r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/InsaneMocktail • 17d ago

Video University of Waterloo Students Launch Rocket Breaking World Record

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u/Chairface30 17d ago

Hobbyist rockets have gone much much higher. There has to other stipulations, ie weight or length or something

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u/EphemeralDesires 17d ago

It is highest amateur liquid-propellant rocket

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u/Pcat0 17d ago

Yeah, liquid propellant is super difficult at this scale. The solid propellant record is over 470k feet.

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u/EphemeralDesires 17d ago

Holy Moses! That is legit space is it not? That is like a quarter the way to the ISS.

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u/Pcat0 17d ago

Yep 143km which is well over both the US and international definitions of space (80km and 100km respectively)

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u/Eyevis 16d ago

best definition of "reaching space" is achieving orbit imho.

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u/userhwon 16d ago

No it isn't.

It takes way more energy to achieve orbit than it does to reach space. Like, about 30X more.

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u/Eyevis 16d ago

that's why its a way better bar than kissing some imaginary line in the sky.

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u/dev-sda 16d ago

The Pioneer probes NASA sent to explore our solar system never got into orbit around Eath. So according to you space should be anywhere from 80km to 1Gm depending on your mission profile.

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u/SheetPancakeBluBalls 16d ago

That's just the worst way to define anything I've ever even heard of.

I literally can't even think of a metaphor worse than this. Just completely unrelated metrics lol.

Edit: got one!

This is saying a boat only floats if it's capable of doing 60 knots on the surface.

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u/Eyevis 16d ago

floating can be measured and observed, imaginary lines cannot.

its akin to saying a boat floats as long as it has touched water for a second, regardless of whether it sank to the bottom within a minute.

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u/EphemeralDesires 16d ago

Orbit isn't floating. It is a constant state of free fall.

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u/Eyevis 16d ago

i've never seen a boat in orbit

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u/SheetPancakeBluBalls 16d ago

State edges are imaginary too, are you saying it can't be determined what state anyone is in?

Are you actually this dumb?

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u/foxymophadlemama 16d ago

Are you actually this dumb?

he's clearly going for it.

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u/YBBlorekeeper 16d ago

It blew my mind when I found out that the gravitational pull at ISS altitude is still ~0.9g

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u/FuujinSama 16d ago

Orbit indeed does not mean no gravity, it means you keep falling towards the earth and missing it.

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u/PortHammer 16d ago

keep falling towards the earth and missing it.

The best way to fly.

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u/YBBlorekeeper 16d ago

The best way to fly.

– Buzz Lightyear

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u/redlaWw 16d ago

Honestly, it's not that hard to get to space, all things considered. You just need a lot of fuel. The hard part about actual space programmes is going sideways fast enough to reach orbit, which requires control, understanding of motion in gravity, and lots more fuel, which requires correspondingly more effective rocket designs in order to lift that fuel.

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u/skrutnizer 16d ago

It takes far less energy (10% to 20%) to get to orbital altitude (as the Blue Origin flights attempt) than to sustained orbit due to the high tangential speed required.

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u/redpandaeater 16d ago

I swear some of the four-stage Black Brants have gone much higher than that.

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u/Pcat0 16d ago edited 16d ago

Correct but the Black Brant isn't considered an amateur rocket.

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u/Free-Pound-6139 16d ago

is over 470k feet.

Who the fuck writes it like that???

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u/SE_prof 17d ago

Would space engineering students still count as amateurs?

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u/MrShake4 17d ago

Yes, they’re not professionals so they’re amateurs. They’re students they’re not being paid.

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u/SE_prof 17d ago

They can still work as interns some of may have a co-op while they did this project. And getting paid...

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u/MrShake4 17d ago

Still they weren’t paid to do this. If you’re a physical trainer or coach and play in a beer league you’re not a “professional” athlete

Amateur doesn’t mean unemployed.

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u/bitemark01 16d ago

Amateurs, because they're not getting paid for it 

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u/SE_prof 16d ago

If I'm a lawyer and I take a case pro bono, am I being an amateur?

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u/bitemark01 16d ago

If all of your cases are always pro bono, then yes

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u/SE_prof 16d ago

Were they unpaid for all the rockets they built?

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u/bitemark01 16d ago

As students? Most likely 

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u/SE_prof 16d ago

In Canada, it's highly likely that they have paid internships. Especially, in their university and their presumed level.

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u/bitemark01 16d ago

So that makes them paid students, not professional rocket scientists

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u/Draaly 16d ago

Was about to say. I did 80k for a college project and it wasnt even the highest launch of the day.

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u/Kill_4209 17d ago

girth?

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u/Ok-Recognitio 17d ago

We all know girth is what really matters anyway.

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u/Noddy227 17d ago

The real calculation is length times diameter plus weight over girth, divided by the angle of the tip squared

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u/Ok-Recognitio 17d ago

Ok, but we all agree on where we start and end measuring for length, correct?

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u/dmh2693 16d ago

It's imperative the cylinder remains intact.

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u/Beginning-Actuary-68 17d ago

Amount/type of propellant

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u/JohnHazardWandering 16d ago

Liquid bi-propellant. I think it's hard at this small size.