4 ms·

The biggest factor is probably having sufficiently supportive parents. Especially on dealing with potential safety hazards like the fuel. At that age my parents

• LorenPechtel 2y ago
  Actually, he's not messing with the fuel. Note what he said about the ascent engine failing to eject. That means he's using standard professionally manufactured hobby rocket motors. (Which, realistically, is all that most people legally can do. The bigger stuff is subject to a lot of hazardous materials regulations that range from burdensome to completely impossible depending on how much space you have.)
  • dotnet00 2y ago
    Ah I see, I had heard about people filling motors themselves and figured that was normal with hobby motors. That certainly makes it much easier for teens to get into it.
    • LorenPechtel 2y ago
      Given the size of that thing I expect he's using something like this: https://estesrockets.com/collections/engines https://estesrockets.com/collections/engines I believe there are now other players in this market. Looking at his website I see the gimbal being described as supporting up to 24mm engines. That corresponds to a standard D size engine and by my long-ago memory that burn looked reasonable for a D motor except the rocket was way too heavy for a safe launch (normal rockets rely on fins, they must get going fast enough while still riding the launch rail that they'll stay straight)--I'm sure he was staying well back! The landing burn seemed weaker--I wouldn't be surprised if that was a C, or perhaps even a high thrust B.