Do those guys have a clue as to where their rockets will land?
Well, assuming 20 miles up, if it's a good vertical launch and minimal wind, I'd imagine touching down within 5 miles from the launch site wouldn't be an unreasonable expectation. Some of those camera views are with wide angle lenses so it's not as dramatic as it might seem at face value, but that doesn't detract from it very much!
I did rockets as a kid and am actually looking into doing it some more here in Ecuador. But there is no model rocketry hobby here as far as I know, though fireworks are easy to find. We'd need to make our own rocket fuel and rockets so this post is pretty cool to find. My step-son here has never done this so that's the reason for me to think about getting back into it. Thanks.
Yes, thanks. "as possible" are the operative words when you start baking the rocket fuel into it's final pasty form. Might do that in a toaster oven connected to a long extension cord, outside.
A hundred yards, or so, might be smart; depending on the propellant of your rocket.
I don't have that kind of distance to work with, but it should be relatively safe. It's not flamable until it dries out and oven temps should be substantially cooler than that needed for ignition. The stuff we've read on the net is Potassium Nitrate, KNO3 and I think honey or some kind of sugar base and something else. Got it bookmarked.
Ecuador has a great time with fireworks with no real restrictions that I know of (imagine having that kind of freedom in the USA). Fireworks shops at various times of the year spring up. Before NY's this year I saw some interesting stuff for sale, including one called the "Cosmic Tsunami". It cost about $90 and came in a box big enough to hold about 8 sixpacks of canned beer, and has just one fuse on it to light. They had about 5-6 different kinds of fireworks in that same scale. Lots of smaller stuff too of course but they were doing a booming business.... no pun intended....
So I figure making rocket fuel here shouldn't be too hard.
We finally stopped by that RC shop yesterday. FYI, they don't have any rocket things at all. After my last post I kinda figured there wouldn't be as one learns that such info as you found on the net just isn't reliable here. That's one difference between the US and probably most of latin America.
They pretty much just has RC planes. They did tell us that rocketry is pretty much non-existent in Ecuador. Apparently there is one Ecuadorian astronaut that went up in the space shuttle and he's involved with conferences to try to raise interest in it on a corporate/government level, but that's about it. There's about nothing here on the amateur level with rocketry.
Ergo, I have a feeling if I was dedicated enough I could probably pioneer amateur rocketry in Ecuador -- if I was dedicated enough. There are some 14 million people in the country but such opportunities to exist here as that's not that many by some scales. First thing I need to do is figure out how to make rocket fuel and construct rocket motors. Ingredients and supplies shouldn't be hard to find as there is already a pretty serious fireworks industry here. As a former teen rocket builder, everything else is actually pretty easy.