Stress Sponge

Back in the ’80s I watched a movie called Local Hero, and ever since then I’ve dreamed of visiting the far north, and experiencing The Northern Lights first hand.

So far I’ve only managed to go as far as adding it as a “to do” on my Bucket List, but one day I’ll get there. For now, amazing videos like this one will have to suffice. 

This time lapse video was taken over a period of a week by Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sorgjerd.  The Aurora Borealis were photographed around Kirkenes and the Norway-Russia border.

My brother (Martin Aspell) is definitely one of those guys who excels when it comes to practical stuff. When the world starts falling down around our ears (more than it is now), he’s the guy you want to have around. Over the years I’ve watched Marty turn his “dabbling” into a business, succeeding in making money from his passion. Much like me, doors seem to come along for Marty to open, just as long as he keeps working hard… The latest door that Marty opened, had Joel Schiff on the other side.

A few months ago, Marty’s carbon fibre interests segued into the building of scale model rockets for Joel. What started out as just another area of the “unknown” to explore, has rapidly become another hobby, and potentially another category on the AspellCarbon website.

Last month the New Zealand Rocketry Association (NZRA) held its annual “Rocket Day”. With the promise of good weather, and a day out of the city, I went along to find out what’s so appealing about firing “drainpipes” into the air!

It didn’t take long for me to be hooked. There’s something wonderfully exciting about watching the rockets being carefully setup, the count down being called out, and the collective holding of breath as the crowd waits for lift off. Most of the day was spent watching kids getting a chance at having their own rocket launched, but finally the time came for the “big guns” to come out.

I watched as Marty and Joel carefully attached the drogue chute and main chute, secured the altimeter and GPS units, and assembled the various pieces of the sleek black and silver carbon fibre Mongoose 98. In order for the bigger rockets to be launched, clearance has to be granted by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority), and the majority of the sky has to be clear. These precautions are required to ensure that there aren’t any planes crossing the airspace at the time of lift off.

So we all waited, facing skyward, examining the horizons, desperately hoping that the clouds would magically disappear. By 5pm we were finally resigned to the fact that a launch wasn’t going to happen that day. So with a sense of deep disappointment I helped carry the Mongoose back from the launch tower, to be once again disassembled.

Two weeks passed, and another date was set. Sunday February 20th turned out to be an almost perfectly still, hot, blue skied day. An ideal day for a rocket launch. My mum and I folded ourselves into her little MR2, and set off on the 90 minute drive to a paddock somewhere in Taupiri. As we turned into the paddock, I could see that the group of enthusiasts was much smaller as there were only 2 rockets to be launched. Once again the rocket was assembled, and it wasn’t long before the Mongoose was sitting snuggly in the launch tower. The skies were clear, the CAA had been informed, it was time.

There’s nothing quite like watching a rocket launch… the combined efforts of several people, countless hours, large amounts of cash, and bucket loads of passion… all this squeezed into a 2.6m long “missile”. I waited nervously, camera at the ready, trying to steady my breathing for a good shot.

The countdown started; 3…2…1… for a couple of seconds there was complete silence, except for the high-speed clacking of my camera shutter taking continuous shots. And then smoke started billowing, followed by a terrifyingly loud roaring noise. The rocket shot skyward breathtakingly fast, cheered on by every one of the excited spectators!

I knew, as I watched the tiny black dot disappear, that the launch was just part of the adventure. We still had to go and find where it landed! In theory, once the Mongoose reached apogee the small drogue chute would deploy, slowing the rocket’s decent, but without causing any wind to carry it away too far. Once the rocket had descended to a certain height, the main chute would then deploy, and the rocket would softly come down to earth. By sending a txt to the on board GPS unit, the rocket’s exact coordinates could be obtained, allowing for easy recovery. Of course, when does theory ever eventuate!?

Once lift off had been achieved, Marty sent a series of txts to the rocket, so that they could get an idea of what altitude it had reached. Out of a dozen sent txts, only 3 responses were received. Long after the rocket would have landed, Marty was still trying without success to get a response from the GPS unit as to the rocket’s final location. We had no choice, but to drive to the last known position and start hunting for it.

After something like 6 or 7 hours of searching for that bloody rocket, I was exhausted. We walked for hours, pushing our way through waist deep grass in the scorching sun. Calculations were done, and hypotheses made as to where the rocket could be, and why the GPS wasn’t responding. Trees were climbed, and cornfields examined, but the rocket was nowhere to be found. Finally, as night was falling, we called it quits.

Marty and Joel were worried for many reasons. What if the chutes didn’t deploy and the rocket smashed down to earth? What if the rocket landed in the corn fields which were soon to be harvested, and the farmer were to unintentionally drive over it? The rocket had to be found in order to determine whether a new record had been set!

It was 2 days later that a farmer found the Mongoose, completely intact, just out of sight beside one of his corn fields. Somehow it had managed to land in an area with no Vodafone signal, so the txts to the GPS were never received!

Despite the fact that nothing seemed to go according to plan, this story has a happy ending. Martin Aspell and Joel Schiff succeeded in breaking the previous New Zealand altitude record of 8,378 metres (for their class of amateur rocket), setting a new record of 10,275 metres!

Who would have thought that one carbon fibre specialist and one retired Mathematics Professor, would join together to set a New Zealand record!?

I’ve been feeling a little fuzzy today, thanks to an antihistamine with some serious punch. After spending 2 days at home comatosed, I thought I should give work another go. Right now I’m struggling to keep my brain ticking over.

A little ray of sunshine in my day, are these yummy feijoas that a work colleague left on my desk for me!

In the past few months, a few good friends of mine have headed overseas to seek their fortunes, trading quiet little New Zealand for the hustle and bustle of London.  A recently tweeted photo by Elly got me thinking about the little changes that they must be adapting to.  I’ve lived in New Zealand all my life, and I don’t think twice about grabbing a squeezy bottle of Heinz ketchup, or a box of Sanitarium Muesli off the shelf… I find supermarket shopping mundane, filled with the same old stuff every time.

I wonder what exciting new brands, packaging and products are they discovering in the UK… and what they’re missing from home?

After nearly a year of neglecting my blog, I have finally been pushed back into action. I’ve (guiltily) had to turn my back on the expensive New Zealand based OpenHost, and opted for the much cheaper USA based WebHostingPad.

I always enjoyed the start of a new school year; new stationery; new uniforms; new adventures. There’s something wonderful about opening a band new excerise book, with its corners perfectly flat, and the pages white and crisp. In a way, moving hosts and changing to a fresh new WordPress theme, feels a bit like starting again with new 1B5.