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X-Wing Rocket Launches, Disintegrates
An anonymous reader writes "Remember the 21-foot X-Wing with four rocket engines? It launched yesterday from Plaster City and here's the video showing what many thought inevitable: total destruction in mid-air. From the post: "I can only say two things. The first is: absolutely amazing. And the second: poor Porkins." "
That was lame. Even if it hadn't disintegrated early, it was on an arc that would have hit the ground in about five seconds.
Now if they'd built it as a large R/C model aircraft, it would have been cool. That's been done in a 24 inch wingspan model, so it's possible to fly that shape.
Keeping in mind it was only build from mostly wood and some aluminium, I must say it's interesting that the booster rockets haven't ripped it apart through the start, so from my point
of view I consider the construction itself as usable for further designs.
I think I can also come up with a possible solution why the construction collapsed.
The thrusters aren't to be blamed for this.
It's the X-shaped twin wing, which is the problem in here, with the increasing velocity the wind forces between the twin wings pushed them into opposite directions, resulting in an alteration of the flightvector as you can see in the video, and when it collapsed,
the wings acted like long arms which applied huge torque onto the vessels body,
and so breaking it apart.
If you want to see something in a similar vein to this launch that is really impressive, check out Top Gear's launch of a shuttle built from a Reliant Robin compact car: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN3JjUUdjWU
I think it depends to a great degree on how far you're pushing the envelope.
The early rocket experiments didn't have general guildlines to go from - and so they discovered problem after problem by experiment.
They also didn't have parts with known specifications - they were building their own engines which were often sources of problems.
An amateurer rocket designer today can buy off the shelf parts - and know exactly what their tolerances are. If their engines are certified to produce x N of force +/- y% then you can simply design for that. If they have a 99.99% reliability rate you don't need to worry about them just blowing up.
To me this whole thing sounded more like an exercise in amusement than trying to actually get a rocket off the ground. Nothing wrong with that - but it is hardly big news when the thing disintegrates in mid-air...
No Shields Needed, with enough inertial dampeners and repulser-lifts you can do anything. Remember, in an atmosphere the X-Wing functioned less like a plane and more like a helicopter with big engines on the back thanks to it's repulser-lifts, the thing could VTOL.
As for Atlantis, it's also pretty much a helicopter.
90% of spacecraft in fiction than enter atmospheres work like helicopters once there, not planes.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
"the aerodynamic forces are relatively easy to estimate"
On a vehicle like the X-wing...which no one's ever done aerodynamic tests on...which has reverse facing wings...and pylons sticking out from them...and is shaped like a rocket with huge wings attached.
If you can estimate those forces easily and come up with it's coefficient of drag then I would like to subscribe to your newsletter...
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
How long will it be until someone edits in some TIEs and shoots down the X-wing rather than it just disintegrating?
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
To get a good first approximation of the aerodynamic characteristics of the X-wing, all you need to do is import the design into X-Plane. It's been done with other research designs, and that's probably all it would have taken to show that it would fall apart.
Sure but wind tunnel tests of the NCC-1701 refitted Enterprise show that it has remarkable in-air properties, despite it never have been designed to fly through an atmosphere.
As a former shuttle rocket scientist, I'll have you know that pilots and astronauts are more than just jocks. In fact, half of my ASE class went on to become Air Force, Navy and Marine pilots.
... "dynamic pressure." Look it up.
I've also had occasion to train shuttle pilots and mission specialists over the years. When they were working with my teams' systems, they were serious and socking away the nuances of the system. Much respect for those folks.
OTOH, you'd never see me getting into the space shuttle for a launch. That thing is a death trap, if only due to the complexity and interdependence of 6M parts heading in the same general direction.
Two words for the X-Wing guys