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Saturn Press Rocketry Books |
My name is Peter Alway, and I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I try to make a living as a self-employed author, illustrator, and publisher of rocketry books, and as a part-time astronomy instructor at a local community college. I attained the status of "Adjunct Assistant Professor in 2002. This is Latin for "burger-flipping almost a professor." I complain about the pay, but teaching astronomy is really a lot of fun. I get to show off the universe to my students as if I owned it, and they have to listen to me. This website is an accumulation of stuff that I think is interesting, amusing, or that I take personal pride in. Back before the turn of the century, I worked for the University of Michigan and created a couple of sites that have since been taken over by others. Rocket hobbyist and launch pad manufacturer Jim Ball took over my real and model rocketry sites, which include, among other things, a really nice collection of rocket photos in the Space Rocket Pages. The University Lowbrow Astronomers, Ann Arbor's astronomy club, has been kind enough to host my astronomy pages. |
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Model Rocket Pages on Jim Ball's Site |
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| Model Rocket R&D | |
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Space Rocket Pages on Jim Ball's site |
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Astronomy Pages on University Lowbrow Astronomers' site |
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| My Astrophotos | |
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Schoolcraft College Physics 104 Intro Astronomy |
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| Astronomical Observations | |
| Music Page |
Here is a picture of me with one of my rocket kits.
As of August 9, 2005, I'm an inventor! My brother Bob and I were granted US Patent 6,926,576 for our Backslider, or "Rocket with backwards gliding recovery."
That's the front page of my--er--our patent. That's me holding a Backslider I assembled on the field at NARAM and tested the day before the boost-glide event, just in case I needed a glider. It works just like it shows in the patent:
Drawing H shows the model boosting. CG is the center of gravity--the balance point and natural pivot point of the rocket in flight. BCP is the Barrowman center of pressure, which is where the air rushing past the model acts when it is at a low angle of attack--essentially going straight forward. Because the BCP is behind the CG, the air keeps the tail back when the model is ascending. This is normal rocket (and arrow and dart) behavior. CLA is the center of lateral area, which is where the air rushing past the model acts when it is at a high angle of attack--essentially going sideways, or at least not straight. The CLA is irrelevant during boost.
Drawing I shows the model coasting. Same stability deal.
Drawing J is the clever part that the patent covers. The ejection charge that normally would kick out a parachute shoots out a hole in the side of the rocket, and sends it tumbling ass-over-teakettles. It makes the rocke go sideways, where the CLA becomes important. Because the CLA is in front of the CG, the wind rushing past makes the tail point forward. The rocket goes backwards like in drawing K.
The fun thing about the situation in drawing K is that if the model refuses to go straight backwards (which would make the model lawn-dart into the ground backwards, which is no better than lawn-darting forwards), because if it goes straight backwards, the BCP comes into play and the model wants to flip forwards again. So the model hits a compromise angle of attack, and glides backwards. Now we didn't invent that backwards glide--people have lucked into it for years. We just figured out how to make it happen deliberately.
Bob and I wrote up our project here.
My
Odds and Ends on the Web:
Eccentricities for
rants, horrible songs, recipies and stuff.
Model rocketry on AOL for plans and stories about rockets I've built.
Model Rocket Research and
Development reports for my nerdiest stuff--entries in NAR R&D, sometimes
called "Science Fair for Adults."
Astronomy on AOL for a couple of my astrophotos and an assortment of material from my Schoolcraft College astronomy course.
Astronomical
Observations for sketches and photos I've made recently
Astrophotos for
the best of old astronomical photos I took in the 1980's and 1990's. I
started this page in September of 2006, and I intend to update it periodically
through the fall.
Personal note: Most of this site went up before I was divorced last year, there may still be places where I refer to my ex-wife, Riin Gill, as my wife on this site. I apologize for any confusion. She has a website here.
Finally, you can email me at petealway (at) aol (dot) com