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

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

#471

Post by pasquinelli » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:32 PM UTC

Forgeties79 wrote: post #448

ericmay wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the American context, hopefully it never comes to an actual revolution, because life for everyone will be much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better afterward. We should do what we can to avoid one, especially because while it's fun to fantasize about your side being the one to start a revolution, there's no reason to think that the other side won't also think the same way and maybe they'll bea…

Everyone with the “only solution is revolution” mentality needs to read this comment. Anyone salivating over/romanticizing armed conflict has never experienced it and can’t fathom how awful it is. I know I can’t, and that’s why I don’t want to find out.

nobody needs to read a comment, tbh, any comment.

revolutions are like earthquakes or pandemics: created by forces beyond our control and a matter of when, not if. people romanticizing or anti-romanticizing armed conflict online doesn't even enter the frame .

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

#472

Post by giancarlostoro » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:33 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #437

swiftcoder wrote: post #424

When everyone started working on 3D-printed guns, I was sitting here thinking that if it comes to actual revolution, one is going to need anti-tank/anti-air a whole lot more than (relatively easy to acquire) small arms... Nice to see movement on this front

In the American context, hopefully it never comes to an actual revolution, because life for everyone will be much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better afterward. We should do what we can to avoid one, especially because while it's fun to fantasize about your side being the one to start a revolution, there's no reason to think that the other side won't also think the same way and maybe they'll bea…

Or worse. Neither your side nor your opponents side wins, an unknown threat swoops in and takes over and now you have a drastically worse system than either “side” would have at least tried to implement. Instability is a great opportunity for Russia to swoop on in, or China. The next American Civil War hopefully never happens because it will end worse than anyone realizes.

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

#473

Post by DHolzer » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:36 PM UTC

i don't like the framing of $96 that pops up with this topic. There are so many reasons why the pricing point is completely irrelevant. Yet it frames it as if it were a similarly helpful option to fpv drones for the underdog nation - It's not, nor would it be if it were $9.60 or $0.96. This launcher has not even hit a PoC state - to mention the production cost of the prototype at this point is an extremely weak talking point - it means nothing.

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

#474

Post by torben-friis » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:37 PM UTC

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #461

ericmay wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the American context, hopefully it never comes to an actual revolution, because life for everyone will be much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better afterward. We should do what we can to avoid one, especially because while it's fun to fantasize about your side being the one to start a revolution, there's no reason to think that the other side won't also think the same way and maybe they'll bea…

> hopefully it never comes to an actual revolution, because life for everyone will be much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better afterward. In the situations a revolution comes to exist, it is because life for everyone is already getting much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better. Nobody starts a revolution for funsies, so you're supposing a false dichotomy where the choice is…

>Nobody starts a revolution for funsies,

They do when they're convinced it's a walk in the park.

See the Spanish civil war, which was a two week coup by military worried about conspiracy theories turned into a years long war turned into a 40 year dictatorship (with decades of hunger).

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

#475

Post by pjc50 » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:38 PM UTC

mothballed wrote: post #458

Forgeties79 wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone with the “only solution is revolution” mentality needs to read this comment. Anyone salivating over/romanticizing armed conflict has never experienced it and can’t fathom how awful it is. I know I can’t, and that’s why I don’t want to find out.

From my experiences with the YPG in the Syrian Civil War --- You'd be surprised how many people that have seen combat absolutely loved it. There was one guy that would go in a state of ecstasy while being shot at, literally expressing happily "ha ha they try to shoot me" and this is a guy who had seen many of his comrades die. Once you accept you are dead it's actually far less mundane than normal life, while at the…

This is a large component of the alt-right, isn't it.

> much less complicated than say something like trying to juggle a dentistry practice while driving the 2 kids to school events and then going home to patch drywall on the house

There is genuinely a group of people who'd rather fantasize about mass murder than do chores. Every now and again one of them actually picks up a gun. Then some school kids never have to go to events, or anywhere, ever again.

I have some sympathy for people who can't adapt to peace. When I was a kid one of my neighbours was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Calvert ; I knew him as an old man who drank too much and never talked about the war. This is not an excuse to restart the war.

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

#476

Post by pasquinelli » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:38 PM UTC

pydry wrote: post #457

mothballed wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Times have changed since then but the first Chechen war heavily works against the theory of your second paragraph. Instrumental was their seizure of anti-tank and heavy weaponry during ambushes of Russian forces entering into Grozny and other chokepoints. Eventually they used these weapons to capture even more heavy weapons and then won a few years of outright independence.

It didn't exactly matter in the end. Russia eventually encircled them with artillery and pounded them until they gave up and brokered a deal. Their fighting skills and spirit have since been added as an asset on the Russian military's balance sheet.

it doesn't really matter in the end because the human species will one day be extinct.

would the chechens be in their position now had they never fought? impossible to say, counter-factual conditionals are all unconditionally true. though i'm not sure why you'd assume so...

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

#477

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:39 PM UTC

Teever wrote: post #470

swiftcoder wrote: post #424

When everyone started working on 3D-printed guns, I was sitting here thinking that if it comes to actual revolution, one is going to need anti-tank/anti-air a whole lot more than (relatively easy to acquire) small arms... Nice to see movement on this front

I read a paper that was published by the US military about twenty years ago and a line that I'm going to paraphrase struck out at me: "The home made cruise missile will be the AK-47 of the 21st century. I found this paper when I was reading about that guy in NZ who was trying to build a missile at home for $20k in around 2003-2004. The cost for what he was trying to achieve is likely below $5k now, if you don't inclu…

[deleted]

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

#478

Post by pasquinelli » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:39 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #449

harimau777 wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In order for that to happen, there has to be a way for regular people to live good lives without needing a revolution. Unfortunately, the Epstein class has and is doing everything in their power to get rid of those alternatives.

America is not going to have a Tahrir Square. It just about managed Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter.

no one knows.

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

#479

Post by Hasz » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:41 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #452

Hasz wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not arguing laws need to be binary-effective. You are right, most of the current laws are designed to slowly erode public support for the 2nd amendment by making the barrier to entry so absurdly high that the average person cannot feasibly own firearms. I am arguing that the new laws being proposed (e.g serializing other firearms components, ammo serialization, assault weapons bans, higher gun-owner standards) h…

I see it the other way round: there's no way to achieve public safety without drastically reduced gun ideology and availability, but there's no way to do that while the second amendment is in place, so you get both illiberal, ineffective and irrelevant laws and regular mass shootings.

Let's assume you get rid of the second amendment and totally ban civilian gun ownership in the US. No legal firearms other than for the police/military, full confiscation of guns, etc. Let's also assume the public is broadly supportive of this effort, and that there are not large black-market caches for sale.

I am arguing there will still be a significant number mass shootings/casualty events, political assassinations using a firearm, etc, and that the only way to effectively prevent them is to roll back most of the bill of rights.

The gun is a very old piece of technology and you do not need a sophisticated one to kill people effectively. Shinzo Abe was assassinated with a gun that could be described as primitive at best. Mangione used a 3dp firearm to kill the United Health CEO. Rebels in Myanmar are fighting the military junta with 3d printed small arms.

I am fundamentally arguing that the capacity of any one person has dramatically (100,000x) increased since the bill of rights was written, for better and for worse.

To be clear, I fully support the bill of rights and want to see it expanded. However, I reject the idea that simply eliminating the 2nd amendment and removing guns from civilian ownership can fix the underlying issues. I think you will see "casual" shootings and hopefully even mass shootings go down, but they will not go away and I expect they will still be higher than anywhere else in the world.

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

#480

Post by pjc50 » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 3:42 PM UTC

mkoubaa wrote: post #464

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hopefully it never comes to an actual revolution, because life for everyone will be much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better afterward. In the situations a revolution comes to exist, it is because life for everyone is already getting much, much worse with little prospect of anything being better. Nobody starts a revolution for funsies, so you're supposing a false dichotomy where the choice is…

Exactly. Revolutions are awful things that are only defensible if the conditions are brutal enough. And even then, there has to be the caution that the revolution can be co-opted by infinitely worse people than those that were overthrown (take the Russian revolution, for example)

Also, actual revolutions require a significant chunk of "excluded elite". People who have nothing can generally manage a riot, maybe burn down some buildings until the police open fire, but nothing more coordinated. Revolutions require more money and organization. I'm reminded of how the convicted Jan 6th rioters were a lot more middle-class than you might expect.

No American revolution would succeed without a significant chunk of US military support. Either from above ("autogolpe"), or entire units defecting en masse.