Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 561 posts

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

#191

Post by atemerev »

oofbey wrote: post #188
giantg2 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"and you are not going to win any war with this toy, even if all your enemy has are rocks thrown at you" I don't want to use it for war. I think it would be a pretty cool technical project (if it works).

This design is pretty clearly optimized for weaponry. Eg the foldable fins - necessary if you want to keep a magazine of these things stored compactly before firing. Totally unnecessary for funsies. What nonviolent application are you imagining for a gps-guided rocket that is launched by pulling a gun trigger on a hand held mount?

Ukraine needs more cheap weapons.

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

#192

Post by Svoka »

mikkupikku wrote: post #27
niemandhier wrote: post #26

A certain kind of mind deals with stress by devising solutions, even if one cannot put them into action. Seeing people in Israel, Iran, the general Middle East as well as the Ukraine live in fear of drone strikes might have incentivised this person to come up with a potential way to deal with these threats. Cheap air defense would equilibrate drone warfare again: Currently drones are much cheaper that the systems tha…

MANPADS can be effective against large drones, but definitely not against the kind of FOV shit we see in Ukraine. They were originally designed to kill helicopters and low flying aircraft, and I'm guessing that's still his design intent.

So far russia launched over 57 000 Iranian/inspired shahed drones. They are like 6ft long drones with 40+ lbs payload with couple hundreds of miles of range.

USA/NATO/allies heavily rely on Patriot AA system. Even if you disregard the prohibitive 100x cost difference, there are about 2500 Patriot compatible PAC missiles.

This is why gulf states are scrambling to get their hands on cheap alternatives - Ukraine manages to shoot down over 90% of all drones heading their way, usually it is over 400 per day in big waves.

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

#193

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

walterbell wrote: post #145
daymanstep wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> curious lack of any data regarding the actual accuracy of the system No lack of entrackment data generated by [edit] d̶i̶g̶i̶t̶a̶l̶ ̶t̶w̶i̶n̶ github repo of "the system".

"digital twin"?

Is there a simulation that has been documented to have the identical behavior and flight characteristics as the real thing? Does not seem like it.

If there is a difference, it is not a twin.

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

#194

Post by robotresearcher »

lukan wrote: post #100
tamimio wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that’s ok if it’s failing to do the job as intended, learning is acquired, and it looks fun to build, I am in the field and I find it great homemade concept. 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.

"Realistically, I doubt there’s ANY system out there will be able to counter small weaponized drones that are flown manually " Why would lasers not work? Those cheap drones are made from plastic, if you have a laser powerful enough and a target guidance system (like a camera and a PI) - then you would just need enough of them.

Powerful enough laser and accurate enough targeting system is easy to say, but not easypeasy to do. Dumping thousands of Joules on a tiny moving target is much easier to do with explosives.

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

#195

Post by jjmarr »

clbrmbr wrote: post #171

I strongly object to building weapons. It is not right. Raise your consciousness, young hacker. I grew up building homemade rocket engines to power model rockets. I even programmed a flight computer in ASM. I was always quite risk averse and, then being only shortly after 9/11, I told my friend I worried what we were doing may be illegal or otherwise get us in trouble. So he picked up the phone and called the county…

It's impossible to get a job nowadays so new grads will do anything to stick out.

You don't really understand the desperation we're going through right now. OP wants to be visited by the feds.

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

#196

Post by ryandrake »

clbrmbr wrote: post #171

I strongly object to building weapons. It is not right. Raise your consciousness, young hacker. I grew up building homemade rocket engines to power model rockets. I even programmed a flight computer in ASM. I was always quite risk averse and, then being only shortly after 9/11, I told my friend I worried what we were doing may be illegal or otherwise get us in trouble. So he picked up the phone and called the county…

Seems like a one way road--the way things are getting stricter and stricter. My parents did shit when they were growing up that would have landed me in prison, and I did plenty of things growing up that would have landed my kid in prison.

I fear the next generation is going to grow up confined to a bubble where they're only allowed to stay home and mindlessly consume corporate approved product, never make things, never build things, never destroy things, never hack a computer game, never reverse engineer a wire protocol, never go out and walk around and explore, never race things, never jump off things, never blow things up or burn them down, never protest things or yell at someone, never get into a fistfight, never take physical risks and learn what hurts and what doesn't. In 2050, growing up means just 1. go to church, or 2. watch streaming.

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

#197

Post by oofbey »

vidarh wrote: post #152
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…

You don't need to win any wars with it if you can use them to sow confusion, obscure the firing of more serious rockets, and/or trigger a sufficiently more expensive response. It clearly needs more work, but if an amateur can get this far at this low cost, odds are you'll see attempts at overwhelming attackers or defense systems by sheer volume with cheap decoys like this long before they become an actual threat in a…

Exactly. Consider the current conflict in Iran. They have thousands of drones that cost $50k each. The US’s only real defense against one of these drones is to fire a million dollar missile at it. That assymmetry can win or lose a war.

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

#198

Post by pjc50 »

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…

> 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.

I wonder how much of that Ukraine is bothering with. Or Iran. Certainly Hezbollah are building down to a budget.

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

#199

Post by infinitewars »

atemerev wrote: post #190
clbrmbr wrote: post #171

I strongly object to building weapons. It is not right. Raise your consciousness, young hacker. I grew up building homemade rocket engines to power model rockets. I even programmed a flight computer in ASM. I was always quite risk averse and, then being only shortly after 9/11, I told my friend I worried what we were doing may be illegal or otherwise get us in trouble. So he picked up the phone and called the county…

Unbombed people are cute.

That's why it's so important for people who can hold a moral line, to do so. Violence breeds violence.

A good engineer in America can afford avoiding weapons work.

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

#200

Post by swiftcoder »

clbrmbr wrote: post #171

I strongly object to building weapons. It is not right. Raise your consciousness, young hacker. I grew up building homemade rocket engines to power model rockets. I even programmed a flight computer in ASM. I was always quite risk averse and, then being only shortly after 9/11, I told my friend I worried what we were doing may be illegal or otherwise get us in trouble. So he picked up the phone and called the county…

> I strongly object to building weapons. It is not right.

I used to object to building weapons. Now the EU is engaged in a proxy war with Russia, and the US has repeatedly threatening to annex Greenland. Suddenly the need for a domestic weapons supply chain does not seem so farfetched

Post reply on HN