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$96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

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Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#131

Post by ninjagoo »

maratc wrote: post #127
ninjagoo wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Realistically, I doubt there’s ANY system out there will be able to counter small weaponized drones that are flown manually let alone with AI, you might have some workarounds, but never a real counter. Weaponized drones (say D_A) can be countered by other weaponized drones (say D_B), equally cheap or cheaper than D_A because the D_A is usually targeting something larger (so more payload) and typically has a longer…

> equally cheap or cheaper I doubt it, as D_A's target is stationary (and could be reduced to GPS coords) while D_B's target is moving.

> I doubt it, as D_A's target is stationary (and could be reduced to GPS coords) while D_B's target is moving.

It's a good point, though I should point out that GPS denial is assumed in those sort of contexts as a first countermeasure so D_A likely has alternative targeting, and that smaller drones can move faster with less energy storage, which itself requires less weight, compounding the benefits of being smaller.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#132

Post by nine-one-two »

Check out his code. It’s a joke. His control loop is a naive proportional response that doesnt even account for error let alone interpolate trajectory. Look at rocket.txt and launcher.tx. Especially the “fusion” function. lol. Stay in school kid.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#133

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

daymanstep wrote: post #101
tzury wrote: post #88

There are 2 short segments in the video showing the actual performance and thus far it is a complete [1] failure [2]. The guy has a talent, and he put together a nice prototype based on OpenRocket [3], but with all due respect, this is not a rocket, and you are not going to win any war with this toy, even if all your enemy has are rocks thrown at you from pretty much similar distance. The remix of computer games / Uk…

I'm surprised nobody else has pointed this out. The entire YouTube video has only two short clips of the actual rocket being fired, and in both cases the clips are very short and only show the rocket being fired and then following an erratic flight path, and then get cut before showing the rocket hitting anything. For all the technical info given in the video, there is a curious lack of any data regarding the actual…

The video references "future tracking systems," so I don't think it aims at all yet.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#134

Post by Aspos »

lukan wrote: post #126
tamimio wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lasers won’t effectively work, it’s a two part equation, detection and targeting. To neutralize a target using a ground-based laser, you need an enormous power, and still it won’t penetrate a high distance/altitude in the sky, environment factors also to be considered. The detection part is even harder, these small 8in drones are almost impossible to detect unless you can hear it, aka it’s over, because they can fly…

The small weaponized drones do not fly 250 km/h.

Yes, but they still approach in just a few seconds.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#135

Post by jeffbee »

mikkupikku wrote: post #21
redgridtactical wrote: post #13

The engineering is genuinely impressive for $96, but naming the repo "MANPADS-System-Launcher-and-Rocket" on GitHub is going to attract exactly the kind of attention you don't want. ITAR implications aside, the interesting part is the mid-flight trajectory recalculation on a $5 sensor. That's the same basic problem military guidance systems solve with hardware that costs thousands. The gap between consumer electronic…

It's not really terribly new actually, in the past, rapid advances in consumer technology have enabled other sort of weapon guidance systems. For instance, the development of extremely compact television cameras available to consumers directly lead to the development of the Walleye television bomb. It happened when one nerdy guy was fucking around with his new camera and realized that he could automatically track tra…

People made self-guided missiles with 1940s technology, in the 1940s. It can't be too much of a surprise if someone right now can make guided missiles in their garage with 2026 electronics. At this point the "guided" feature is trivial, the "missile" part is doable, and the weapon has probably become the tricky part.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#136

Post by myko »

roysting wrote: post #54
myko wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The white washing of Koresh is sickening to see. Similar to how some in the US idolize the traitor Colonel Robert E Lee.

Try to pay attention please. Let’s try this; are you opposed to the government pumping 100 rounds into a person for some imagined “threat” they rationalize about after the fact? Koresh was not a great guy, kind of a piece of shit, just like the people the cops usually gun down, but that does not mean you need to take the low IQ government bait to excuse their lying and wanton murder and constant evil.

I'm okay with criticizing the government response - they should have arrested him in town. But pretending he was not an awful person is beyond the pale, and I felt the comment I replied to came close to that line.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#137

Post by mothballed »

redgridtactical wrote: post #13

The engineering is genuinely impressive for $96, but naming the repo "MANPADS-System-Launcher-and-Rocket" on GitHub is going to attract exactly the kind of attention you don't want. ITAR implications aside, the interesting part is the mid-flight trajectory recalculation on a $5 sensor. That's the same basic problem military guidance systems solve with hardware that costs thousands. The gap between consumer electronic…

Owning a system designed for surface to air weapon carries life imprisonment any USA, without any intent for violence, just simple possession or conspiracy to possess[]. Doesn't even matter if you have an NFA stamp, there is no exception except if it's done with authorization and behalf of the government.

Merely having a device intended to guide the rocket is also the same penalty.

[] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2332g

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#138

Post by make3 »

mikkupikku wrote: post #94
tzury wrote: post #88

There are 2 short segments in the video showing the actual performance and thus far it is a complete [1] failure [2]. The guy has a talent, and he put together a nice prototype based on OpenRocket [3], but with all due respect, this is not a rocket, and you are not going to win any war with this toy, even if all your enemy has are rocks thrown at you from pretty much similar distance. The remix of computer games / Uk…

Yes, I don't think this project is a serious threat as a weapon, it's more interesting if viewed as a politically provocative stunt, to get people thinking about the relationship between technology and war.

I always wonder why rockets are millions of dollars each, that seems insane to me.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#139

Post by doodlebugging »

jofzar wrote: post #25

God, I feel like I am going to be on a list after clicking that link. The future is scary

But you get more followers and that's the goal today isn't it? You have to take the good with the bad. No one is categorizing the follower ranks by "good guys" versus "bad guys" so you never know when one of your "admirers" is only there to monitor you in case you get out of line.

Re: $96 3D-printed rocket that recalculates its mid-air trajectory using a $5 sensor

#140

Post by vidarh »

dgroshev wrote: post #115
vidarh wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should be sweating, because if the other side can fire 100 rockets for $10k that are close enough to not immediately and obviously be off target, and you don't know whether a more expensive one with actual explosives is hiding within that barrage, you now have 100 targets to try to intercept, and suddenly your costs have gone up dramatically while the other sides costs has barely moved.

100 rockets for $10k is not happening. The price floor is not dictated by the electronics (which did get cheaper), it's dictated by the rest of the system: propulsion, warheads, arming and safety, QA, traceability, climate and shelf life stability. Take a look at Raytheon's manufacturing line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCCkVAHSzrc That's what it takes to have missiles that are nearly guaranteed to perform to sp…

TFA is literally about a $96 rocket.

> propulsion, warheads, arming and safety, QA, traceability, climate and shelf life stability.

You're entirely missing the point.

These do not need to be reliable for the scenario I hinted at. They also do not need to be armed.

They need to be large enough that if one of them is a higher quality rocket (not part of the $10k) that contains actual explosives, you have serious destruction on your hand. Maybe something that looks large enough for that will drive the cost up and we're talking $20k or even $100k instead of $10k.

The precise cost is largely irrelevant, as long as the total cost is a tiny fraction of the cost of a missile interception.

The point is you'd be multiplying the cost assymmetry by forcing a massively outsized response. Because if you don't try to intercept them, every future barrage will include a real rocket. If you do try to intercept them all, you'll be burning through massively expensive interceptors to take out a bunch of cheap toys.

If I was ever considering an insurgency, or a war, I'd be stocking up on vast quantities of toys, with the intent of making every radar constantly lit up by a number of possible threats.

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