Quest Motors Are Dead - Long Live Quest Motors

Tonight, we recorded another episode of The Rocketry Show podcast with AeroTech General Manager Charles Savoie.

There's some fascinating news coming forward from Quest Aerospace.

As some long time rocketeers know, it has been hard the last couple years to get hold of Quest model rocket motors, the only other black powder motor comparable to Estes engines available in North America.

I have an update.

Quest will no longer be making black powder motors. This is unfortunate, especially for rocketeers who liked the slightly lower thrust but longer burn as compared to Estes motors, but things became complicated as Quest is shifting motor manufacture back to the United States from China.

However... There will be a brand new line of Quest model rocket motors - composite motors.

I promised not to give too many details, other than that Quest, now owned by AeroTech, will make motors for model rockets using ammonium perchlorate composite propellant, the same propellant used in high power rockets (and the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters), but in smaller form.


More info will be released by AeroTech at NARCON 2017. I hope to be there to do some Rocketry Show coverage.

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A Chat with Aerotech, Part 2

Part 2 of our conversation with Charles Savoie of Aerotech is now on The Rocketry Show. Also, CG, Gheem and I discuss an exciting rocketry project I witnessed a couple weeks ago - a finless, gimbal-stabilized rocket, which attempts to land under motor thrust, just like the SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets.

Scout, by Joe Barnard - an ambitious rocketry project which attempts to
stabilize itself without fins, and land upright using motor thrust

Scout's landing gear deployed

We'll talk more about that project soon!

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A Chat with Aerotech, Part 1

Season 2, Episode 7 of The Rocketry Show is up now, featuring our conversation with Charles Savoie, General Manager of Aerotech.

This conversation was really great, and it was long enough - and informative enough - to make it a two-part show.

We discuss Aerotech history a bit, plus some news of things upcoming. And since Aerotech and Quest Aerospace merged not long ago, we also have some Quest news - and it all seems pretty good!

People have been concerned about the supply of goods from Quest - particularly motors and the indispensable Q2G2 igniter. We talked with Charlie about that, and it should answer some questions.

I'm writing this before listening to Part 1, so I'm not sure what part of our interview is in there, but it's a great show, and I think you'll like what you hear. Part 2 will arrive soon!

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