A.D.D.S. Model Rocket

thingiverse

In the early fifties, the U.S. Army was on the hunt for ways to send atomic devices long distances. They experimented with several rocket-based designs before focusing on what they called the Atomic Device Delivery System, or A.D.D.S. This device was designed to deliver the "Big Momma" nuclear bomb, a derivative of the "Fat Man", though packing more punch at 2 megatons, over a distance of 1000 miles. They conducted several tests of the delivery system using dummy devices but all tests ended in failure. The most successful test traveled 632 miles from the launch site before crashing down in rural Iowa, destroying a chicken coop. The farmer was told it was a new type of "weather balloon", was compensated for his losses, and all evidence was removed (including several still living chickens who were deemed "witnesses"). Ultimately the plan was scrapped when an Air Force Colonel, who happened to be visiting a friend at the Army test site, pointed out that "You know, we have airplanes that can carry those." This scale model rocket mimics the exact details of the A.D.D.S. system in smaller scale and without all the messy nuclear fallout. The "Big Momma" is designed to descend nose first under its own parachute while the booster comes down separately. This scale rocket is designed for up to an Estes "E" sized motor or you can use my D Spacer found here (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3080175) to launch it with a D engine. You should know how to swing test a model rocket and add weight to the nose if necessary to achieve stability. The body of the "Big Momma" is made with a BT-80 body tube (I used about 4 inches of it) and the booster uses a BT-55 tube (I used about 8 inches). Feel free to play with these lengths for your own version. I've included a printable "U.S. Army" stencil that fits around the BT-55 for you to spray on the text for an authentic crappy army spray paint look. The launch lug in the "Big Momma" and the booster should line up. This rocket will use the 24mm motor cap from ellipticaloptician's original design. Disclaimer: All the history above is made up. Any resemblance to real nuclear devices or missile systems is purely coincidental. If such resemblances actually exist, and someone from the government is reading this, please don't come arrest me!! I accept no responsibility if you wasted time on Google to see if any of that information was true before reading this disclaimer. Really, how hard is it to read all this text to the bottom first? If you make this rocket, please post a photo and a comment. Also let me know how it works, I've not flown mine yet. Though I will post an update when I do fly it. Flight Report 7/5/2019: Launched it on a D12-5. It "weather vaneed" on take up and tilted a lot. The separation was okay with the nose coming down "bomb first" under parachute and the fuselage under its own chute separately. The bomb landed in a road but was recovered. The fuselage was lost in a wooded area in the middle of a neighborhood. If I rebuild it, I'll use a longer body tube to improve stability and may re-design the fin unit.