New Age of Rocketry Is Upon Us?

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KenECoyote

KenECoyote

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I know many reminisce about the past "Golden Age" of rocketry, but I feel that we're in the midst of a New Age or Neo Golden Age.

Why? Well my wallet and I can't keep up with all the incredible rocket kits coming out now!

Part of the reason is that 3D printing had allowed parts that in the past was way too difficult, costly or time consuming to make.

For years I used to wish there was a HP Nike Hercules, upscale Colonial Viper, or a MP X-15 and the list goes on. But now the array of new kits coming out is simply staggering.

Additionally, copies of OOP kits can now be easily found.

Personally I don't know how it can get much better in satisfying my rocketry wishes... other than my winning the lottery!

Thoughts?

200.gif
 
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KenECoyote said:
I know many reminisce about the past "Golden Age" of rocketry, but I feel that we're in the midst of a New Age or Neo Golden Age.
Click to expand...

I agree.

Lots happening with 3D printing and new materials being tested. Sure some of those things will be dead-ends, but a lot won't be and the next few years are going to be 'new gold'. Designs that were previously 'difficult' at best are now possible. Here's one from just last year:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/snecma-c-450-coléoptère.167448/#post-2285617
I've looked at this plane for years and wondered how to model it. @BigMacDaddy just puts it on a plate for me.

I know there's a lot planned for 2023 by manufacturers way way bigger than me, but I've got some stuff in the pipeline that I think people will find very interesting...
 
Cape Byron said:
I agree.

Lots happening with 3D printing and new materials being tested. Sure some of those things will be dead-ends, but a lot won't be and the next few years are going to be 'new gold'. Designs that were previously 'difficult' at best are now possible. Here's one from just last year:

https://www.rocketryforum.com/threads/snecma-c-450-coléoptère.167448/#post-2285617
I've looked at this plane for years and wondered how to model it. @BigMacDaddy just puts it on a plate for me.

I know there's a lot planned for 2023 by manufacturers way way bigger than me, but I've got some stuff in the pipeline that I think people will find very interesting...
Click to expand...
Yes! Additionally if you have a a 3D printer, you can even print your own parts, bays, alignment guides, stands, rockets, etc.
 
To me, the "Golden Age" is more about what can be done electronically. As a BAR from, like 1971, the idea of putting anything besides a mechanical camera or a flashlight bulb aloft was about the best I could think of. Now, we're seeing active control systems, GPS self-guided recovery systems (A boon for small fielders if it doesn't run afoul of regulators), drones can look in the corn fields from the sky, we have Marco Polo, Jolly Logic Chute release, and all sorts of electronic gadgetry. If I could have got a grainy, half-focused picture from that disc film camera Estes put out I'd have been tickled pink, now we can send video cameras aloft easily. This makes things a lot more interesting IMHO. And that in turn drives demand and then people start making more kits!

Note, I may be full of crap, but I'll have a colonoscopy next week and then maybe I'll have a few days of clarity before I fill back up again.
 
Don't forget the range of composite motors that's usually available.
And cheap CNC routers and laser cutters.
And Cricut.
And laser or inkjet decal paper.
And vacuum bagging getting more affordable.
Affordable and capable flight electronics from several vendors, just to say it again.
TRF, YORF, and all the other sites compiling huge troves of information, old and new, and making it available to anyone with a search engine.
This definitely doesn't suck.
 
astronwolf said:
Considering all the stuff we can get, it does seem like a new Golden Age. But flying fields seem to be getting harder to come by.
Click to expand...
Yes, but on the other hand, given that we have the internet and sites like this now, in minutes you can find your nearest club or others in your area who may know of a local park to launch at.

I repeatedly see others telling the new members here about clubs nearest to them and what they're like. :wos_love:
 
SolarYellow said:
Don't forget the range of composite motors that's usually available.
And cheap CNC routers and laser cutters.
And Cricut.
And laser or inkjet decal paper.
And vacuum bagging getting more affordable.
Affordable and capable flight electronics from several vendors, just to say it again.
TRF, YORF, and all the other sites compiling huge troves of information, old and new, and making it available to anyone with a search engine.
This definitely doesn't suck.
Click to expand...
YES. I was about to add some of that as well, but along with a note that it's not the lack of products I want holding me back, but having to learn it, the time to learn it and the cost (if I wanted everything).

I have a lot of Eggtimer kits (and have built many), but like my rocket kits, I'm behind on building them.

I have a Cricut, but have only used it once... I want to use it more and I will when I have more time to work on custom designs.

I have a laser wood cutter that I haven't used yet somewhere in my garage. :p

I want to learn to use Rocksim better and try OR.

No rest for the weary Rocketeer! 😆
 
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yes, this is the best of times. to me, the Renaissance started with Semroc, and FlisKits, early 2000s.
 
KenECoyote said:
Yes, but on the other hand, given that we have the internet and sites like this now, in minutes you can find your nearest club or others in your area who may know of a local park to launch at.
Click to expand...

I suspect that you sort of side-stepped my comment. In a food shortage, analogous to the difficulty and scarcity of obtaining really good fields to fly from, telling someone that they can just order take-out isn't helpful.
 
astronwolf said:
I suspect that you sort of side-stepped my comment. In a food shortage, analogous to the difficulty and scarcity of obtaining really good fields to fly from, telling someone that they can just order take-out isn't helpful.
Click to expand...
If I sidestepped, it was because I don't really know (because for each it may be different and I don't track mumber of launch sites), but answered based on what I know.

For example, I know that one club about an hour away that I had gone to in the past closed because the land owner passed and the new owners weren't allowing any longer, but that can happen at any point.

On the other hand, I have one club 20 minutes drive from me, another two clubs about 2 hours drive away and a very high waiver one ~4 hours away... and I'm East Coast!

Sure I wish I could launch in the desert or in my backyard, but I can't expect to have everything perfect for me. Some have better, some have worse.

Also I'm not saying every single aspect of rocketry is perfect right now... that's unrealistic.
 
Yeah, losing mearby casual launch sites, to suburban development. Gotta drive 2+ hours, or 7 hours.
 
KenECoyote said:
Try this out...
https://www.rocketreviews.com/index.php?action=clubs&lat=x&lon=x
Click to expand...
This is an example of what I was talking about.

In the 60s & 70s you had to go by word of mouth or wish for some publication to print it and hope that you could find it, but now you can find it in minutes.

I realize that may not help with loss of lp local sites (blame the overheated real estate market, development, lawsuits, fear of terrorism or fire, etc.), but it definitely helps with finding HP sites and I myself often launch LP at my local club since the parks by me are too small or busy and have lots of trees.
 
KenECoyote said:
If I sidestepped, it was because I don't really know (because for each it may be different and I don't track mumber of launch sites), but answered based on what I know.
Click to expand...

That's fair. You are fortunate enough to have access to a good club, with a good field. Care for it...
 
KenECoyote said:
View attachment 557429
Seems appropriate for model rocketry! :) 👍
Click to expand...
I dunno, astrology never did anything for me... I mean, by that system, I'm a Sagittarius (I think at this age, pronouncing that with a hard "g" is more appropriate). Anyway, this is what I get:

Sagittarius​

Sagittarians are hardworking, reliable, and dull as the dickens. They are always on the move, headed to their next delusion of grandeur. They are often good at math which explains why they are such pains in the backside. Rene Descartes was a great mathematician and a crappy philosopher, so he must have been a Sagittarian. Stephen Hawking was even more Sagittarian because he was all of the above and a pompous S.O.B. to boot. Sure, he'd overcome a lot of obstacles etc. etc., but even in perfect health you can't overcome being a Sagittarian. Most politicians are Sagittarians, which is why our country is always in the hole. It is not surprising that politicians need so much security around them all the time. Sagittarians are like a strange cross between a Leo and a Virgo. They think that this makes them both charismatic and logical. In reality, it means that they are tight-arsed and nitpicky, and have to keep their egos in the backyard. In the event of nuclear war, only cockroaches and Sagittarians would find a way to survive. The rest of us just don't want to live in a world like that. The nation's cockeyed system of toll roads was probably designed by a freakin' Sagittarius. They learn how to screw the public over at an early age. Their parents buy them books of law for Christmas so they can underline the loopholes. Sagittarians cannot even fathom, much less describe, philosophical concepts because they don't involve equations. (See comments about Descartes and Hawking above) Sagittarians own lots of Filofaxes and other tools to organize the lives they do not have. They love to be seen talking on their cell phones. These phones are not actually turned on because Sagittarians don't have any friends to call. Sagittarians went out of style in 1989. They still believe that Herbert Hoover was a visionary. Most of the people arrested for counterfeiting are Sagittarians.
 
Blast it Tom! said:
I dunno, astrology never did anything for me... I mean, by that system, I'm a Sagittarius (I think at this age, pronouncing that with a hard "g" is more appropriate). Anyway, this is what I get:

Sagittarius​

Sagittarians are hardworking, reliable, and dull as the dickens. They are always on the move, headed to their next delusion of grandeur. They are often good at math which explains why they are such pains in the backside. Rene Descartes was a great mathematician and a crappy philosopher, so he must have been a Sagittarian. Stephen Hawking was even more Sagittarian because he was all of the above and a pompous S.O.B. to boot. Sure, he'd overcome a lot of obstacles etc. etc., but even in perfect health you can't overcome being a Sagittarian. Most politicians are Sagittarians, which is why our country is always in the hole. It is not surprising that politicians need so much security around them all the time. Sagittarians are like a strange cross between a Leo and a Virgo. They think that this makes them both charismatic and logical. In reality, it means that they are tight-arsed and nitpicky, and have to keep their egos in the backyard. In the event of nuclear war, only cockroaches and Sagittarians would find a way to survive. The rest of us just don't want to live in a world like that. The nation's cockeyed system of toll roads was probably designed by a freakin' Sagittarius. They learn how to screw the public over at an early age. Their parents buy them books of law for Christmas so they can underline the loopholes. Sagittarians cannot even fathom, much less describe, philosophical concepts because they don't involve equations. (See comments about Descartes and Hawking above) Sagittarians own lots of Filofaxes and other tools to organize the lives they do not have. They love to be seen talking on their cell phones. These phones are not actually turned on because Sagittarians don't have any friends to call. Sagittarians went out of style in 1989. They still believe that Herbert Hoover was a visionary. Most of the people arrested for counterfeiting are Sagittarians.
Click to expand...
Yeah, astrology is a tricky bag for those that are "intellectual" and logical (which I consider myself to be), however, one can argue that it can be influential in that reading it at a young age can basically help to shape your personality to match what you've read.

So says my horoscope. 😆
 
KenECoyote said:
[O]ne can argue that it can be influential in that reading it at a young age can basically help to shape your personality to match what you've read.
Click to expand...
A baby's brain and mind are developing very, very rapidly during the first year. One could also argue that the weather when a child is a new born, the weather during its second month, and its third, etc. might have some effect on its personality for life. So some average trends could depend on the time of year of birth. One could argue that, but I don't buy it.
 
jqavins said:
A baby's brain and mind are developing very, very rapidly during the first year. One could also argue that the weather when a child is a new born, the weather during its second month, and its third, etc. might have some effect on its personality for life. So some average trends could depend on the time of year of birth. One could argue that, but I don't buy it.
Click to expand...
I do like that train of thought!
 

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