Chase Rockets

I just saw a few videos posted on The Rocketry Forum by Bob (see his YouTube channel). The basic idea is to launch a rocket (in this case, an Aerotech Mirage kit) with an onboard video camera either immediately before or after another rocket is launched, with the goal being to catch the other rocket in flight. Here’s the first attempt, with the “chase rocket” rather hard to see because it uses an Aerotech H220 Blue Thunder motor, which is nearly smokeless:

It gets better. Bob tried again and caught the smoke trail of another rocket flying on a longburning 54mm J90W.

But the best footage came from a flight of the Mirage on an H180, followed closely by a rocket from a Steve T on a Cesaroni green K motor. The results are impressive, making you feel like you’re in the video rocket with a much larger rocket being launched directly at you:

And here’s the slow-motion version of the same footage:

I’ve never seen anyone try onboard video with chase rockets before, so Bob and Steve may just have invented a new niche for high power rocketry. I hope we see many more of these. And eventually – if this becomes the next cool thing – maybe we’ll all get to see the chasing rocket shred, or even a highly improbable mid-air collision… but not with Bob’s rockets we hope!