Photo: BPS.space
SpaceX’s high-end rockets have developed their own propulsion-based landings, and one fan has been attempting to replicate these landings with a model rocket for several years now.
In a new video from BPS.space shared on Monday, host Joe Barnard officially completed a model rocket landing created to replicate SpaceX’s rocket landings.
Barnard began the journey seven years ago, releasing several videos of the process along the way, with his model rocket named Scout.
In the video, Barnard shows a breakdown of the several flights taken with the model rocket over the seven years.
In each of the launches, Barnard attempts uses landing legs just like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, while using propulsion to slow down and prepare for landing.
The model rocket took five attempts to officially land, and the landing does look just like the ones that SpaceX does with its Falcon 9. Now, it’s worth noting the Falcon 9’s first stage usually lands on a floating autonomous droneship in the ocean by itself. Not bad for a rocket stage that’s equivalent to a 14-story building.
One user in the comments expressed their admiration for the project, adding that they were a former SpaceX engineer.
In the comment, Sam wrote, “As a former SpaceX engineer who has been watching you from the start: Congrats. Seriously. you are an inspiration to kids learning about rocketry all the way up to the folks actually designing raptor engines. No one aces a landing on the first shot, it’s the courage and relentless belief that they can do it if they tweak just a few more variables, just like a bird on their first flight. This is a serious accomplishment.”
Barnard also said that he plans to create a nine-foot Starship super-heavy model, a space-shot rocket and one other model rocket project called the “Meat Rocket,” that’s soon to be unveiled.
