Building a Rocket Drone

Thanks to these artists for providing some of the music in the video:

DISCLAIMER: This video is purely for entertainment value. Personal use of video content is at your own risk. Recreations of experiments, activities and projects are the sole legal responsibility of the person(s) involved in replicating them. I can not be liable for any information or misinformation, wrongful use, damage to personal property, death or any circumstances that result from replication of any projects seen. Be safe!

[thenameugaveme]

Would the propellers cause drag when you ignite the rocket?
And yes build a bigger and faster one!

[MrCyberfan]

I fly quads, should say, your drone is kinda very slow in stock.. modern stock 5 inch setups fly 100 mph quite easily, without cones and rocket motors. 6s, 1950kv motors, 5146 props give 180km/h and that's quite typical setup

[Anthony-stama]

Hi James, it’s me Anthony Stama the kid who emailed you that’s building a 3-D printed jet F 22 (edit wow this is the most likes I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.🙏🏻) edit 2 I did not expect to get more than five likes. Thank you.

[BPSspace]

Another banger James - love the rocket videos :)

[kmorris]

GO BIGGER!!! Maybe something with multiple rocket engines and more powerful electric motors.

Edit:
Used the wrong wording. When you speak eight languages, getting everything is difficult sometimes. Thank you for the correction.

[pizzainc.]

Now do a high altitude weather-balloon-rocket. The cool thing is, you don’t have to worry about detaching the hydrogen-powered balloon because the rocket will just blow it up! In all seriousness, though, this is a good idea. Imagine getting most of the way to space using a balloon and then coasting the rest of the way using the rocket, since the force resisting the rocket’s vertical motion is smaller (less gravity, less air resistance, etc). Not only that, but the rocket will be closer to space anyway, so a suborbital model rocket would be a lot easier to make. You just need a trigger for when the balloon pops, an automatic process, (which can be linked to the altimeter instead, since the altimeter can tell when the altitude begins decreasing) so you wouldn’t need anything more than the stuff that is used in traditional rockets. You could have the weather balloon attached to the platform and the rocket on the platform (probably with two or three guide rails) and then use gyroscopic stabilization (as fins wouldn’t work at such low speeds and launching off of a flying (or at that point falling) platform is unstable no matter how many guide rails you have) and just connect the wire to the altimeter, maybe with a tiny microcontroller if your altimeter itself doesn’t have a signal for when it starts to fall

[autonoob]

Cool!

I think you can combine the fins with the drones arms to reduce drag.

Also a 5 inch should hit around a 100mph to begin with, check your config.

Higher pitch props will be better for the top speed but drone props don’t come in very high pitches so you might need to check out some airplane props.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes 😃

[corbingrubb]

I think a big source of drag is the flat area at the back of the rocket body, where you transition from the large diameter tube to the smaller diameter rocket motor. You're dragging a ton of air behind that flat area, so I highly recommend putting a conical cap to make the transition smoother. I am really interested to see this design evolve! Good work as usual!

[O.L.D_RC]

Sweet! Hope you're well, James. On my 5 inch, running 6s, I get 106mph with a GoPro strapped on. That's with freestyle props, not racing. You managed to go well over that. Maybe you should build one that will lift the Turbine and fuel!!😂

[nandayane]

Ukrainians watching this and taking notes…..

[rmfeld]

Great Video!
Nice to see you get help from Emma. Hope this enables you two to approach even bigger projects!

[LukeMaximoBell]

Awesome James! Maybe 350mph is in order for the next version… 🤔😂

[feelincrispy]

I watch so many of these project type channels I’ve gotten ridiculously good at seeing a pcbway sponsor coming from a mile away lol

[Akshat_Mahadik]

To boost the speed of your future projects, consider drawing inspiration from NASA's X-43 aircraft design. Imagine a hybrid vehicle, part plane, part rocket: initially, it uses a rocket to gain speed and altitude, then transitions to using its propulsion system to build on that momentum. This approach could potentially achieve speeds up to 300 km/h. While I haven't tested this concept in real life, theoretical simulations using software like OpenRocket suggest it's a promising strategy.

[WealthySeth]

this man is going to be SO valuable in the drone wars.

[ValRC]

That's a really cool Idea! The speed was definitely a bit underwhelming though, a well-built normal 5'' FPV racing drone can easily reach over 100mph without a rocket

[Contraflow]

The take that space X got me cracking up 😂

[NickCombs]

Ukraine and Russia have entered the chat

[mplouis]

1:12 for this speed, you don't need a rocket engine.. My normal FPV drone can fly around 120mph fast...

[scottmilano]

Autolevel mode is worth putting on a switch. That way when you’re camera is facing the wrong way, you have a safe mode to land. Same for trying to land that rocket body. Fly in acro, land in autolevel.