Hey Patrons, lots of posts lately but it's cause there's lots to do! We've got a launch coming up Saturday morning bright and early. This will be Flight 7 of Scout F, and I'm feeling pretty good about our chances of landing upright on this.
I've got a few changes from Flight 6, mostly that we're aiming for better attitude control at the en...
2022-09-02 01:36:23 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons! I've got a ton of raw footage for ya here!
I fell behind on the raw footage and data reviews for flights 4, 5, and 6 and am playing catch-up now. I'll have those up in a few days or so, but after a slow August we're back to burnin real hard on Scout flights.
This means that we're flying again Saturday morning for Flight ...
2022-09-02 00:56:39 +0000 UTC View PostHey folks, I am not sure why the Discord/Patreon link keeps breaking - until that gets fixed for good though, if you're looking for a valid Discord link, here you go!
Thanks,
Joe
2022-08-26 21:34:34 +0000 UTC View Post
HOWDY PATRONS! I took a few needed weeks off of rocket launches and am back with more Scout flights! Scout Flight 6 will be largely similar to flight 5 with a few small improvements.
Flight 5 still had some rough velocity control on landing, and I've increased control gains to fix that. Throttle control also had a sample rate problem...
2022-08-26 18:27:26 +0000 UTC View PostHowdy Patrons!
A few folks have had some trouble getting into the BPS Discord, so here's a link that should get you fixed up if you're not in there already!
Also tomorrow(Wednesday August 3rd) I'm doing a Patron hangout in the BP...
2022-08-02 19:59:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Will go live at 5am Pacific Time! Stream Link: https://youtu.be/-80oQsVljus
Okay Patrons, time to try this landing thing *again*! Last flight looked pretty great, it almost seemed like if the legs had deployed we could have landed it! That said I still updated the throttl...
2022-07-21 19:00:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Link: https://youtu.be/V6YxLqkgUcg
Back at it for flight 4 of Scout F! It's the Summer of Scout and we're landing this thing upright, one way or another. Stream goes live at 5:05am PT, keep your fingers crossed :)
2022-07-13 02:02:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons, more footage and data for you here! To TLDR it in case you don't have a bunch of time to spare - here's what I have found.
1. Somewhere along the line, the TVC mount got un-calibrated before launch. I have a sneaking suspicion is has to do with me re-tightening two of the screws for the mount after the drive out. Regardless, w...
2022-07-11 20:16:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Going live at 5:05AM PT for a launch around 5:30AM PT!
Stream Link: https://youtu.be/_z80KgNeTQI
Scout F Flight 3! It's happening! We've got a new aluminum TVC mount and I'm ready to try this thing again. It's a lot more stiff than last time with almost no play in t...
2022-07-07 02:55:39 +0000 UTC View Post
Link: https://youtu.be/4YOvagPNfWc
Hey Patrons! Welp, not an amazing flight, and I kinda hate saying this because of how cliche it is, but we can still learn a lot! The thing I'm most exited about is how accurate our Kalman filter looks in spite of some pretty iffy GPS da...
2022-05-28 02:14:13 +0000 UTC View PostSuper quick update, sorry for all the notifs! Same livestream link, same everything, we just hit a few issues with the TVC wiggle today that need another day or two of work to get ironed out. Otherwise, things are looking great for Flight 2, just want to make sure we don't succumb to Go Fever :)
Live launch! Flight 2! Very exiting!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUFtknBOTA8
Alright, we're goin live super early tomorrow morning to fly again - I've got an updated set of gains, a lighter vehicle, and some minor bugs fixed. The goal is to ...
2022-05-23 21:59:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Howdy Patrons, I've got LOTS of footage and data for ya!
Video Link: https://youtu.be/9KReMmgEgus (the 4K version is still processing and should be done in a few hours max)
Scout F finally lifted off, and things didn't go amazing, but they didn't go terribly! The ro...
2022-05-17 22:02:50 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons, we’re going to try to fly Scout again tomorrow at about 6am Pacific Time - that’s the best situation for wind for the next week! I’m sorry for the late notice, once we can get a flight in and start iterating, we should be able to get some better flight times. Until then, the most important thing is getting this rocket off the ...
2022-05-15 02:26:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Get STOKED: https://youtu.be/oUpPu-P15A0
ITS HAPPENINGGGGGGGGG - Scout F is ready to go for a launch tomorrow! I'm super excited! We're aiming for a 7:30pm PT liftoff, and the stream will go live at least 30 min before. The legs work, the TVC mount works, the throttle con...
2022-05-12 00:43:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Livestream Link: https://youtu.be/oUpPu-P15A0
Alright folks, it's time to fly! Almost...
Scout F has gone through a bunch of testing and it feels like we're about ready to fly. I have a few small details to close out, but flight software is ready, the rocket is buil...
2022-05-04 18:35:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Video Link: https://youtu.be/7a_BIZCLaqk
Howdy Patrons! Here's a little update on Scout F, which is what I've been workin on for the last month or so! We're looking good for a first flight in April, and I've been doing my best to learn from the things that didn't work wit...
2022-03-30 19:07:41 +0000 UTC View PostHowdy Patrons!
Here's the data I've collected on the throttle control mechanism I built. Feel free to use it for your own builds - I'll be publishing the STEP files for the mechanism at the MECO tier in a few minutes as well. If you're having trouble opening the XLSX file, you can import it using Google Sheets and then export as whatever f...
2022-03-16 01:00:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Link: https://youtu.be/73htcqE3pR4
Super quick update! Video on all the throttle control stuff will be out next week, but y'all get the first look of course :) This will make a big difference for projects like the Starship model, I'm really stoked about it. More soon!
2022-03-04 20:43:46 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons! Real quick, not sure what's up with the Discord/Patreon connection that keeps breaking. If you're having trouble gaining access, please use this link! For obvious reasons, please don't share it :)
Thanks,
Joe
2022-02-25 02:49:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey folks, quick video to keep you in the loop on what's happening. The TLDW...? Too long didn't watch:
- Next video is about throttle control for solid motors! Got it working well so far
- Then a design video about an 8ft tall Starship/Superheavy model we're gonna make
- Project with Mark Rober comes out... sometime?? soon?? T...
2022-02-22 00:30:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Yes! Well... sorta...
For the last few weeks (and a few weeks in the fall too) I've been trying to get throttle control with these Estes F15 rocket motors that Scout(the landing rocket) uses. That's the last step toward closing in on landing this thing after a billion years of trying.
First I tried messing with something called the K...
2022-01-08 23:55:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons! Something very different for you here...
Xyla Foxlin and I have been collaborating on a ridiculous holiday themed project, and it's time to fly it! We're shoving an L1000 rocket motor into a full sized Christmas tree in the name of holiday spirit!
We're flying it out in Mojave and the stream quality should be pretty good...
2021-11-29 22:02:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey Patrons! Thanks for the patience with yesterday's stream - I can't believe video cut out RIGHT at launch... Luckily, we have plenty of angles of the flight here, hopefully that makes up for it a bit.
I haven't taken a close look at the data yet, and we'll do that breakdown in a few days or so, but my current guess is that the connectio...
2021-11-21 21:54:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Howdy Patrons! Trying this again...
Last week we tried to fly the Fineas rocket at ROCstock out in the Lucerne Dry Lakebed. Although the day was beautiful and all seemed well, we ran into some nasty RF problems out at the pad. A totally fascinating error lead to us getting great GPS connectivity while on external power, and absolutely noth...
2021-11-19 05:22:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Howdy Patrons!
I've got a new rocket, and it's called Fineas... because it uses active fins :) Tomorrow I'm going to try to fly around 12 noon Pacific Time at the ROCstock launch out in Lucerne CA. If you're going to ROCstock please come say hello and wish Fineas good luck! The rocket will try to fly a small 90 degree roll program fo...
2021-11-13 04:47:23 +0000 UTC View PostHowdy Patrons! You get the first look at the Engineering Cut for Scout E! I put a whole lot of detail in here, and I hope you enjoy it :)
https://youtu.be/QM6tvAVNLnk (Patreon wouldn't let me post this as a video here, not sure why)
Thanks,
Joe
2021-10-20 16:45:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Howdy Patrons! Buncha footage and data for ya here!
Unfortunately a pretty bad flight. Had tons of camera issues, ascent motor didn't eject, I think a good chunk of this is a result of not flying this for so long. Silver lining, in light of this flight I think it's time to try a new design with a stiffer airframe, and FINALLY some position...
2021-10-05 22:46:23 +0000 UTC View PostHey Patrons - I'm not sure what's up with the connection between Patreon and Discord right now, but it seems like something is broken. In any case, I'll leave this here - you can click the link below to join the BPS Discord if Patreon didn't do that for you automatically!
2021-10-05 18:23:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Howdy Patrons!
It has been a little while - here's a video about what has happened and what's coming up in the next few months!
Thanks as always for your support, and more soon!
Joe
2021-09-15 20:02:12 +0000 UTC View Post