The AUSROC-I Program commenced in 1988 when a group of undergraduate students in Mechanical Engineering at Monash University, designed and built AUSROC-I. It was successfully launched on 9 Feb 1989. The flight lasted one minute, reaching 3 km in altitude and 161 m/s.

AUSROC-I is a liquid fueled rocket based upon a modified Pacific Rocket Society design. The image to the left is a false colour enhancement of the Ausroc I demonstration vehicle on its maiden flight.

Launch Day!

The following is an extract from:

"AUSROC I - A technical report of the design, construction and test launch of a Bi-Propellant Liquid Fuelled Rocket" (Blair, Coleman 1989)

For any rocket launch you need a launch site. In June we began looking for a good launch site for our rocket. We needed a site with plenty of uninhabited space, favorable weather conditions and easy access for recovery. The salt lakes of South Australia conform to all these requirements, but they are 900km from where we are in Melbourne.

The Australian army has a proof and experimental testing range at Graytown about 150km from Melbourne which would suit our needs perfectly so we wrote them a letter seeking permission to launch a bi-propellant liquid fuel rocket from their range. Several weeks later I received a reply stating that a launch date could be arranged, but they would like to examine the hardware beforehand to make sure that it is safe.

Three weeks prior to launch day John Coleman and myself went to the Graytown range where we met Capt. John Boyter who would be supervising our launch. Capt. Boyter and several other army personnel examined the rocket with great interest and we believe that this will be the first time that a liquid fuel rocket has been launched from this range. After looking over the rocket and giving us the approval to launch, they informed us of the various services they would provide for us. These included:

• 2 fire trucks
• Ambulance
• Doctor
• 2 video cameras
• 1 High speed camera (1000 frames/sec)
• Defined large launch area
• Lunch

After hearing this list I realized that they were taking this launch very seriously and were prepared to give a great deal of assistance to assure its success and safety.

The week before the launch we were busy making sure that everything was working and that we had everything we needed for the launch.

The night before the launch we were busy packing all the bits and pieces into the vehicles including the nitric acid and the furfuryl alcohol and doing the final pack of the parachute and telemetry module.

Finally the launch day arrived, 9 Feb '89, and after a few small hitches we left for Graytown at about 9.30am. The city traffic was bad, as usual, but we finally arrived at the range around midday. After lunch we proceeded out to the launch area which was the intersection of 2 dirt/stone tracks in the middle of a large open field. The rocket was to be launched in a SE direction at an angle of 70 degrees to the horizontal. Both these conditions were set by the army for their own safety reasons. The launch area was 200m away directly behind the launcher so that the rocket would launch away from where we were. One kilometer south of the launch rack was a hill where we had set up the receiver, antenna, demodulator and computer to receive the incoming data from the transmitter on board the rocket. The transmission and reception of the radio signal was all line of sight which made things easier. We were briefed by Capt. Boyter on the safety procedures of the day and then proceeded to set up the launch rack.

We then laid out the copper tube, nitrogen bottle and regulator. Next, we set up the rocket. First we inserted the valve pins and caps, cover ring and lower launch lug. Then we attached the complete combustion chamber and fin assembly to the valve block.

This setup was then placed on the launch rail with the parachute and telemetry module supported above it until the fueling was complete. It was at this stage that everyone but myself retreated to the launch area. Now came the fueling operation. During the fueling I was wearing splash proof PVC rain gear, gumboots and a face visor and helmet to protect myself from the nitric acid.

The furfuryl alcohol tank was filled and capped first then, using a flashlight, I looked into the oxidizer tank to see if any of the fuel had seeped into it. None had. The oxidizer tank was empty and I could see the top of the oxidizer cap. Next I slowly and without spillage, poured the nitric acid into the oxidizer tank and sealed it with the tank cap. During the pouring the fumes proved to be no problem at all since the wind was gusting around 20 knots. and blowing the fumes away from me. I then attached the rocket side pressure fitting with the 2 schraeder valves attached to it to the cap block. I connected the parachute shock cord then switched on the telemetry package. Then, with a bit of a struggle, fitted the parachute and telemetry module on to the cap block and secured it with 3 bolts.

With the igniter leads and male pressure fitting attached and having removed the supporting tape and fueling platform, I proceeded over to the gas bottle. I slowly opened up the regulator to 2 MPa then shut the bottle off and proceeded further away where one of the army personnel assisted me to fire the igniter to release the male pressure fitting. It wouldn't fire!!. We had a Fuelled and armed rocket sitting there with a pressure fitting attached. Having spent 3/4 of a year building this missile, I wasn't about to see it destroyed (which is what the army would have done) because of a supporting string not being burnt through by an igniter when it should have. To solve the problem I proceeded over to the rocket and manually cut the string to set the pressure fitting free. Upon completion of this task I retreated to launch area. It was now that I found out that the downrange receiving station was receiving information as though the parachute release mechanism had fired. Wind gusts had registered large pressure fluctuations with the pressure sensor and had triggered the parachute, only there must have been a fault in the release system as the parachute release panel had not operated.

None-the-less we proceeded with the launch. Capt. Boyter gave the countdown:

3..2..1..FIRE!!!

The valves popped open, the fuels mixed, the supersonic exhaust gasses sped out the nozzle with the sound of a high speed jet engine and the rocket leapt up out of the launch rack with a 4g acceleration, leaving a large cloud of dust in its wake.

As soon as the rocket cleared the tower it veered slightly into the wind and picked up speed as it headed towards the cloud. The burn time lasted an almost perfect 8 sec. Then, just prior to entering the cloud layer a segment, most probably the parachute and telemetry segment, was torn away from the body and it was at this point that we had lost the transmission signal from the rocket. At this point the rocket was at 1.1 km in altitude traveling with a vertical speed of 575 km/hr. The rocket continued into the cloud and we lost all sight of it. The segment that was torn away seemed to drift slowly with the wind 4-5 km down from the launch site. But when we went to recover the segment it was nowhere to be seen. We were not permitted to search for the rocket body this day because it was already late in the afternoon. So we packed up the launch rack, re-loaded the cars and proceeded to the officers bar for refreshments before heading home without the rocket. We were hopeful of returning soon to search for the rocket and find out exactly what went wrong.

This image show AUSROC I in the Monash University Wind Tunnel