The Nike-X is one of my favorite '70s kits. This design was inspired by air defense missiles. The real Nike-X project was begun, but cancelled before it saw the light of day, and even before "X" was given a real name; this is only a suggestion by the designer as to what the real one would have looked like.
I love flying this model! I had to actually make an effort to stop flying this rocket and fly some of my other rockets for awhile, but I will be flying this again and again.
The pseudo-second-stage fins and the great Black & White decals are the highlight of the design. I like this design so much, when Qmodeling is back in business (recovering from a devistating flood), I promise to buy one of their upscale Nike-X kits.
If not, I'll just have to make my own Mega Nike. Here (above or right)we see the original Nike-X kit.
The following picture shows my modification.
I have modified this kit by adding an altimeter payload bay ("Iris", named after the Greek god of the rainbow. She is a messenger of the gods, linking the gods with humanity.)
Iris adds 3 inches and 17.5 grams of weight. Of course, now she's just a bit too heavy to fly safely with A8-3 motors. Here (above or left) we see the modified Nike-X Iris.
This rocket has flown higher than torch of the Statue of Liberty, including its base.
These photos show the change in appearance with the added Iris payload.
A quick web search brought me to Wikipedia, and lo, there I saw this same picture that stated it was at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. How somebody got Poland I don't know. It identified all these missiles. This
particular one was the LIM-49 Spartan.
It was a surface-to-air missile in service in October 1975 but was quickly phased out early 1976. The real missile was made by Western Electric and McDonnell Douglas, weighed 29,000 pounds, and was 55 feet tall with a diameter of 3' 7". It was a three-stage solid fuel rocket that carried a 5-Megaton W71 nuclear warhead, and was claimed to surpass Mach 4. It had a range of 460 miles or up to 350 miles altitude. The warhead itself had a lethal range of up to 30 miles.
It was launched from an underground silo and guided by radio. The W71 thermonuclear warhead was used to defeat incomming Soviet ICBMs at very high altitudes - hopefully before they were able to deploy decoys.
The W71 warhead was unique in that it was designed to maximize x-ray radiation instead of the physical blast. About that time it was learned that the associated EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) was strong enough to
destroy most nearby electronics - computers, radar, power grids, communications, you name it.
It had a lot of enemies that lead to its demise. It was very expensive as it used dual phased-array radars feeding a computer system to track and scan simultaneously. I believe these were ground-based but I haven't seen documentation to that. Another major enemy was the afore mentioned EMP dilema, and the SALT I treaty had just been realized.
Here are some public-domain photos from the US Army:
The black-and-white picture is actually just a mock-up and not an actual missile. The color launch photo shows the Thiokol motor exhaust, sure looks a lot like a shuttle booster, doesn't it? A few photos show the Spartan's nose area or perhaps the third stage has a long transition to a slightly smaller diameter, and of course the large cannard fins on the Spartan disappeared on the Estes Nike-X, with only those four little nubs on the Nike-X remaining. Those nubs appear to be fairings for stage couplers instead of guidance fins. I have also learned that the name "-X" came from a development missile called the Nike EX. The EX stood for exo-atmospheric, which is where this missile was to fly to intercept the ICBM re-entry vehicles.
So there it is, and I thought it was all make-believe. It just blows my mind to find out my favorite rocket was actually for real after 30-some years! Long live the Nike-X (at least the Estes version.)
SPECIFICATIONS
Series Number: 10
Number of Stages: 1
Stock Length: 23.4"
Iris Payload Length: 3"
Length with Iris: 26.4"
Diameter: 1.325"
Fin Span: 5.25"
Stock Empty Weight: 83.1 grams
Iris Weight: 17.5 grams
Weight with Iris: 100.6 grams
Liftoff Weight Range: 126.3 - 131.5 grams
Motor Diameter: 18 mm
Motor Length: 70 mm
Motor Retention Method: Clip
Iris Payload Interior Length: 3"
Iris Payload Interior Diameter: 1.28"
Payload Volume: 3.86 cubic inches
Altimeter Capable: Yes
Recovery Method: 16" Nylon Parachute
Recovery Protection: Wadding
Shock Cord Elastic Length: 32"
Shock Cord Mounting: Paper
Nosecone Material: Plastic
Number of Fins: 4 +4
Fin Material: Balsa Wood
Launch Lug Size: 1/8"
Kit Brand: Estes
Completed: about 1977
FLIGHT LOGS
(Estimated about 10 flights on this rocket back in the 1970's)
2010, November 13: Tanguy Soccer Field, Light wind
B6-4: Good Flight, Moderate Weather-cocking, good Recovery.
2011, August 7: Halifax, Light wind
2011, September 3: Indiantown Gap, Light wind
B6-4: Good flight and recovery. I must remember to not use a -4 delay again, had the erratic winds this day been stronger this might have weather-cocked and nose-dived pretty far and maybe augured-in. Good flight and a reliable recovery on nylon parachute. It reached about 200 feet altitude. Altimeter battery charging circuit is dead and it was not onboard.
C6-5: Good flight and recovery. Delay of 5 is OK since this model apogees at about 400 feet, (based on past flights). Altimeter battery was dead so it was not onboard.
2011, October 8: Penn Manor, Moderate wind
C6-3: This flight was looking like my last flight of the day, so I called upon the venerable Nike-X with an Iris payload. This rocket never disappoints. I was anxious to try out the newer and lighter "Top-Flight" nylon parachute. (Find them on JonRocket.com) Very well built, very light and "un-sticky" cloth and the colors are really nice too! I also doubled the length of the shock cord to prevent those snap-back dings I always seem to get.
So I lit the motor which burned for 2 seconds with a nice slow liftoff of this fairly heavy bird. The average acceleration was only 1.9Gs, and peaked at 7.2Gs. It reached a top speed of 83 mph, and then it coasted up for another 3.2 seconds. The ejection was about a half-second early, at 346 feet, so it only reached an apogee of 362 feet. (In hindsight a C6-5 would have been better with this model.) The Nike then descended under a full canopy at 6 mph. The flight was over in 43.4 seconds. It was a fun flight to watch and a fair success.
The only issue I found was a bit of singe on the parachute but not enough to need replacing. The Nomex cloth I was using to protect the chute seemed a bit small for this BT-55 body diameter (3"x3"...as recommended by the Apogee website I bought it from.) While the 3x3 is only 1.7 grams, the next larger 6x6 is almost 7 grams - so it's a judgment call as to which size to use.
2011, December 4: Penn Manor, Steady 10 mph wind
B6-2: Another low flight to stay out of the winds. The B6 burned for 0.9 seconds, accelerating at 6.3Gs peak, 2.3 average Gs. The rocket speeded to 44 mph then coasted for 2 seconds to an altitude of 110 feet. As it arched over it dropped 5 feet in 1/2 second and deployed the parachute, descending at 7 mph and landing nearby in 12.7 seconds. Another good flight!
C6-5: I wanted to see how this rocket performs on a C6-5, stupid because in this wind the -3 would be better. I could not take advantage of the extra two seconds of delay because I knew it would turn horizontal into the wind, but I was stubborn. The motor burned for 1.9 seconds, accelerating 1.8 Gs and peaking at 6.8 Gs, reaching a speed of 74 mph. In 2.8 seconds it reached its apogee of 282 feet, the remaining 2.2 seconds was spent in a downward arc.
The ejection occurred after losing 67 feet. Under a very tangled parachute it drifted down at 16 mph (should be about 7 mph), but landed safely in the grass 15.7 seconds later. Under a good chute in light winds it should have been aloft for about 50 seconds. Lesson learned: If it is too windy, then it is TOO WINDY. You can't change that with a motor choice.
2012, March 18: Penn Manor, Light wind
C6-5: With very little winds I wanted to see how high the Nike-X would go with the 5 second delay. (Unlike the last flight where I just wished it was not windy.) It didn't weathercock and flew straight up, but the altitude was still disappointing, at only 313 feet. Max speed was only 79 mph, average acceleration only 1.9Gs, but the peak was a respectable 6.6Gs. It reached its apogee in 3 seconds, then descended 14 feet when the ejection fired a bit early at 4.2 seconds. I could assume the cooler, denser air prevented the Nike from reaching higher.
Descent was at 9 mph and it landed safely within about 200 feet. Seems it doesn't matter how long I make the shock cord, this time the body tube had a good dent in the top edge about 1/3 around the circumference. Need to CA this up a bit. Still, I like this rocket. I'm thinking it's time to make a 24mm-powered clone - maybe even a true 2-stage!
2013, July 14: Penn Manor, 3 mph winds, 84 degrees 63%RH
C6-3: I am suprised to see I haven't launched my favorite rocket in over a year!
This is the Nike-X’s fourth and last C-powered test flight with an accelerometer. Mostly I wanted to determine the best delay in light winds.
The motor fired up and pushed the Nike at 6.9Gs, averaging 1.7Gs for the two second burn. This was the lowest average for this rocket, which reached a top speed of 72 mph. The trajectory was very straight up. The C6-5 delay was only 4.7 seconds, so the ejection charge fired at 254 feet and the rocket continued up for 4/10 seconds, gaining 69 more feet for an apogee of 323 feet.
The 17” nylon parachute opened and then the rocket came back at 8 mph, barely drifting at all, and I was able to catch it before it hit the earth. I forgot to record the flight time but it was probably about 30 seconds. One of the main fins suffered a nasty leading-edge dent from the recoil.
B6-2: This was the first of two final B6 test flights. The motor fired up and pushed the Nike to record high peak acceleration of 7.3 Gs. The one second burn averaged 2.3 Gs as it flew very straight up. Travelling at 45 mph, it then coasted for two seconds and the ejection charge fired at exactly two seconds. At that time it hit it’s apogee of 109 feet, the lowest ever recorded. Well the rocket was at 106 feet but the 3’ shock cord let the altimeter reach the additional feet. I’ve never seen a
rocket with such a perfectly timed ejection, and the rocket didn’t even turn over at
apogee.
The parachute opened well and the rocket descended at 8 mph, drifting perhaps less than 100 feet before landing softly in the grass. Flight time was 11.8 seconds, the shortest ever recorded. This was another perfect flight with the exception of a snap-back dent on the top of the body tube.
B6-2: This final low-power test flight will conclude the test flights of the Nike-X. On this flight, the motor fired up and only peaked the acceleration to 6.3 Gs, the lowest recorded, but in the 8/10 second burn it averaged 2.5 Gs, the highest recorded. This was a quick-burning motor for sure. The flight trajectory was very straight in the calm winds.
Even with the quick burn, it only reached a top speed of 43 mph, which was a new record-slowest. After a 2.1 second delay, the ejection fired at 112 feet, and for the next 2/10 seconds the rocket slowed to reach an apogee of 118 feet, six feet higher than the ejection point.
The reliable Nylon parachute opened and let the Nike descend at 8 mph, drifting maybe only 10-20 feet. I was able to catch it before it touched down. Flight time was 12.1 seconds. This was the last of four very successful flights today.
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