Staging: Using one motor to ignite another motor in series. This usually involves dropping the booster stage/s after burnout. Everyone who's ever watched a documentary on space has seen staging. The Apollo rockets that carried men to the moon are staged rockets. The space shuttle is also a staged vehicle.

Staging in model rocketry in Perth is usually just a black powder affair, however, it is possible to stage composite motors. This is much more difficult than staging black powder. Most staged rockets consist of 1 or sometimes 2 booster stage/s and 1 sustainer. Estes make both a 2 and a 3 stage kit (but I would avoid the 2 stage Mongoose - It's evil). I've heard of people flying on up to 6 stages (5 boosters + 1 sustainer). Here are the basic concepts:

Black powder staging: This is very easy and the required motors are usually available both in 18mm and 24mm (though I am yet to see a 24mm staged kit). Staged rockets are essentially the same as a normal single stage rocket, but with minor differences in the construction of the motor assembly. A staged rocket can also be flown as a single stage by simply not attaching the booster. The booster motor should NOT have a delay charge - B6-0 and C6-0 are the norm for black powder boosters. As soon as the booster motor finishes it's burn, it ignites the sustainer, which is your standard Estes motor, and the rocket continues on it's merry way with a "jumping" type effect as the sustainer kicks in. Keep an eye on your booster as if falls to earth while your rocket continues on it's way.

Composite Staging: Now this is getting tricky. Composite motors are difficult to ignite at the best of times - getting one to ignite while the rocket is 1000"ft up flying at over 500km/h is something else!

Staging composites is NOT like staging black powder. Composites need to be electrically ignited, so the old black powder system won't work here. Also, Aerotech Copperhead ignitors are not a good choice for staging composites - special low current ignitors are required since they can be ignited from a 9v battery. The main ways of igniting composite sustainers are:

• Staging Timer. This is purpose built device for staging composites. A staging timer works by detecting the booster burn out then waiting a user defined amount of time before providing voltage to the sustainer ignitor. This is probably the best way to stage a composite rocket and is by far the most common.
• Radio remote control. If you have a good RC controller, you can use it to have a small servo flick a switch inside the rocket, closing the circuit between the battery and ignitor. This is quite a good option if it is available to you, because you can ignite the next stage at just the right time

Another point about staged composite's is that they do not use 'tumble recovery' for the booster - both the booster and rocket have their own chute.