Radio Controlled SpaceX Starship Belly Flop
Вставка
- Опубліковано 24 чер 2024
- I started my own Starship program because I was tired of waiting to see SpaceX's high-altitude SN8 flight test. This radio controlled Starship has complete control surface actuation like the real thing and can takeoff, hover, and do the elusive belly flop maneuver.
Patreon: / nicholasrehm
dRehmFlight Flight Controller: • dRehmFlight VTOL - Tee...
Radio Controlled Starhopper: • Radio Controlled Space...
Starship Animation: • Starship SN8 20km Hop ...
I've seen others try a radio controlled Starship, so I figured its my turn to figure it out too. I made a fully functioning (electric) Starship that can take off vertically, skydive down, and land vertically. To my knowledge, nobody else has done all three before. This RC Starship is mostly 3D printed with some carbon spars and foam. It uses conventional drone electronics, servos, and radio equipment to allow me to fly it from the ground. In this video, I'll show you how I built it, the problems I encountered, and plenty of flight test (and crash) footage. I will fix this version and take it out again for more flight tests where we can really put it through it's paces for more precision landings. If you liked this or want to stay up to date on my Starship program, please consider subscribing! More fun projects to come.
00:00 Intro
01:16 Design Overview
02:05 The Build
03:37 How it Works
05:12 First Test Flights
07:15 Hover Tuning
08:42 Complete Flights
11:28 Crash and Conclusions
#SpaceX #Starship #Drone - Наука та технологія
Next RC starship flight will be to a much higher altitude with onboard FPV where we'll really put it through it's paces. Remember to SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss it!
Do you plan a model rocket powered version? "Without the flame, it just ain't the same." A model rocket motor-powered scale model of the Hughes Aircraft-built Surveyor robotic lunar lander spacecraft (see: www.drewexmachina.com/2017/04/17/surveyor-3-touching-the-face-of-the-moon/ ) was built and flown in the 1960s, using an 18 mm diameter rocket motor in place of each of the three equidistantly-spaced vernier final descent retrorocket engines. Dropped from a height, it made several successful rocket-braked gentle touchdowns; on its sixth (if memory serves) flight, one motor failed to ignite, and it flipped and crashed (that actually happened to the real Surveyor 2, whose Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle's Centaur second stage recently entered temporary orbit around the Earth, from its solar orbit, see: www.drewexmachina.com/2020/10/27/has-the-centaur-that-launched-nasas-surveyor-2-to-the-moon-returned-home/ ), BUT:
Unlike the Surveyor Moon landers (which--naturally--had *no* aerodynamic control surfaces, and whose three vernier rocket engines were spaced very widely apart), a R/C model of SpaceX's Starship, with its rocket motors (the operational full-scale Starship vehicles will have six Raptor engines, three with larger vacuum-optimized nozzle bells) clustered snugly together along the vehicle's centerline, couldn't have such a wildly-off-center thrust problem, like the Surveyor model did. A clustered motor mount--holding three, four, five, or six individual motor mount tubes--could be gimbal-mounted, with pitch and yaw servos that could change the motor mount's orientation as needed, and:
One set of rocket motors (three out of five, say) would be ignited to boost the Starship model into the air. The two "flip" maneuvers (the first from vertical attitude into the horizontal "belly-flop" high-drag descent attitude, and the second "flip" back into vertical attitude, for the rocket-braked touchdown) could be done aerodynamically, via servo-actuated (in pitch, as well as in the root-hinged, variable-dihedral mode of motion that the full-scale Starship's wings and canards have [the canards could either be all-moving in pitch, or they could have hinged control surfaces at the rear]). The model, being lighter after its boost motors had burned out, could descend and gently land using fewer rocket motors. Or the same number of retrorocket motors (as boost motors) could be used, and ignition of the "landing set" of motors would be delayed until the model was descending fast enough so that the greater total thrust would cancel out the descent velocity. As well:
The Falcon 9 first stages have to do this (start the landing burn at very low altitude while falling rapidly, that is) in order to land gently, because the thrust of the single (center) Merlin rocket engine--even at minimum throttle--is significantly greater than the first stage's mass when its propellant tanks are almost empty. It can't throttle down enough to even just hover, as New Shepard's booster does before it extends its undercarriage and lands; the Falcon 9 first stage's downward momentum is necessary, to keep the stage from "bouncing" back upwards under thrust, instead of gently touching down at almost zero velocity (This isn't a design flaw; the vehicle's larger size and mass, plus considerations of structural strength and propellant utilization efficiency that those factors "drive" [Starship also has this same "sporty" descent & landing profile], make such 'breathtaking' landings necessary.)
Very impressive work Nicholas. I was watching with interest throughout all video and it is not happening often. I am curious what will you achieve in it next time.. I am holding my thumbs. This aircraft is incredible but not controllable enough due to no lift on horizontal flight mode. Would you consider 3 surface controls X 2 instead of 2 surface and the too yaw control can't be working well as it is disturbed by bottom thrust..
Nicholas Rehm I can’t wait!
My dad has been trying to get in touch with you. He manufactures carbon fiber and I think you could use some of his material in your projects. Send him and email at da-graphite@cox.net. Subbed after he sent me your video this is awesome.
Carbon fiber tubes would increase the torsional rigidity and hopefully be lighter than adding the skin. Monokote might work for the skin also. I'm sure you have already considered these options though. If you added some orange and red ribbons to the bottom, it would look cool. Hopefully the idling motors would keep them out of the propellers.
first starship model to actually fly that stable and perform the belly landing. Very impressive, well done :)
Thanks, still plenty of room for improvement!
Nicholas Rehm wonder how hard it would be with model rocket engines 🤔
@@NicholasRehm
Yep. That last landing.
Low voltage in the header-battery?
: )
Nice work!
Daniel, Thanks man! Loved your version
this guy kind of sounds like you LOL :D
djSpinege they do sound alike...
This is the most accurate and working starship model I've ever seen
Including the RUD on the last flight
@Game Over I wonder if a container with a weighted ball of gell inside could simulate the fuel movement and weight change during the maneuvers. Or a weight on a screw shaft that goes along the center.
Super awesome project and video Nicholas! Thank you for sharing! -Alex
Thanks for stopping by
This is really great! 👍👍
Thanks James, always inspired by your work
What a great thing an young mind working alone in his garage until late night to do something no one has done before. Congratulations 👏!
Thanks for the kind words
Agreed. Outstanding work!
Not bad, the full size one did exactly the same thing today! (Except that it exploded, of course, lol)..
And it was absolutely awesome
But it proved the belly flop is viable!
& SN9 tipped over, just like this one. :-) VERY COOL!
Haha not bad???
And SN9 too
Thank you all for the awesome comments and support on this video, I'm enjoying reading all of them! How about that SN8 flight??? My next RC version might need some pyrotechnics...
A pint of petrol should do the trick ...
You beat me to the joke. Very cool build. Happy flying!
I’ve built a SN8 with a rocket engine ,issue I had that it wasn’t stable with the original profile of the SN8 . I had to use a four fin tail configuration not ideal but on a budget it looks great in flight.
I’ve looked at your fantastic take on the SN8 it’s absolutely brilliant,have you thought of a small smoke unit on the tail section the ducted fans will give the desired effect.
The flight was amazing. That would be cool to see a little explosion at the end. don’t shoot your eye. Thanks Nick.
Great work Nicholas! I saw your earlier comment on another vid, so it's great to see it flying.
Lands on the edge of the pad and falls over
Runs out of battery right before landing
Nosecone is fine after crash
Bro how do you predict the future like this
Wow you're right haha
@@NicholasRehm
And a lot of green, just before crash 11:58
I came here from ProjectAir’s community post :D
This is really cool!
:)
spacex wishes they had your throttling capabilities ... i have more faith in the belly flop maneuver after watching this
Yes--so glad I don't have to do a hover slam like they do. I have faith in belly flop too
@@NicholasRehm I gather they have better throttling than the falcons, fuel is probably the limitation. Your demo convinced me they'll only lose 0-1 starship practicing the flip rather than 2-3.. I also wonder why they dont practice the flip at altitude for data gathering purposes
@@CAPUT-rh2cm different Reynolds number at altitude... could be good for simulating Mars landing though
@@NicholasRehm well I guess we may know more in 15 minutes ;)
Amazing work 🔥🔥👌
Thank you!
This actually is the best similar functioning starship model I've ever seen. Just amazing.
Thanks a ton
I love this new generation of Tech psychos who are doing their best.
may you telemetry be nominal Nicholas
Thank god someone has finally made a rc scale version
Glad I heard about this earlier tonight so I could check it out. Nicely done! -Dan
Outstanding work! Looking forward to your future updates!
This is Totally Amazing! Well done Nicholas - so impressive and exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing how this will develop. Keep going!
Hopefully SN9 can do just that. Great work 👍
That was baddass!! Well done. It's eerie how much it looked like the real thing, especially the gliding behavior. When I first saw the Starship I thought it was a pr thing to look like the 50's sci-fi rockets, but it glides well as a lifting body.
Very nicely done! Looking forward to future flights.
Why would anyone give a thumbs down to this. You didn't pay anything towards his work and it's excellent free entertainment.
This is my first video of your channel and I'm impressed! Great going!
Thank you!
It'd be more realistic if it exploded at the end, nice flying machine man!
I love discovering small channels with great projects and an awesome energy. They’re just the best ever and the most entertaining so I’m thrilled that I wound up here and hope to see many more projects from you. Great job !
Thanks Luka!
Absolutely mind-blowing! I'm surprised you weren't jumping up and down yelling and crying when it flew. Years ago I designed and built a plane that flew! It's first time out and I, with four cameras hanging around my neck, was too excited to take a single photo. You got VIDEOS. Both are great feats! Congratulation!
Great project - well done. Looking forward to next phase of development.
That's awesome! Well done Nicholas!
Not to take anything away from your acheivements, but it does illustrate the elligant simplicity of the concept.
I agree--a very simple concept that seems to work really well or what its designed to do. Thanks!
Really awesome work! Appreciate the in-depth explanation of all you did to get it working. Hope you do more projects like this!
Thanks for the comment!
Beautifully done! Nice to see
Beautiful. Great build. Amazing tests. 👏👏👏👏 subbed.
Great video, really enjoyable to see your work and flights - you even replicated the RUD at the end.
Love it! Well done!
Nice Model building process and explanation. You got yourself a subscriber!
that last launch was prophetic.
Grt work. All the best for ur future projects. !
I'm amazed that this was posted before the SN8 flight. If only I'd known I wouldn't have needed to bother watching it. This was exactly the same including the low fuel pressure on landing. Wow
Brilliant! Great job. Very well done!
I love it!! Thanks for all your hard work!! Now make it fly, flop, and land autonomously.
That's quite the challenge but just might have to try it
Excellent work well done, Looking forward to more awesome content like this.💪💪💪
Before I looked at your subscriber count, I expected you to be one of the guys with over a million. Keep up the good work, amazing video!
Thank you, just getting started
Wow!! Well done!! Fun to watch!!
With content like this how in the world is it you only have 632 subscribers ? You just earned one more.. that build is off the charts !!! I'm a fan....
Thanks, just getting started
Good job with the correct foreshadowing!
Stunning job, man. Impressive!
Amazing. Nicely done
Bloody brilliant ! Now I see why you look progressively younger with each successive flight.
I've built and flown RC planes for over 30 years and I'm very impressed with what you have done here. Nice!
brought a smile on my face ❤️
starship is close to my heart and I just loved this...
wish to see the actual thing too work like this precision.
more power to you, stay blessed.
you definitely need more subs...nice work and editing
That's awesome, well done!
Really awesome project- impressive design and engineering effort!
Thanks!
And just like sn8 it seemed to run out of juice! Very accurate! Awesome work, loved it!
Great attention to detail! You are writing RC history
Extremely impressive work!
Thanks!
This is just amazing! Well done!!!
Thanks!
Very impressive Nicholas especially knowing you did your own flight controller and program.
You predicted the future with your last flight ;) Great work!!
Great! I really enjoyed your work!
That was really cool!!!!!!!! that seems to be a lot of work done behind it
Very nice! Congratulations!
This is incredible work! Nice job!
Thanks!
Gee, you have got me Nicholas, nice work mate.
Nicely done!
No other words than AMAZING WORK!
Sweet project, well done
Congratulations! Excellent work!
Thank you!
Good job! Impressive how much you have achieved with this model in short time.
Thanks a ton
Dude, you aren’t the only designer on UA-cam to be inspired by SpaceX... this was a great video to watch and I am so encouraged by all the designs and builds I have been watching that have vertical landings as their goal. Thank you for working and sharing this!
Thanks for the awesome comment
After watching the real flight yesterday I believe you have predicted the actual flight ! Well done sir 😎👍💪
Incredible stuff mate
Just came here right after SN8 launch!!! Good job at making the landing historically accurate!
Absolutely insane watching it live, happy to host the after-party here :)
well done Nic👍🏼
Funny to see other builders I follow on this comment section. Great project , I have subscribed and I am looking forward to your next projects.
Thanks, much more to come
Pretty darn cool. Nice work!
Outstanding work..
Awesome work! Well done :)
I wish all youtube videos to be as interesting as yours! Awesome job!
Thanks for the kind words
Great work, really neat to see how the flaps and thrust vectoring will work together in a real flying model rather than just simulations. And it does work! Gives me more confidence that we'll see some sort of success today, though it could easily look like your last flight as well depending on what altitude they try to relight the motors at.
I think it’s safe to say we saw some success!
@@NicholasRehm The final turn was amazing to watch. Can't wait to hear the post-flight analysis and what happened to the engines on both ascent and descent. A bit more thrust and I think it would have stuck the landing, I was so impressed that they hit the pad at all!
Amazing work man!
That was so inspiring to see ! 👍🏻
Kazi nzuri sana. Hongera sana. Nice work! Congratulations
Last flight was basically SN8. Amazing work! Keep it up!
So awesome! I am truly impressed! The graduation from the Star Hopper with vanes for thrust vectoring to thrust vectoring directly from motors on Starship was great, and the mixing of the motor thrust vectoring with the control surfaces in flight mode 2 is brilliant! I assume you just hit a switch on the transmitter to get it in belly flop mode. You were as successful as Elon, with only a minor RUD at the end! :-) I hope your girlfriend appreciates how clever you are. It sounds like she does. Keep up the good work!
Really incredible project! Great job!
Thank you!
Impressive work mate
Wow, this is very cool, especially having the onboard camera view.
Best video since long time i watched
Hell yes I'm impressed! Nice job!
Thanks!
Your rocket is amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Can't wait to see the next iteration of your SpaceX Starship RC
Absolutely awesome!
Very cool. You beat SpaceX landing after flopping. Love it.!
Awesome job! Keep up the great work because there’s going to be more subs👍🏽
Wow your videos are amazing!! How is possible that you have only 13k subs
I recognise your voice a genius from some time ago brilliant job bro
all that effort deserves more than 69000 views, super cool
This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen
Congratulations! Like others say in the comments below, it IS the first Starship that we have seen actually fly and do a belly flop to prove the whole design works. This is so much more than just another scale model, this really is a flight demonstration I am intrigued! THANK YOU!
Thanks for the awesome comment