File:A Light Saber Rocket (8677287120).jpg

I could not keep my hands off this cool compact rocket product this morning.

Peter Beck, from Rocket Lab in New Zealand, has designed and launched this surveillance rocket (photo shared with permission). It ships in the middle tube, with the hinged fins tucked flush inside. When the operator presses the red button and the tube is pointing at an upward angle, the rocket launches from the tube and the fins pop out. The custom solid rocket has four canted nozzles around the perimeter and it spins up to 3000 RPM in the one-second engine burn. This spin stabilization guarantees a straight flight with tiny fins (like rifling in a barrel spinning the bullet). The curved fins act as rotary air scoops, dramatically reducing the spin as the rocket climbs, so by the time of apogee, the parachute can deploy properly (has to be under 100 RPM in his experience). The nose points down at this point and the camera streams images down to a wifi base station. Another cool feature: the camera is at a precise distance in front of the patch antenna that is a RF “blind spot” (despite having a metal base plate, the camera is invisible to the antenna that resides behind it).