Homemade model StarHopper & Starship launch & landings
An evening pause: The youtube website only states that this was “constructed out of paint cans and an American football,” but I see some drone computer technology hidden in these models as well. Regardless, quite cool and quite breath-taking.
Hat tip Martin Kaselis.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
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For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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An evening pause: The youtube website only states that this was “constructed out of paint cans and an American football,” but I see some drone computer technology hidden in these models as well. Regardless, quite cool and quite breath-taking.
Hat tip Martin Kaselis.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Fireball XL5
https://youtu.be/6ifS2nP53Zs
2:29
Very impressive! Leaving the handle on the paint can was a nice touch.
Looks fake, with fake camera wobbles and everything. But do notice the landing plate for the second attempt, as if the guy got yelled at by his parents for ruining the forty thousand dollar deck at the lake cabin.
Yeah, the channel has two other simulations. It’s amazing what computers can do these days. It’s a good sign that Hollywood will soon lose its grasp on storytelling.
Got me thinking how one could actually build that. A throttleable liquid fuel engine doesn’t really exist in model rocketry, but maybe pressurized cold gas for thrust and attitude control. It wouldn’t ‘hop’ very high, but does at least seem feasible.
This man produces great, realistic-looking computer animations, even if not all the details are fully technically correct. I love this special animation (see link) that shows a flight of a nuclear bomb-propelled Orion spacecraft to Mars. BTW, a real project idea from 1955 or so. Freeman Dyson was involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtYisD7RqWk
Wodun —
“ruining the forty thousand dollar deck at the lake cabin.”
That, is absolutely hilarious.
They should have hired this guy to do the launch abort test video from last week.
Impressive CGI on that video. It looks and feels pretty real. The giveaway that it is fake is that there is no way to get that gear into that size of a craft. Not with those flight durations. I’ve been doing high powered rocketry for nearly 15 years and we would move heaven and earth to have that kind of tech.
Some Starship news from South Texas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AOk1p4bYJw&feature=emb_logo
“In this Episode, we will take another look at SpaceX’s launch facility for the Starship Mark 1 Prototype in Boca Chica Texas. We will take a look at the increased footprint as well as the latest progress on the Starship prototype itself. Last but not least, by popular demand, we will take a look at what’s known right now about SpaceX’s schedule for the Crew Dragon Demo Mission 2.”
Starship Mk1 is dead! Methane tank has exploded durig cryo-tests. R.I.P. Mk1!
Setback for Musk?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d8l_0w2VKM
Video of the Starship Mk1 incident:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMtCO6XWtfY (1 minute)