Tornado-Seeking Rocket Project

Project Alert:

TSR Chase 2009 is currently being planned. Sponsors and supporters are needed! The TSR Project is in need of sponsors to aid in our research expenses. Companies or individuals interested are asked to contact Brian at the email address listed at the TSR Team link.

TSR Quantum Makes Successful Flight Near Aiken, SC
See more here!

Spirios, (spi' re os), n.
payload-capable Tornado-Seeking rocket.
Greek-
spir (courageous, breathing)- ios (arrow).

Test Launches During Development of Spirios

Launch Sequence

TSR: Spirios launch at Nashville, TN!
TSR: Spirios is the rocket design that is payload capable. It made excellent flights during testing.

TSR:Spirios Launch Graphic

TSR: Trinity launch at Beech Island, SC!

Sponsors

Seeking Honda Sponsorship

The TSR made its first TV appearance in the National Geographic Channel show:
"Critical Decisions: Oklahoma City Tornado"

June 2005 Stormchase Pictures and Video

Purpose of the TSR Project:
When the appearance is almost identical on Doppler Radar, why would supercell 1 drop a tornado while supercell 2 does not?

Supercell 1

Supercell 2

The TSR Team is seeking to find the missing factors of tornado forecasting.

Stormchasers, meteorologists, and other scientists have been trying to plant objects in the path of tornadoes for many years. Two stormchasers, Tim Samaras and Brad Carter, recently succeeded with the deployment of the "In-Situ Tornado Probes" and recorded valuable data, but this method remains very dangerous and risky. Anything could go wrong- the tornado could move in too fast and catch the chasers, the vehicle could break down stranding the chasers in the path of the tornado, or who knows what else could go wrong. In the online video of the In-Situ Tornado Probe deployment, you can hear one chaser telling the other in a nervous tone to "hurry up...we have to go" (before the tornado arrives at their location). More Tim Samaras video. The purpose of the TSR system is to greatly reduce the risk while providing a more reliable deployment method. For more information about other objects placed in the path of a tornado, click here.

Current and Past Projects and Methods Using Rockets for weather study:

A Colorado man recently appeared on NBC in Denver where the reporter credited him as being the only stormchaser known to shoot rockets into storms. What's wrong with NBC Denver? A simple websearch with keywords "storm chaser rockets" tells the truth.
The upcoming VORTEX 2 Project is planning to use rocketsondes as a back-up plan to their unmanned airplane. These rocketsonde designs do not appear to be designed to fly to tornadoes. They are basically dropsondes in the form of a rocket and are used by the Navy to calculate refraction.
There is another project titled "GLENDA" in Mississippi aiming to shoot rockets into tornadoes.
Stirling Colgate attempted a rocket launch from an airplane in 1981. This plan failed.
NASA and the University of Florida uses rockets to summon lightning strikes.

If you are aware of any other weather rocket projects not listed here, please inform Brian at nashvillestorm@yahoo.com.