CO2 Rocket

Last terms class project at my daughter's school was to design and build a Co2 powered rocket. The rocket dimensions were limited to 300mm long, 50mm thick, with a maximum 30mm fin protrusion. The rockets were attached to a 400m braided fishing line strung between two poles, and launched horizontally using a trigger device that punctured the 8g Co2 canisters. The time and distance the rockets covered were measured and recorded by the class.

So after reading these two references:

http://sargrocket.org/Documents/Centuri/dm-1.pdf
http://sargrocket.org/Documents/Estes/tr-11.pdf

...the design above is what my daughter came up with. It features a parabolic nose cone, designed to place the centre of pressure well behind the centre of gravity, providing directional stability. The fins are tapered airfoils which improve control surface performance with minimal drag - which reduces overall drag, because the rocket is self stable. The tail was tapered inward to reduce drag during the