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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
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.
Wedge wasn't doing any good down there anyway.
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
"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.
If he had said "Jesus Christ" it would have been profane. In this case we have common place vulgarity, from the Latin vulgris, of the common people, which leads us to the humor of the situation:
What is hilarious is an adult acting in the way everybody is commonly known to act, but from which children are enjoined.
On the other hand, one might observe that the word "profane" often refers in sociological contexts to those matters which are of an ordinary, day to day nature, as opposed to the sacred which is outside the realm of ordinary experience. Therefore one may learn the profane through observation, but the sacred is primarily learned through other people.
Thus, that the stars exceed Man's grasp is a profane fact; that Man should reach them is a sacred opinion, which is the moral of today's ironic shaggy dog post.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
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
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