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In the High power rocketry hobby, properly certified, $5k will get you high enough. Guidance is something else, I think you could do it, the knowledge is there
by chasd00 4y ago
In the High power rocketry hobby, properly certified, $5k will get you high enough. Guidance is something else, I think you could do it, the knowledge is there and available. It would take many $5k test flights to get it working however.
- walrus01 4y agoSufficiently advanced hobby grade model rocketry with guidance system and kinetic effect payload might start to resemble an ITAR controlled missile technology item (and/or something the ATF would be interested in for USA domestic destructive device and munitions laws).
- solarkraft 4y agoThere are people building missiles as a hobby? Sounds fun.
- akiselev 4y agoYou can go see the most impressive ones launch at the annual BALLS event [1] in Blackrock desert several weeks after Burning Man. The FAA closes off the airspace around the desert which allows the really powerful rockets to fly. [1] http://www.tripolimn.org/events/balls/ http://www.tripolimn.org/events/balls/
- pengaru 4y agoThis makes me wonder what else of interest occurs in that desert throughout the year? Is there anything preventing someone from just camping there year-round to enjoy the spectacles?
- nofunsir 4y agoBLM will kick you off public land when pay to play permit holders show up.
- mlindner 4y agoIt's not that desert, but instead in a near by desert in Arizona: https://bigsandyshoot.com/ https://bigsandyshoot.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h3HAv9ra9Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h3HAv9ra9Q It's where all the private individual owners of the biggest military equipment you can buy in the US go to shoot their equipment that would be basically illegal to shoot anywhere else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02emks3BoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02emks3BoQ I like this one where they shoot a ball turret from a bomber from a different year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_TaK0WZj2k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_TaK0WZj2k
- rurp 4y agoThere are limits to how long you can camp in a single spot on public land, but no law against travelling around and camping in different areas as long as you want.
- chasd00 4y agoGuidance is a big no no because it’s bad for the whole hobby. We basically self govern so not to cause problems. People work on active vertical stabilization systems which is basically guidance for going straight up. No one attempts guidance to a specific destination because it’s a good way to put the whole hobby at risk. However, the skill and know how is there. People are putting passive stabilized rockets to 280k feet in black rock. A guy in Austin have active stabilization working above mach 1. It can be done within the hobby but no one wants to do it.
- blhack 4y agoThat is really sad.
- adanto6840 4y agoWhat's the best online venue/forum for one to read & learn more about this hobbyist scene?
- chasd00 4y agoAn example of high altitude amateur flights. Granted this guy is more or less a legend in the hobby, definitely not the run of the mill. https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/project-mesos-a-two-stage-flight-to-293-488-ft.175175/ https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/project-mesos-a-two-st...
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoThe rocketry forum. Dot com.
- nl 4y agoThere are GPS guided model airplanes which are absolutely nothing like cruise missiles because they fly so much slower. There are ducted fan model airplanes which are absolutely nothing like cruise missiles because they aren't GPS guided.
- NegativeK 4y agoThere's a recent Veritasium video, where they were trying to demonstrate tungsten "rods from gods" space weapons by dropping heavy weights from a helicopter. When they asked an expert about the aiming issue, the response was basically laughter and "I'm not going to solve the precision guided munitions problem for you because of legal reasons, and you're not going to be able to figure it out." I expect precision guided rocketry is going to be a lot harder than a chunk of steel barely high enough to reach terminal velocity.
- K0balt 4y agoIt’s not really that hard to figure out, unfortunately. It gets trickier for moving targets… but it’s still not that hard. These days, the easiest way is just to use a neural network trained in a simulator. You don’t even have to understand the math or even fully grep the sensor/image processing. The methods used for conventional targeting systems are actually pretty well documented. Hobbiests are already making self landing (spacex-style) model rockets. That is a much harder problem.
- mlindner 4y agoThat Veritasium video is probably the worst video he ever produced. It was full of the most obvious mistakes possible along with a pointless hype. He probably felt forced to release it because he spent so much money on the failure. AFAIK, in the US, precision guidance to a specific orientation on a amateur rocket is legal (i.e. active stabilization), but precision guidance to a specific location on a amateur rocket is indeed illegal.
- travisgriggs 4y agoInteresting. This was my take as well. I’ve been a fan of rods from god stuff for years, but his whole attempt to “recreate” was really lame. He explains physics stuff all the time, and then struggle with some simple engineering, just so they could create “suspense” around a helicopter drop. It was kinda surreal. I’m still scratching my head.
- 8note 4y agoI'd go with the worst ones being one of the straight up commercials like the self driving cars one