This week on the Flite Test Podcast, James sits down with Joe Barnard from BPS.Space to talk about self-landing model rockets.
Joe Barnard has been making headlines as a self-taught engineer who is trying to recreate Space X technology in miniature. Even grabbing the attention of Elon Musk, he's really getting people excited about what's next for the hobby of model rockets. I talked to Joe about the value of backyard engineering.
Here's the podcast:
Introduction to Joe Barnard's BPS.Space
Here is a video to show you what BPS is all about:
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The BPS Mission
What's the mission statement then? Well, it's really something along the lines of this: to create a new era of model rocketry. With the new technology available to us, BPS is creating hardware that makes model rockets work like the real things, mainly with gimbaling rocket engines.
The biggest project is landing model rockets. You can check out more info about this huge undertaking in this article.
To simulate a landing situation without the launch, a drone is used to drop a rocket. Unusually, the fins are at the top of the rocket to stabilize it during the free-fall stage. After a few moments, the rocket motor ignites and the rocket is lowered to the floor. It's a matter of extremely, extremely precise timing.
Joe has also implemented this technology into other rockets that he has constructed such as his scale replica of the Space X Falcon Heavy.
If you want to get into model rockets, you can find out lots of helpful information on BPS.Space. Here's a link.
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Article written by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
Contact: james@flitetest.com
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/projectairaviation
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