Last summer we used a very rudimentary launch pad: a wire poked into the ground through a disposable aluminum pie pan filled with gravel (because after the very first launch we noticed that it was starting to burn through the pan).

This year we're building a slightly more sophisticated pad which will:

• be raised above the ground
• use a steel "blast shield"
• have an adjustable launch angle.
• have a rebuilt launch controller built into an old ammo box rather than a tangle of wires and batteries.