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View Full Version : RC Plane Flies to Space and Back. (VID)



N2NH
03-09-2013, 02:26 PM
RC enthusiast sends plane up to 30KM, releases and flies/glides the aircraft back to earth.

The Story:


This is the Space FunJet on the eve before the launch.
There were a lot of things to take into consideration when building the Space Glider. For instance, during the ascent the temperature can drop to minus 40 or even 50°C. I had to make sure that the electronics, batteries and servos all could survive and operate with such a harsh environment.
The servos took some time to figure out. After a lot of testing I came up with a solution that worked well. First of all you have to remove the grease in the gears. The colder it gets the thicker it becomes. Second thing I did was mounting the servos inside of the fuselage, where hopefully they would stay nice and warm. I used “U” shaped control linkage and mounted the servo with the output shaft in the middle of hinge line of the control surface. That way I could mount the servos in the back where I had the most space. It also didn’t hurt to have the weight in the back as I had the camera up front.



(http://rcexplorer.se/projects/2013/03/fpv-to-space-and-back/)FPV* to Space and back (http://rcexplorer.se/projects/2013/03/fpv-to-space-and-back/)
*"What is First Person View? also known as FPV. The term is used in describing what a person would be looking at if they where there in-person. Example: If you placed a video camera on your forehead and allowed someone to watch your views via wireless video link, they would be watching the First Person Views of what ever your looking at. So the term FPV caught on with the help of some of the pioneers of FPV piloting. With the assistance of a wireless video transmitter and receiver the user will see what the Remote Controlled heli/plane/car sees from the driver/pilot seat."
--FPV PILOT (http://www.fpvpilot.com/Pages/default.aspx)

KK4AMI
03-09-2013, 04:23 PM
Unbelievable, here I am trying to build a 1/144 scale RC German Type XXI submarine that surfaces and dives in the bathtub. Guys like that just leave all my aspirations in the dust.

NQ6U
03-09-2013, 04:33 PM
Unbelievable, here I am trying to build a 1/144 scale RC German Type XXI submarine that surfaces and dives in the bathtub. Guys like that just leave all my aspirations in the dust.

Feh, I did that when I was a kid. My mom made me take it apart after I left it in the tub and the thing accidentally fired a torpedo at my sister. Luckily, I modeled the fish after the American design and it turned out to be a dud.

N2NH
03-09-2013, 04:39 PM
I just wonder what he was using to control the aircraft. Futaba and most controllers do not have a 30KM* range. That calls for a Tech License or above.

*18.64 Miles

K7SGJ
03-09-2013, 05:36 PM
27.065 Mhz and a Dave Made amp.

kb2vxa
03-09-2013, 05:46 PM
Exploring the RC world one crash at a time... pretty much says it all. Proof is in the landing if you can call it that, missed the paved road by a few feet and hung up in a tree. Maybe better that way, it didn't get run over by a car.

suddenseer
03-09-2013, 06:43 PM
The kid called his mission a "failure". If only our government could pull off failures that awesome. :agree:

kb2vxa
03-10-2013, 07:59 PM
As if a space capsule fire, the Apollo 13 explosion and two shuttle disasters weren't awesome? Am I missing something here?

n2ize
03-11-2013, 06:57 AM
The kid called his mission a "failure". If only our government could pull off failures that awesome. :agree:

They have, if one considers putting men on the moon, sending probes into space, putting rovers on Mars with FPV functionality, space stations, space telescopes, manned space missions, etc to be failures. ;)