Maul Camera Rocket
Launch vehicle · Germany
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
German sounding rocket. Maul conceived of using powder rockets to launch film cameras for military reconnaissance in 1901, beginning an 11 year development process.
He patented the idea in 1903, and by 1906 was testing gyroscopically-stabilised cameras launched by stick stabilised rockets and recovered by parachute. In 1912 he demonstrated his perfected rocket to the Austria Army. The rocket had a thrust of 400 kgf and was 7.5 m long. It weighed 42 kg and reached 800 m altitude in 8 seconds. Maul also proposed a version of the rocket for sea rescue. The Army tested the rockets in the Turkish-Bulgarian War of 1912-1913, but found that aircraft were much more effective in the reconnaissance role.