AUCKLAND, Auckland, NZ — A home-built rocket which disappeared over the Waikato almost three weeks ago has been recovered at a farm seven kilometres from the launch site, and the data recovered from the rocket contained a record smashing surprise for the owner.

"That's my baby and when I lost it, it was like losing a child," says Phil Vuckovich.

VIDEO: Phil Vuckovich and his rocket.

Mr Vuckovich wanted to double the New Zealand record of 4.5km, but he did not get to find out. 

"The wind had picked up and er, well, we launched anyway," he says. "It was a perfect flight and we never saw it again."

The rocket was carried far away by the wind and its own immense power - all the more extraordinary because its fuel is almost edible, being mostly sugar. And the GPS malfunctioned. 

They hired a plane but looked in the wrong area.

"After that I gave up actually, and the very next day Jan found it," says Mr Vuckovich.

Farmer Jan Espag ran over it in the dark on his motorbike.

"I thought, 'Oh, what did I just go over?' and it was light, then I saw the rocket there and I was a bit surprised," says Mr Espag.

Vuckovich took 3 News with him to recover his rocket.

"It's in pretty good nick," he says. "Actually, apart from a bit of paint that's been stripped because it's just gone so fast, it's actually stripped the paint off."

All the flight data is kept in a tiny onboard computer, so it was just a question of plugging in for the moment of truth.

"It's a bit better than I thought," says Mr Vuckovich.

He had smashed the record, with the rocket reaching 8423m.

The rocket pulled 23 Gs, and travelled at 622 metres per second – that is almost Mach 2, twice the speed of sound. It climbed almost as high as Mt Everest in just 37 seconds.

His reaction?

"I'm over the moon, I'm very happy about that."

Mr Vuckovich now says he will keep trying to beat his record till he loses the rocket for good.

Copyright © 2008, 3 News.

09-26-2008 10:26 PM  #1
mikewhorley Certified Level Two   Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 86	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record Now if I could find mine!

09-26-2008 11:17 PM  #2
n5wd NAR L1   Joined: May 2007 Posts: 48	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record 27,600+ feet... hmmm... if it were mine, I think I'd put in my tracking transmitter.

09-26-2008 11:58 PM  #3
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3640	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record Sugar - Somehow I had overlooked that detail before. What size sugar motor was this?

09-27-2008 05:28 AM  #4
Chrisn Certified Level Four   Joined: Oct 2006 Posts: 29	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record I am unsure of the exact details, but as far as im aware it was a medium sized N motor (Sorbitol IIRC). As for the tracking, he was using a unit designed for car security from this company http://www.theblackhawk.co.nz/

09-27-2008 10:37 AM  #5
UncleVanya If pigs had fins...   Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 3640	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record Quote: I am unsure of the exact details, but as far as im aware it was a medium sized N motor (Sorbitol IIRC). As for the tracking, he was using a unit designed for car security from this company http://www.theblackhawk.co.nz/ I guess the unit didn't work as expected. Any kind of analysis as to why?

09-27-2008 02:33 PM  #6
Ethan Altitude Junkie   Joined: Oct 2007 Posts: 26	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record The tracking system is based on the cellphone network and required cellphone coverage to be able to report co-ordinates. It landed in a low-range area and the unit was not able to give up its position. The motor was a 5" dia full (20,000ns) N4500. Ethan

09-27-2008 05:56 PM  #7
n5wd NAR L1   Joined: May 2007 Posts: 48	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record Quote: The tracking system is based on the cellphone network and required cellphone coverage to be able to report co-ordinates. It landed in a low-range area and the unit was not able to give up its position. That's the problem will using the cell network as your carrier - heck, it drops / won't make calls on a regular basis for the majority of us in a major urban area - using it to try and recover a rocket out in the sticks isn't something I think I'd consider to be reliable. Give me my trusty BigRedBee 445MHz transmitter, a yagi antenna, and my ham radio HT, instead. Let me hear the transmitter directly and I can find it. Let me hear it coming down, even seven miles away, and I'll know where to start looking. Glad he found his rocket - hope he gets a refund from the blackhawk company - their website says you only pay if you use it. Doesn't say you pay if you get your car back. Hmmmm.

10-06-2008 04:51 AM  #8
Ethan Altitude Junkie   Joined: Oct 2007 Posts: 26	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record Sorry to dig this up, but I figured I had better clear Black Hawks name... Landing in a low range area was not the cause of the malfunction, as first thought. There was conflicting opinions prior to the flight about whether the unit needed to be 'reset'. I am not familiar with the unit so I can give specifics on what that means but Phil said he opted to not do it and so the unit didn't perform. Phil is confident that the unit is still suitable for his purpose and will be flying the rocket again. Just wanted to point out the unit was not at fault Ethan

10-06-2008 11:42 AM  #9
ddmobley Administrator   Joined: Jul 2006 Posts: 4025	Re: Article: Man finds his lost rocket, smashes New Zealand record It's an innovative approach, which deserves applause, but the price probably puts it out of most people's range. Cool idea though.