Amateur rocket engineer's enthusiasm is amazing to challenge own creation of a small rocket fully reproduced until launch & landing of SpaceX · Falcon 9

" Falcon 9 " is a rocket capable of vertical takeoff and landing with the view to reuse, launched by SpaceX, a private space company led by Eilon Mask CEO. As fascinated by this Falcon 9, Motherboard introduces the fiercest solvers who make their own hands from scratch on the scale of 1/48 scale, which is capable of vertical takeoff and landing, like the real thing.

The DIY Rocketeer Building SpaceX Replicas of Self-Landing Rockets - YouTube


A single rocket launching with a plume.

It looks like a real rocket, but as you can see from a single-lens reflex camera on the left of the rocket and a tripod, its size is at most as large as the height of an adult male.

Joe Barnard is an amateur rocket engineer who creates a rocket based on the SpaceX rocket "Falcon 9" by himself.

Mr. Barnard commented "I do not know if I can call him amateur because my homebrew rocket has advanced to a considerable level at the moment," he confidently commented.

Certainly Barnard sees the rocket launch situation from the sky, it looks like only the launch scene of a real rocket.

Mr. Barnard's rocket is structured to separate the upper row like the real Falcon 9.

In addition, the place where the feet are opened to allow vertical landing is also reproduced.

The real Falcon 9 is about 70 meters in length, just as big as a 17-story building. Mr. Barnard's rocket scale is 1/48, about 1.4 m.

Mr. Barnard did not have engineering skills from the beginning. Mr. Barnard graduated from the prestigious Berkeley Music College , got a degree in composition, and for a while he was in the work of video and music production for wedding ceremonies.

At one point, Mr. Barnard saw the movie of Falcon 9's vertical takeoff and landing experiment, and he seems to think that he wants to make such a rocket. And I embraced the dream of "I want to send something to the moon someday", and amateurly started developing rockets.

In making a rocket, Mr. Barnard purchased a 3D printer. Many parts of rockets are made with 3D printers.

Of course igniters and ...

All the launch pads are made by me.

On the day the movie was filmed, I was doing experiments on the separation system at the top.

When Barnard operates on smartphone ......

A bonfire and a gunpowder cracked and the separation succeeded splendidly. Mr. Barnard seems satisfied with the result of the experiment as "wonderful!"

In "Rocket factory" and Mr. Barnard's home workshop, the parts of the rocket and various tools line up narrowly.

On the table in front of the kitchen, prototypes of rockets are settled, not meals.

In Amazon corrugated cardboard loaded in a corner of the room, prototypes of various rocket parts were stacked like a mountain.

The parts of the rocket are placed around the room ......

The rocket is also set against the house plants in the room.

Mr. Barnard established a company called BPS.space to create a rocket and has sold its own " Signal R2 " control system for amateur rocket at $ 349 (about 40,000 yen).

Mr. Barnard pulled out of the shelf in a cardboard box saying "This is a" cemetery "" There was a prototype of Signal R2 control board packed in the box.

It has made it possible to perform various control of rocket with this one board by making the accuracy and miniaturization a thoroughly.

"All was a series of failures and repetitions," as Barnard suggests, there seemed to be various trial and error until the completion of Signal R2.

The Signal R2 board can connect with the smartphone with BlueTooth, and can access the sensor from the smartphone and adjust the angle of the thruster.

Mr. Barnard holds a fire extinguisher on the left and a drone case on the right and heads to the park for experimental launch of the prototype.

A prototype of a rocket lying on the back seat.

"It takes a tremendous cost to fly something to the universe, but still a new private space company is appearing one after another, everyone is striving for the goal of democratizing the universe," Mr. Barnard.

Mr. Barnard's rocket is successful but the vertical landing is not yet completed. It seems to do that experiment on this day.

Join the rocket to the drone ......

Confirm the operation of the thruster.

I will take a picture of landing with a single lens reflex camera fixed on a tripod. This shoot is to ensure that lessons learned from experiment failure are fed back to the next prototype.

A rocket that is separated from the drone that jumped above the sky and comes down to the ground while performing reverse injection.

However, the landing failed. The rocket bounces the ground while continuing to inject from the thruster.

I checked with the camera I was shooting, it seems that the angle of the rocket changed when landing and it was not vertical. Looking at this picture, Barnard says, "Whether the motor that opens and closes the landing gear has stopped moving due to heat, it is too late to open, even if you slightly correct the angle at landing, it will not make it in time. We have to update the control software, and it is also necessary to look at the flight data to find out what went wrong, "he said, but he seems satisfied with the result of the experiment.

Apparently there seems to be a problem with the leads connecting the circuits being too long.

"If it is SpaceX, I will solve this problem with science and $ 500,000 (about 57 million yen), but I will solve with a blue tape," Barnard said.

If you do not understand even if a problem occurs, you may collect information on the Internet or discuss with an amateur technician who suffers from the same problem. In addition, Mr. Barnard says that it is open to the movies all the time by their own YouTube channel in order to share the know-how gained through trial and error online.

For example, in order for amateurs to straight down a small homebound rocket, it is common to attach wings for attitude control to the rocket.

However, there are no such wings in a large rocket such as Falcon 9, and attitude control is done by making thrusters movable. Mr. Barnard's rocket said that it has a small motor that can control the direction of the thruster. Mr Barnard seems to be quite confident of this system he developed.

When Mr. Barnard speaks to a person, "It is a hobby for rocket production and launch," it is said that it is often said that "Why are you 25 years old and playing with toys?" However, according to Barnard, it is a totally different story, "I am aiming for the progress and revolution that I can achieve by aiming at the universe."

I will do the experiment of vertical landing of the repaired rocket at a later date again.

The rocket detached from the drones ......

Developing landing gear while performing reverse injection.

Although the landing itself failed because the injection ended at a slightly high position, "I landed from the leg! It got certain data!", Pleasure in the success of the landing gear deployment that was a matter of concern Show Mr. Barnard.

"I am planning to make a lot of progress while it is small, I think that there is infinite possibilities for the growth of mankind in the space business," I will launch something on the moon " We have to go through many stages to achieve our goals, "said Barnard.