New Chute Deployment System Test Launch

Today we launched our two stage to test our new parachute release. The deployment system consists of a spring loaded bay door that is released when a pin is pulled. The pin is pulled by a motor which is stated by a 555 timer. We had a pull switch so that once the chute deployed it would turn off the motor as to prevent it from burning out. Unfortunately we believe that this switch was triggered on burnout causing the motor to fail to turn on. Due to this the chute did not deploy and the rocket came in ballistic destroying the chute bay and much of the electronics bay. The nosecone and onboard camera however came out unscathed. We are planning on rebuilding with the same design however are are going to either eliminate the switch or redesign it so that it cannot be triggered by burnout. Here is the media from the launch (onboard video and ground stills)