New Commission from the Mubarak Museum: Part 2 - Air Rocket Launcher

Challenge: After completing two space-related models for the Mubarak Museum in Cairo, Egypt, we were happy to receive an additional commission for three new exhibit pieces. There's always a special validation of our work when people choose to use our services again, and we were eager to exceed their expectations. This new order was for three interactive exhibits that would illustrate various scientific principles to children. The second exhibit we'll look at is the Air Rocket Launcher.



Solution: The principle demonstrated by this exhibit is the difference between thrust and weight by launching rockets with measured amounts of compressed air. We made two rockets, with identical tails and nosecones but with greatly different shapes in middle. The “skinny” and “fat” rockets quickly convey the principles of mass to the children using the exhibit. Both rockets are housed in 5’ tall clear cylinders for protection and connected to 10’ guide wires that will connect to the ceiling.

Those wires are very necessary because the two small air compressors powering the rockets could easily shoot them 30 feet. The compressors are turned on for as long as the user presses down the yellow “charge” button, with a pressure gauge showing how many PSI will launch the rocket. People can shoot the rockets with various forces by pressing the green “launch” button at any time. However, being as the exhibit is for kids, we expect most of them will want it to go as high as it can, which is why we used compressors with an automatic safety feature shutting them off at 125 PSI.



Result: As with the Magic Mirror, we didn’t get much chance to play with the Air Rocket Launcher before shipping it off to Cairo. But we know the kids who play with it at the museum will enjoy it more than we ever could.