, ~ 100 mm wide and tightly wind it onto the rod exactly a coil over a coil. Along the edge of this winding, gradually turning the rod and holding the paper in place, we make a circular cut. Lightly sanding the place of saw cut, we get a clear butt. Here we come close to the second rule, which follows directly from the first:

2) for any operations requiring geometric accuracy, use all kinds of mandrels, templates, conductors.

Having tortanav a piece of wood, according to the same scheme, we saw off a cylinder 12 mm high from it. In this blank, in the center along the axis, we drill a hole with a diameter of 4.0 mm. It is better to do this on a drilling machine, at least made from a drill with a special drilling stand. It is not too expensive, but allows you to do vertical drilling. If there is no such device, you can use any simple jig, in the end, do the drilling manually. In this case, special accuracy is not needed, since the chip is in the following technology. It will not be possible to drill the workpiece in the center even on a drilling machine. Therefore, I simply put the workpiece on the M4 stud and clamp it with nuts on both sides.
Then, holding the drill in the chuck, I grind it to the desired diameter (15 mm) with a file and sandpaper. If there are deviations from the perpendicular direction relative to the axis of the end surfaces, this can also be corrected during turning. The drill for this must, of course, be somehow fixed on the table, such devices are also on sale. After such an operation, the nozzle opening is exactly in the center. On the side surface of the nozzle, also on the drill, in the center we make a groove with a square or round needle file 1.0-1.5 mm deep. Diameter adjustment is best done by having an engine case blank, which can be substandard, which you will have during the production process. Finally the nozzle is ready. It does not differ in heat resistance and during the operation of the engine it burns out to a diameter of 6 - 6.5 mm. Some call such engines even nozzleless. I would not entirely agree with this, since this simplest nozzle still provides a clearly directed starting thrust vector. In addition, such a nozzle “automatically” regulates the pressure in the engine, allowing you to forgive some mistakes of novice rocket modellers.
Now we need to make a stub. This is the same nozzle, but without the central hole. Here you can come up with different manufacturing technologies. The easiest way is to use another nozzle as a plug, only under it during assembly you will have to put, for example, a Soviet penny, its diameter is just 15 mm, or fill the hole with epoxy after installation in the case. In addition, it is useful for centering the main nozzle.

The first step in assembling the engine is installing the nozzle. This must be done while the case is not yet dry, i.e. almost immediately after winding. The nozzle is installed in the body from one end on silicate glue flush with the edge of the body.
Here we come to the third rule:

3) strictly observe the alignment of all central channels and the axial symmetry of all parts of the rocket.

Of course, this rule is intuitive, but it is often forgotten about.

There are no guarantees that the nozzle channel is directed strictly along the axis, so we make the simplest jig. To do this, on the opposite side of the engine housing, we insert another nozzle (which we prepared for the plug), without glue, of course, and connect both nozzles with a metal rod with a diameter of 4.0 mm. Consistency is guaranteed.
The pressure when working in such a simple engine can reach 10 atmospheres, so we won’t hope that the glue will hold the nozzle, but we will do the so-called “constriction”. To do this, we make a circular line on the body, retreating 6mm from the edge of the engine from the side of the nozzle, thus marking the position of the side groove of the nozzle.

Next, we take a strong nylon rope 3-4 mm thick, tie it to something firmly fixed, for example, to a weight of 20 kg, which I still hold with my foot. We make one turn of the rope along the marked line and, holding the engine perpendicular to the rope, pull it strongly. In order not to cut your hand, you can tie a stick to the end of the rope. We repeat the operation several times, turning the engine relative to the axis, until a clear constriction groove is formed. We coat it with glue and wind 10 turns of cotton thread No. 10. Coat the thread on top again with glue. It is very convenient to use a fishing knot to tie a thread. Now we can consider the nozzle fully installed, you just need to thoroughly dry the engine housing for at least a day.

Instruction

Make a mixture of fuel, mix saltpeter, coal and sulfur in the required proportions Make a mixture for the wick by mixing saltpeter and sulfur at the rate of 9 parts of saltpeter to 1 part of sulfur.

Drill the metal part of the sleeve from the side of the primer attachment. Remove the capsule fasteners.

Drive a nail into the board. The nail should protrude 2 cm above the board. Gently grind off the protruding end of the nail, giving it smooth conical contours. Sharpen the sharp end slightly.

Carefully remove metal filings. Put the metal part of the sleeve on the nail and pour well-mixed fuel into it to ¾ of the height.

Using a wooden round stick, compress the fuel in the sleeve, lightly hitting it with a mallet.

Remove the tube from the stick. Remove the layer of newsprint, you won't need it anymore.

Make a rocket fairing from soft wood. It is a cork 6-7 cm long, the upper end of which descends into a cone and ends with a rounding, and the lower end, 1-1.5 cm long, is tightly inserted into the upper part of the paper tube. You have half-strength the rocket body and fairing.

Make stabilizers out of whatman paper. There must be at least three of them. They are triangles and must have petals to connect with. Fix the stabilizers to the rocket body with glue. From the end of the fairing, which is inserted into the rocket body, fasten a metal ring or a bracket with an inner diameter of 0.5 cm, made of steel wire. Close the ring. It serves to attach the parachute.

Insert the sleeve into the bottom of the rocket. It must enter tightly and get back with a demand. If the engine does not hold well, glue an additional 3 cm wide paper ring on the inside of the case. Dry the case completely. Paint it with waterproof paint in a bright color.

Make a parachute. The diameter of the dome is 15-20 cm. For this model, use a ribbon parachute. Attach one end of the ribbon to a wooden stick. Attach a loop of thread 10 cm long to the ends of the stick. Tie a piece of aviation rubber 10 cm long to one end of the loop. Tie the end of the rubber thread around the wire ring worn on the fairing. Additionally, secure it with a regular thread. Tie another thread 10 cm long to the fairing ring. Also tie a piece of aviation rubber to it, and another 5 cm of ordinary thread to it. Attach this thread to the inside of the rocket body three centimeters from the top end of the body tube. You can pass it through the entire body, making a hole in it and pasting it with a paper ring for strength.

Pack your parachute. To do this, wind the tape into a roll, starting from the free side. Press the roll from the outside with a stick to which the parachute is attached. Carefully slide the resulting roll into the rocket body. From above, lay the tape and the thread of fastening to the fairing. Close the structure with a fairing.

Make a starting device. Cut a piece of iron wire 120 cm long. Glue 2 cylinders 1 cm long and slightly larger than the diameter of the wire from whatman paper on the wire. The rings should slide freely on the wire. Fix the resulting rings on one longitudinal line on the rocket body with strong glue. Fasten one ring at the junction of the body with the stabilizer, the other - in the upper part, about 1 cm from the fairing. The rocket must slide freely along the wire. At a distance of 50 cm from one of the ends of the wire, wind a restrictive ring around it from any wire. Far from this ring, the rocket should not descend. This side of the wire should be stuck into the ground.

Make a fuse. You can take a ready-made fuse from a firecracker or firecracker, but the length may not be enough. Make a stop. Take a cotton thread and fold it 6 times. You should get a segment 8 cm long. Weld the paste. Moisten the thread with starch paste. Dip it along its entire length in a composition similar to the composition of the fuel, but without coal. A layer of this composition should stick to the thread. Dry the resulting cord.

Before launch, insert the engine into the rocket. Before inserting it, insert a wad into the rocket body. The wad can be a piece of foam. Bend the cord at one end and insert that end into the nozzle. Rocket ready