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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 kid really enjoying the destruction is pretty funny.
For those who'd like to do something similar but on a much smaller scale, Estes has done a number of smaller model rockets based on the Star Wars movies. A couple decent models are R2-D2 and my favorite, Vader's TIE fighter. But I would guess the most appropriate to this discussion would be the X Wing
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
/ You look like you're trying to pilot an \
\ X-Wing. May I help you? /
\ ____
\ / __ \
\ O| |O|
|| | |
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|___/
cpu0: Microsoft Clippium ("GenuineClippy" ChromedMetal-Class). Paperbinding, lockpicking, fish-hook-hack support.
....Surprised, I am not.
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
But shreds are not uncommon in high power rocketry.
I'm sure they'll learn from the failure and build another one until they get it right.
That's pretty much the whole point of the hobby. If you don't have the occasional spectacular failure, you're probably not innovating enough.
Come on baby....aw hell.
12:50 - press return.
I've often been amazed how bad the aerodynamics of Science Fiction are. The X wing is a pretty good example, with those huge laser weapons on the ends of the wings that guarantee flutter problems in the wings. I also find it hilarious that the leading edges of the wings are flat. Then there's the silliness of having 4 engines instead of two. The whole problem is instead of being practical, science fiction spacecraft are just there to look cool. If the rebels can't figure out a few obvious improvements like these then they deserve to be crushed like a bug by the Emperor.
..."The Farce is strong with this one."
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." - Shepard Book Quoting Malcolm Reynolds
As much as I loved the idea, these people were not engineers or this would never have happened. For all the jokes about "rocket science," reliable rocket design isn't that hard. The forces from the engine are known from the manufacturer, the aerodynamic forces are relatively easy to estimate, checking stability is simple (basic childhood rocketry books tell you how), the forces inside the structure aren't that hard to work out, and the material strengths can be looked up or discovered with a few tests. The point is that engineering lets one design something that just works. Sure, if one really wants to push the envelope on performance (e.g., the highest performance engines on the lightest possible structures), then it becomes necessary to do some testing, but by the time a full-scale model is done, the chances of success should be fairly high (and the risk of failure known).
With a bit of thought, pencil, paper, and a calculator (or slide rule) these folks could have built an X-Wing that really flew well again and again. But perhaps that wasn't their goal. Sometimes the goal is just to watch stuff blow up.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
the kids wearing blue in the forground is clearly rooting for it to crash, you see his left arm raise victorious before the crowd goes ohhhhhh, and he continues to cheer as pieces fall.
and, if you listen carefully at the very end of the video, the announcer proclaims, "shit" over the loudspeaker
hilarious.
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.
The overall design of the x-wing serves one purpose: to look cool in a movie. Don't overanalyze. Accept it for what it is.
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.
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
Wedge wasn't doing any good down there anyway.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
I implore you... please don't put these people in charge of Gundam.
Tautologies, they are what they are.
How long will it be until someone edits in some TIEs and shoots down the X-wing rather than it just disintegrating?
Look harder. Fireballs can be pretty hard to spot sometimes.
Preferably one that can lock down stabilizer units when asked to.
Send inquiries to L. Skywalker, Endor National Hospital.
come on guys, focus on the positive... the chute worked, pity there was nothing left to save...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
for the crowd that the oversized trash can went up!
Well, how's his wife holding out?
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Hell, they even landed a city (Atlantis) from a non-orbit.
Whatever. I suppose with enough shields and inertia dampeners you can do almost anything.
No Kidding.
The stuff they did with Boston after mounting it on that guitar-shaped spaceframe are really impressive.
Reentry capability after interstellar flight was a necessity, while hovering on pressor beams simplified the search for a suitable landing area. The asteroid clearing capabilities made manouvering in planetary ring systems possible and the debris shielding was impressive. Needed a little boost to get out of the atmosphere, though.
The early prototypes weren't as sleek but worked pretty well, too.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Just captured the flash video for those of you who don't like flash/java:
.mov)
http://g.appleguru.org/x_wing_flight.mov
(5.7MB, H.264, AAC,
appleguru.org
I was there to see it take off too. I also took video, might be a little clearer in this vid: http://view.break.com/378238 Greg
It was doomed from the beginning. They used Lucas (Prince of Darkness) electical parts.
Self awareness - try it!
14 ft tall scaled UP model of an Estes FAT BOY rocket. This one did a fine job throughout it's performance envelope, but someone misjudged the wind, so it landed on top of a van, thusly tearing a nice hole in the roof.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4d8J7N5Sts
Now when did you get a chance to come home and wifey asks you how was your drive, you can say "oh, had a rocket hit my van"?
And another one, a Goblin went rogue when it's motor mount tore loose. nice curlicues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqtNhcODfCk&mode=related&search=Polecat%20Goblin%20rocket
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
That's misleading. During the overall profile of the flight, the Shuttle averages about 1:1. The last 10k or 15k feet, the Shuttle glides quite well.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
I thought that was automatically done once you posted on /. :P.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing