All Rocketry Blogs

High Power Rocketry: Rocket sled (2006-03-07)

Just a taste of what the wild world of rocket sleds has to offer! Here you see a rocket sled at over mach 4. Note the shock wave visible in air and the incredible friction on the tracks. Edwards AFB ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket sled? (2007-05-23)

I honestly do not know exactly what this is. I suspect it is a rocket launched sled used to crash test an object. If that is the case, I suppose the main explosion would either be some charge used ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: 6,453 mph rocket sled (2008-03-20)

Four stage rocket sled to about 6.5K. Note the impact at the end. [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: A compendium of rocket sleds (2009-04-14)

IO9 presents The Astonishing Speed and Beauty of Rocket Sleds . The subject images are from a compilation on OObject , which provides links back to the source pages. The following photo is one of my ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Rocket sleds redux (2009-04-15)

Phil Plait has fed my rocket sled appetite with coverage of a Mythbusters episode where they tried to find out if a head-on collision of two semis could fuse the metal together. Well, the myth was ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket/jet car for breaking 1000mph (2009-07-31)

"RAF fighter pilot Andy Green intends to get behind the wheel of a car that is capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,609km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket sleds! (2009-09-27)

Click these last two for full size... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket sleds pt. 2 (well really pt. 3 or 4) (2009-09-29)

6416 MPH [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Mercury capsule on a rocket sled at China Lake (2009-10-18)

  (photo via China Lake Alumni, 1962 ) [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Mythbusters use a rocket sled to cut a car in half (2010-07-22)

I saw this myth this evening and, sure enough, someone posted the sled run on YouTube.  I embedded it below but don't know how long it will be up.  It came from "Episode 131 - Myth ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Mythbusters rocket sled redux (2011-01-19)

I was just watching a replay of Part II of the Mythbusters' Demolition Derby special episode in which they destroy cars in head-on collisions between two semi trucks, by dropping them from the sky ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Space Age Railroad - Rocket Sled Track at Holliman (2012-08-25)

Sorta a repost, but now it is my copy of the footage! [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket sled nosecone stuffed with rockets (2013-01-11)

The Rocket Dungeon [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Rocket sled of the day (2013-09-19)

The following photo from Sandia Laboratories was featured in a Wired-Science post: Titanium Bullets, Rocket Sleds, and C-4: How the U.S. Tested the Safety of Nuclear Batteries . The Sandia link is ... [Read More]

Wayne Hill's Blog: Mars Parachute testing with a Rocket Sled (2014-02-05)

Upcoming Mars spacecraft will need powerful chutes to slow them down on descent. In previous test wind tunnels were used. The test applies the correct aerodynamic force to a parachute that is ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Rocket Sled Parachute Design Verification - The best video of the year (2014-02-27)

10/11/2013 A prototype Mars parachute is pulled from the sky with a rocket sled. The test applies the correct aerodynamic force to a parachute that is too large to fit in any existing wind tunnel. ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Model rocket sled on a railroad track (2016-01-16)

There is an interesting thread about this over on TRF. I've seen people attach model rocket engines to many things, but have never seen a model rocket sled that runs on a railroad. This is a great ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: A rocket sled that looks like an actual sled (2016-01-23)

[Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: The fastest MagLev rocket sled you'll ever see (2016-04-20)

Well, until they launch it again. The US Air Force's 846th Test Squadron, located at Holloman AFB, beat their old speed record twice in two days last March, leaving the record at 633 MPH. The ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Sound ripples in cloud during rocket launch (2010-02-18)

"Perched on top of an Atlas V rocket, on February 11 the Solar Dynamics Observatory launched into space. About a minute after leaving the Earth, the rocket did two things: it passed the speed of ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Mythbusters 'Top 25' episode is now on-line (2010-06-17)

Last night, I caught the second half the Mythbusters 'Top 25' episode...and it was awesome.  Full of rocket sleds, lead balloons and, naturally, lots of explosions.  Via Twitter, I find ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Sport Rocketry, September/October 2010 (2010-08-24)

As you see from the attached photo, the headliners in this issue were TARC and NSL.  I especially liked the NSL reports, which included a lot of nice photos.  Two that stood out were night ... [Read More]

Bayourat Aerospace Blog: Jacques Valier Advanved Rocketry At The Cost Of His Life (2011-03-21)

Alamogordo Daily News By Michael Shinabery, New Mexico Museum of Space History Newspapers worldwide announced Jacques Valier's May 17, 1930, death, although details varied and were mostly wrong, ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Convair B-58 Ejection Capsule (2011-04-05)

Convair B-58 Ejection Capsule , originally uploaded by james.gordon6108 . Rocket sled! [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Suicide by rollercoaster (2011-09-29)

Euthanasia Coaster from Julijonas Urbonas on Vimeo . "The three-minute ride involves a long, slow, climb -- nearly a third of a mile long -- that lifts one up to a height of more than 1,600 ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: VERA: A low cost, low acceleration transonic impact gun (2012-03-18)

First seen on The Original Rocket Dungeon. "In the world of ordnance system development the need for system and subsystem testing under dynamic conditions is obvious. A number of approaches have ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: More vintage rocket photos (2012-03-22)

As harvested from the Hokey Ass Message Board .   Starting with Mercedes' cool steam rocket sled booster: The 'before' shot:         ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Feed reader stars, tweets and other interesting links (2012-03-29)

The  Battle of the Rockets  is coming March 31st. In a sense, Valyrian steel is real (sans magic). #GameOfThrones plays off real sword science: on.msnbc.com/H0Bxyx — Alan ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: Issues associated with a hypersonic maglev sled (2012-05-28)

(This image has nothing to do with the article below.  The one below discusses conventional rocket sleds that employ maglev technology, while the image above is a spacecraft launcher that is ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Links roundup (2012-11-21)

Rocket sleds! Rocket Sleds and Snow Gliders Develop High Speeds (Dec, 1929) , Modern Mechanix R/C Rocket Sled/Car , TRF Apogee Peak of Flight Newsletter #236 - How to build a ... [Read More]

Rocket Dungeon: Hump Day Found Photos (2013-06-26)

First, a couple of retro futuristic cars.   A clustered rocket sled at the Alamogordo Museum of Space History: If we rocketeers can accept the term JATO, I guess we can let ... [Read More]

High Power Rocketry: High-speed tests demonstrate space penetrator concept (2013-08-21)

These videos show payloads launched to nearly the speed of sound and then collided with sand or ice, to test an impact method on planets and moons. There is no way to survive a direct impact at ... [Read More]