Oye! Kerbalowda!
We're going back to the Mun in my KSP forever-save, but unlike last stream we're taking living, breathing Kerbals there. It's going to be an Apollo-style mission with a whole bunch of tricks in it, to examine a potential site for our first Munar colony. I'm also going to do some "general ops" before the main mission and while we do those I'll share a whole bunch of channel and server announcements.
Come fly with me!
The FRL team had a tremendous day. Perfect weather (except for the wind). Barbecue and tire d'érable. Five flights, with the whole extended family getting very into it. Three flights with the Estes rocket kit and two with the custom Kerbal-inspired rocket.
Unsurprisingly, the Kerbal rocket performed as a Kerbal rocket is wont to do. Short, wobbly, and unbalanced are words I would use to describe it! Lots of learning happened. I look forward to redesigning this one, and developing other silly, fun rockets to print and fly.
The Estes rocket that the littlest built performed beautifully. Two flawless flights on A and B motors, perfect chute deployment and landings. Unfortunately, we pushed our luck with the last flight of the day. We launched between small gusts of wind, which weren't much stronger than others we'd flown in earlier, but the wind picked up and sustained after parachute deployment. The rocket whipped *up* and away and found a place at the top of a very, very tall tree, hundreds of feet away. Littlest was heartbroken, but on balance had a blast, and we're already planning to get another kit. Or maybe two. And being more conservative about flying in windy conditions. Onward and upward!
#modelrocket #3Dprinting #Inkscape #maker #rocketry #Estes #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram
"To achieve a stable flight without the need for fins, the rocket's heavy motor was located at the top, fed by lines from liquid oxygen and gasoline fuel tanks at the bottom."
Umm, actually, no. That's not how that works. That's what he intended to have happen, and it sounds like common sense, but this is actually the classic #PendulumFallacy of #rocketry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket#Pendulum_rocket_fallacy
Date: 2026 March 28
URL: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260328.html
Title: Robert Goddard and Nell
(No disrespect intended to Mr. Goddard. He was an epic pioneer, and the very best of us learn by making mistakes and analyzing the outcome to learn from them.)
This is so dumb and I'm so happy with how it's coming together. Needs parachutes and some glue. And paint, I think!
#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram
I think this is the design I'm going with. Clearly I am going for vibes, not optimization. We'll try three smaller chutes for the capsule, like Apollo would use, and see how that goes. Connection point for the chutes will be an eye hook under the parachute cap, with channels for the strings to run into the fuselage. First time I'm trying anything like this so I have no idea if this is going to work at all, or how much altitute I'll get or how destroyed it'll be on takeoff or landing, but at the very least it'll be fun to see what happens. Time to get printing!
#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram
I know that when you're doing model rockets, you want to generally do tall, thin rockets. But I've played enough Kerbal Space Program to know that dumpy little rockets are fun. So in addition to trying out an Estes kit with the kids, I'm going to print up some parts, stick 'em on a small Pringles tin, and we're going to fly a dumpy little rocket. The idea is that it separates and lands the capsule and ascent stage separately. Still work to do, especially figuring out the parachute. Wish me luck!
#rocket #modelrocket #3Dprinting #Fusion360 #maker #rocketry #WIP #KerbalSpaceProgram
Mal wieder auf dem Mun gewesen. #KerbalSpaceProgram #KSP
Flugbahn wild, Stages völlig overpowered, zum Glück mit 3 Mann gestartet, so blieb das SAS an, als der Scientist die Flagge aufgestellt hat. Auf dem Rückweg fast noch bis zur Minmus-Bahn rausgetrieben.
Ich kam mit 30l Sprit im Tank zurück, ich hab' an den Hitzeschild und an den Fallschirm gedacht.
Qualified Success.
Can it run a #moon landing? (s m) #KSP #KerbalSpaceProgram #ZXSpectrum #Sinclair #kRPC #Python #SinclairBasic
Patch Arcana
Trevor
R.L. Dane 
🍵 
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