The Firewheel

[Monger]

Actually a quite simple design, but I think it's interesting for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it actually works. It is quite stable, it works with a minimum of struts and SAS modules, and can break the atmospheric barrier. Top height with this design is somewhere around 70km.

Second, it has quite strange flight characteristics. The first three booster stages all result in an insane clockwise spinning - the SAS module is working always on top. The fourth booster stage is always spinning counter-clockwise. As soon as you decouple these booster, the remaining booster stage is whirling around uncontrollably for some seconds, so DON't ignite it immediately, but stabilize it first!

[Tim_Barrett]

Cool but a large portion of the community has already made asterisk SRB rockets

[Monger]

This is really just a test dummy.

But I'd really like to know where the spinning is coming from. It is not random, and can be reproduced easily, even if you start the rocket from scratch.

[Tim_Barrett]

This is really just a test dummy.

But I'd really like to know where the spinning is coming from. It is not random, and can be reproduced easily, even if you start the rocket from scratch.

Well once one arm turns to the side, it starts to thrust force horizontally, accelerating the craft, making the other arms eventually go with it.

Thats why you can use the command pod to spin it the other way, and it will stay like that.