NAVRO rockets
All amateur rockets built by the NAVRO as a club project and some private projects have received a designation beginning with "N". This page describes all the rockets, which received this designation. By clicking on the image next to the description of the rocket you will be taken to the picture page of that rocket.
After the first club projects N1 and N2, the next type of rockets were of the Midget B design with the Kalinitrox K600 motor. The Midget C was an improved version using a more powerful Kalinitrox K1800/K2000 motor. The second series were the Hercules'. The Hercules A1 is redesigned and improved version of the original Hercules A. It was easier to build, but most of all was reduced a quarter in weight. The Titan will be the next basic rocket and it is in the design stage at the moment.
Most NAVRO amateur rockets are launched at our own NAVRO LanceerDagen (NAVRO Launch Days) at ASK 't Harde, but in the earlier nineties we also launched at several French launch campaigns.
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Name: | N1 "Pluvius Tubus" |
| Type: | N1 | |
| Motor: | Bambi | |
| Launch: | Mourmelon, 28 August, 1990 | |
| Description: |
The N1 is the first amateur rocket built by the NAVRO. "Pluvius Tubus" is latin for "Rain-pipe". It was
launched at the National French Launching Campaign. After 0.7 seconds the French Bambi motor that was used,
destroyed the rocket. This was a great disappointment, but it was one of the reasons to develop our own
rocket motors. The French government provided rockets motors to amateurs free of charge under supervision of the CNES (the French NASA), to stop amateurs making their own rocket motors. Unfortunately these are developed from military rocket motors and are smokeless. As user you don't have any control on the quality of the motor. |
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Name: | N2 "Vindicta Pluvii Tubi" |
| Type: | N2 | |
| Motor: | Isard | |
| Launch: | Mourmelon, 24 August, 1991 | |
| Description: | The N2 was very similar to the N1 and even reused surviving parts of the N1. Unlike the N1, the N2 flew successful. Not only it landed almost unscratched, the NAVRO also won the Prix Joseph Mercier, a safety award. "Vindicta Pluvii Tubi" means quite appropriately "Revenge of the Rain-pipe". | |
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Name: | N3 |
| Type: | Midget A | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLC2, ASK 't Harde, 26 September, 1992 | |
| Description: |
The N3 was the first rocket to fly with our own K600 Kalinitrox
composite rocket motor. It was a small rocket, built just to test the motor in flight. The flight was a success,
as far as we could know at the time. The N3 had no recovery transmitter and it wasn't found that day. This flight
was also the first flight of a composite rocket motor developed in The Netherlands. A year later at our next launch the military presented us the rocket they had found when they cleared the shooting range. We were very pleased with the return of the N3 and since it is proudly on display. |
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Name: | N4 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD1, ASK 't Harde, 6 August, 1993 | |
| Description: | After success of the N3 and its K600 motor, the N4 was a more advanced rocket and was the prototype of the Midget B/C rockets. It had a recovery transmitter and a timer for the parachute, but no further electronics. A new feature for us was that the parachute was behind an hatch. Such a hatch opens when the rocket parachutes, instead of a detachable nose cone. The flight was a success. | |
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Name: | N5 "Partiarius" |
| Type: | Midget A | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | WWLC 1993, Bourges, 29 August, 1993 | |
| Description: |
The N5 was the private project of Vincent Kouer with some assistance of other NAVRO members. He had obtained
an aluminium tube, which had to fly. The tube was said to be a part of a Fokker 100's fuel pipe (The Fokker 100
is a 100 man passenger aircraft that was built by Fokker Aircraft, which is now bankrupt...). The N5 was designed for the K600 motor. The flight was a success, except for the recovery transmitter, which did not function. The N5 was found anyway. The N5 reached a maximum speed of 221m/s and an altitude of 1800 metres. |
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Name: | N6 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD2, ASK 't Harde, 27 May, 1994 | |
| Description: | The N6 was built to test if the recovery transmitter would survive a crash. Kees Jan Groenendijk put much effort in building the rocket. The rocket had no parachute. As you might have guessed, the transmitter did not survive the crash. The N6 was never found and is now entertaining worms. | |
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Name: | N7 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD2, ASK 't Harde, 27 May, 1994 | |
| Description: | The N7 was a rocket made by three youth members of the NAVRO. The purpose of this project was to introduce amateur rocketry to NAVRO youth members, who had been building model rockets for some years. The rocket was built with assistance of experienced members. The launch was a success and the rocket was recovered almost intact. Even the parachute hatch was found. | |
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Name: | N8 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | WWLC 1993, Bourges, 29 August, 1993 | |
| Description: | The N8 was our first rocket, which had an onboard computer. This computer was based on the 80C552 processor and was designed by one of our members. It could measure acceleration, rotation, onboard temperature and could trigger the separation of the parachute hatch. A month earlier the N8 had flown as the N4 and was repaired and rebuild for the Bourges launch. The main difference was that the N8 was longer to accommodate more electronics. The flight was a success and the N8 rotated around its vertical axis once each 8 seconds. | |
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Name: | N9 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD2, ASK 't Harde, 27 May, 1994 | |
| Description: | The N9 was our first rocket with a two-stage parachute system and its main purpose was to test it. After reaching the top of the flight a (small) drogue chute was deployed, and only at a few hundred metres high the (big) main chute was deployed. This way the rocket lands closer to the launching site. The flight was a success. | |
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Name: | N10 |
| Type: | Midget C | |
| Motor: | K1800 | |
| Launch: | NLD3, ASK 't Harde, 19 August, 1994 | |
| Description: | The N10 was the first flight of the K1800 motor, later upgraded to the K2000 motor. The rocket itself was the modified N9, which was launched three months earlier. The flight was successful. | |
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Name: | N11 |
| Type: | Midget C | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD4, ASK 't Harde, 12 May, 1995 | |
| Description: | During the winter of 1994/1995 the K1800 was upgraded to the K2000, giving the N11 more thrust than the N10 of a year earlier. The N11 main purposes however, were its experiments. Using an improved version of the N8's electronics, the measured values were: atmospheric pressure, rotation, acceleration, temperature on top of the nose cone, as well as the temperature of the rockets surrounding air and a Doppler-measurement. A barometric altimeter was also present. All data was recorded to be downloaded into the computer when the rocket was recovered. However, the rocket did not parachute and has not been found to this day. The probable cause was pyro-technical. Since then our rockets have had multiple pyro-technical systems. | |
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Name: | N12 |
| Type: | Hercules A | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD5, ASK 't Harde, 11 August, 1995 | |
| Description: | The N12 was the prototype of the Hercules rocket. Apart from being prototype, the N12 was supposed to fly with two camera's, one facing down and one facing up. The images were transmitted live to our command centre and recorded. The camera's could not transmit simultaneously, so a switch ensured the most interesting moments were transmitted. However the electronic switch did not work, so the N12 flew using only its downward looking camera. The electronics were similar to the electronics of the N8. Parachuting wasn't perfect again, because the N12 landed on its drogue chute due to a miscalculation. Fortunately all internal parts, like camera's and electronics were intact. | |
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Name: | N13 |
| Type: | Midget C | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD7, ASK 't Harde, 23 August, 1996 | |
| Description: | The N13 was like the N5 a private project of Vincent Kouer, who was fascinated by speed and the availability of a more powerful motor now had to build a rocket which could break the sound barrier. The N13 was essentially a motor with on top of it a small compartment with simple electronics and a parachute. The N13's speed was measured with a Doppler measurement. It broke the sound barrier and parachuted correctly, but the rocket was not recovered that day. However, in 2003 it was found. | |
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Name: | N14 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD7, ASK 't Harde, 23 August, 1996 | |
| Description: | The N14 has flown before as the N7, but had been enlarged and given a new paint job. It was supposed to fly some electronic projects, but they were never finished. After the N14 was launched it never parachuted, so somewhere in the clouds their still must be flying a black rocket. If you see it please report it to the . | |
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Name: | N15 |
| Type: | Hercules A | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD6, ASK 't Harde, 23 April, 1996 | |
| Description: |
The N15 was a copy of the N12. The small differences were the single downwards faced camera
and the sound recording and atmospheric pressure measurement experiments. The most important difference was, that
all data was transmitted to ground control. The resulting values were close to what was calculated. The N15 was
featured on national television on the "Klokhuis" show. Again we had troubles parachuting, but it wasn't our fault. The cable of the main parachute broke, because it wasn't nylon. The nylon was bought at a DIY store as nylon. When we informed the DIY store, they sued their supplier. |
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Name: | N16 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD7, ASK 't Harde, 23 August, 1996 | |
| Description: | The N16 was built as a redesigned and improved Hercules A1. The N16 was launched successful and parachuted as planned. | |
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Name: | N17, Tintin rocket |
| Type: | Tintin rocket | |
| Motor: | 1 AeroTech I284-W 2 AeroTech H180-W |
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| Launch: | NLD7, ASK 't Harde, 23 August, 1996 | |
| Description: | This Tintin rocket was built by Chiel Klein. The N17 is an exception in the N-series, as it is in fact an High Power Rocket, which normally do not get a N-registration, but this one was very special and the first HPR rocket launched at a NLD. The rocket was completely built from scratch and 1290mm (ca. 4 feet) in length! It had a great flight, which you could follow all the way. In some documents the rocket was also allocated the N18 number, to add to the confusion (see below). | |
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Name: | N18 (1997) |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD8, ASK 't Harde, 25 April, 1997 | |
| Description: | The N18 (1997) was the refurbished N16. Again we were victim of Murphy's Laws as we had another parachute failure. This time the drogue chute didn't pull out the main parachute. Later the N18 (1997) was dug out and nothing more than small fragments of plastic and metal were found. All the electronics boards were wiped clean. This rocket is called N18 (1997) on the website, to distinguish it from the more successful similar named N18 of 1999. | |
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Name: | N18 (1999) |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD9, ASK 't Harde, 21 May, 1999 | |
| Description: | After the year of cancelled NLD's we finally were to launch again in 1999. During that year we forgot we already had allocated the N18 number, so the new rocket was also called N18. On the website this N18 is called just N18. The new N18 was again equipped with a camera, this time facing upwards to shoot images of the deployment of the parachutes. Unfortunately the antenna was badly targeted, so we had some interference in the images, but most of the parachute deployments could be seen. It happens fast, only in a few frames! This time the parachuting was done correctly, much to our relieve. The altimeter was the commercial IA-X96 Cambridge Accelerometer of Emmanuel Avionics. | |
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Name: | N19 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD10, ASK 't Harde, 13 August, 1999 | |
| Description: | The N19 was the refurbished N18 without the camera. Again the IA-X96 Cambridge Accelerometer was used. The flight was successful, but landed in a tree. | |
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Name: | N20 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD11, ASK 't Harde, 7 April, 2000 | |
| Description: | The faulty IA-X96 Cambridge Accelerometer was replaced by the R-DAS flight computer of AED Electronics, which is based on the same plans as the N8's electronics, but is further developed and more advanced. The N20's flight was a success, but the N20 pointed to the wind far more than expected. Also the K2000 rocket motor seemed not to have the thrust is was thought to have. It landed virtually unscratched. The N20 had flown earlier as the N18 and N19. | |
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Name: | N21 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | K2000 | |
| Launch: | NLD12, ASK 't Harde, 20 October, 2000 | |
| Description: | The N21 is the same rocket as the N20, and thus as the N18 and N19. The flight was successful. The purpose of this flight was to measure the thrust of our K2000 rocket motor in flight. According to the R-DAS it reached an altitude of 1500 metre (5000 feet). | |
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Name: | N22 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | AeroTech K550-W | |
| Launch: | NLD14, ASK 't Harde, 24 August, 2001 | |
| Description: | The proven airframe, which started life as the N18, would fly again. This time for his last flight (so we thought). The rocket had a different motor, an AeroTech K550-W, which has the same performance as the proposed K2000 replacement. Also the R-DAS was expanded with a GPS module. The rocket had a good flight, this time leaving the tower with enough surplus speed. It reached an altitude of 1600 metres. | |
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Name: | N23 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | AeroTech K550-W | |
| Launch: | NLD16, ASK 't Harde, 6 September, 2002 | |
| Description: | The N23 used the well tested old airframe, which was original the N18. It was its sixth flight, this time with an AeroTech K550-W. The R-DAS was again supplemented with the GPS module and the NAVRO radio beacon. New this flight was a new NUND parachute configuration (Nose Up/Nose Down). The N23 was to descend nose down on the drogue chute and then using a pyrotechnic charge the rocket would tumble and descend tail down on the main chute. This elaborated system worked perfectly in flight and the N23 made a flawless flight. | |
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Name: | N24 |
| Type: | Hercules A1 | |
| Motor: | AeroTech K1100-T | |
| Launch: | NLD17, ASK 't Harde, 4 April, 2003 | |
| Description: | The N24 is essentially the N23 with a new paint job. Its seventh flight was the last flight of the rocket that was first launched as the N18. The electronics included R-DAS with GPS and the NAVRO radio beacon. An other experiment is the NUND parachute system (see N23). The rocket had a nice lift off, but but crashed as it went ballistic. The reason was that the safety plug was forgotten and thus the parachuting system didn't operate. The remains were crushed very badly. | |
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Name: | N25 |
| Type: | Midget B | |
| Motor: | K600 | |
| Launch: | NLD20, ASK 't Harde, 3 September, 2004 | |
| Description: |
The N25 project started life with an eight years old K600 motor we had in storage and wanted to use in a rocket. We
also had the reasonable complete 1993 vintage N8 hanging on our ceiling. So those two were
matched. On the rocket we replaced the parachute hatch, the parachute hatch release mechanism, the electronics, the
lower body tube and the fins. Both the parachute hatch and two of the fins were reclaimed from old N8 parts. The
electronics compromised a transmitter and an R-DAS. Like the N8, we also measured rotation. The launch and flight of the N25 were perfect and it went up in a straight line. It landed almost unscratched. It reached an altitude of 1260m and it rotated around its axis once every 1.8 seconds. |
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