NickRehm
Member
In anticipation of SpaceX's sn8 15km starship hop, I've decided to start my own space program![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
First up, we need to start small, so I'll be building the famous 'starhopper' vehicle:
After this, I would like to move to a full 'starship' that can fly up vertically, parachute down, then land vertically again. In the spirit of VTOLs and RC, I'll be using brushless motors and props instead of rocket motors
The internal structure is just a '+' type construction from dollar tree foam that will allow for two counter rotating motors, and two control surfaces for roll and pitch control:
The motors are supo 1000kv with 8x4 props, might move up in prop size later to 9x5:
I'm using two 12a blheli ESCs and the Teensy 4.0 with MPU6050 as my flight controller using my dRehmFlight code: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-Stabilization
I wrapped the outside with more foam for that beautiful water tower look, and added landing legs reinforced with 1/4" dowels.
Height is about 20" and diameter of main frame is about 12". I wanted to go a little bigger than my power system so there is some flexibility with prop size. Also wanted plenty of room to mount the electronics, as close to the top (between the two motors) as possible, so that the control surfaces will have a larger moment arm for control. I've done some test flights in my living room to test control gains and have it flying pretty well. One thing I'm learning with these types of vehicles is that they need crazy high gains with quite a bit of damping term. Waiting on some 9x5 props in the mail to test out for more thrust, as I'm approaching the upper limit of max TOW before I paint her up.
Stay tuned for flight footage and more details on the build
First up, we need to start small, so I'll be building the famous 'starhopper' vehicle:
After this, I would like to move to a full 'starship' that can fly up vertically, parachute down, then land vertically again. In the spirit of VTOLs and RC, I'll be using brushless motors and props instead of rocket motors
The internal structure is just a '+' type construction from dollar tree foam that will allow for two counter rotating motors, and two control surfaces for roll and pitch control:
![plus.PNG plus.PNG](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/11/330571_60d8edf72aa786a538d71a4720bf06f9.png)
The motors are supo 1000kv with 8x4 props, might move up in prop size later to 9x5:
![plus motors.PNG plus motors.PNG](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/11/330570_3dea75ec6ed180a2b96907f5ff0f49d4.png)
I'm using two 12a blheli ESCs and the Teensy 4.0 with MPU6050 as my flight controller using my dRehmFlight code: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...-Stabilization
![electronics.PNG electronics.PNG](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/11/330563_dc8e337d49f67efade38727c4d24f196.png)
I wrapped the outside with more foam for that beautiful water tower look, and added landing legs reinforced with 1/4" dowels.
![wrapped.PNG wrapped.PNG](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/11/330572_a5b891531a862561489afddfcd50ccc3.png)
![landing legs installed.PNG landing legs installed.PNG](https://ftforumx2.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/11/330564_f5c0425d53161903f358ca27c776e8d4.png)
Height is about 20" and diameter of main frame is about 12". I wanted to go a little bigger than my power system so there is some flexibility with prop size. Also wanted plenty of room to mount the electronics, as close to the top (between the two motors) as possible, so that the control surfaces will have a larger moment arm for control. I've done some test flights in my living room to test control gains and have it flying pretty well. One thing I'm learning with these types of vehicles is that they need crazy high gains with quite a bit of damping term. Waiting on some 9x5 props in the mail to test out for more thrust, as I'm approaching the upper limit of max TOW before I paint her up.
Stay tuned for flight footage and more details on the build