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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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)