OpenRocket • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenRocket

#21

Post by mandeepj » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 6:03 PM UTC

nbernard wrote: post #18

mandeepj wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> with a single rocket costing under $100 in parts Is there a parts list?

I believe it is the same project that was discussed here a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47385935

I know; I thought they'd have a handy parts list on their new site. But you are right; I should have looked in their Google Drive docs. There's a section - "Bill of materials and cost breakdown", but details are buried somewhere. Thanks, though.

Re: OpenRocket

#22

Post by lovlar » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 6:42 PM UTC

aliljet wrote: post #4

I wonder how crazy the scale here can get. How far can I go? The bps.space guy is heading into space. Can the community hit the moon? Literally.

Space Concordia, a Canadian university space-oriented student group, which is sort of amateur-level given that it’s driven by students and donations, attempted to reach space not that long ago with a liquid fueled single staged rocket. Here is a video of the launch https://www.youtube.com/live/610YciEs8qg?t=4594&is=aAWo8Y7vi...

Re: OpenRocket

#23

Post by sandrello » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 6:52 PM UTC

I read the name and the first logical thought that came to mind was that of a platform to have AI agents iterating on rockets design. How doomed am I?

Re: OpenRocket

#24

Post by CarVac » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

I helped out with a user interface redesign of OR many years ago. It was pretty incredibly unintuitive back then, and many hobby rocketeers paid for Rocksim instead.

Re: OpenRocket

#25

Post by CarVac » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 6:58 PM UTC

sandrello wrote: post #23

I read the name and the first logical thought that came to mind was that of a platform to have AI agents iterating on rockets design. How doomed am I?

OpenRocket has a little optimizer built in but of course it neglects structural integrity which it knows nothing of…

Re: OpenRocket

#26

Post by showerst » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 7:07 PM UTC

aliljet wrote: post #4

I wonder how crazy the scale here can get. How far can I go? The bps.space guy is heading into space. Can the community hit the moon? Literally.

"Space" is 100km. The moon at its closest is about 350,000km.

So the jump from the former to the latter is... significant.

Re: OpenRocket

#27

Post by daemonologist » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 7:12 PM UTC

sandrello wrote: post #23

I read the name and the first logical thought that came to mind was that of a platform to have AI agents iterating on rockets design. How doomed am I?

Just reading the name I wouldn't have been surprised if it had nothing to do with rockets whatsoever - I was half expecting it to be some kind of "agentic platform to accelerate your product development" etc.

I think I need to go for a walk.

Re: OpenRocket

#28

Post by hermitcrab » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 7:21 PM UTC

chuckreynolds wrote: post #16

Well THAT's cool. I was just talking about getting back into model rocketry... I'm not sure my 6yo daughter will like it as much as I did/do but I want to get back into it and launch a few and see if she's into it. Timing here is great as I need to start looking at starting from scratch with kits etc.

I bought my son a Estes kit about 10 years ago. He's now at University studying aerospace engineering as a direct result. So you never know!

Re: OpenRocket

#29

Post by hermitcrab » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 7:23 PM UTC

showerst wrote: post #26

aliljet wrote: post #4

I wonder how crazy the scale here can get. How far can I go? The bps.space guy is heading into space. Can the community hit the moon? Literally.

"Space" is 100km. The moon at its closest is about 350,000km. So the jump from the former to the latter is... significant.

And you need a serious amount of money, effort and expertise to each 100km with a rocket.

Re: OpenRocket

#30

Post by MoonWalk » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

sandrello wrote: post #23

I read the name and the first logical thought that came to mind was that of a platform to have AI agents iterating on rockets design. How doomed am I?

I figured it was a typical no-info HN title; I was happy to discover it actually conveyed some meaning.