Stripping GoPros To The Bone For Model Rocketry

December 1, 2024 by Danie Conradie 11 Comments

The small size of action cameras has made them a great solution for getting high-quality experimental footage where other cameras don’t fit. GoPros are [Joe Barnard]’s camera of choice for his increasingly advanced rockets, but even the smallest models don’t quite fit where he needs them. They also overheat quickly, so in the video after the break, he demonstrates how he strips and customizes them to fit his required form factor.

[Joe] starts out with a GoPro HERO10 Bones, which is a minimalist version intended for FPV drones. He likes the quality of the 4K 120 FPS video and the fact that he can update the settings by simply holding up a QR code in front of the camera. The case appears to be ultrasonically welded, so careful work with a Dremel is required to get it open. The reveals the control board with an aluminum heat sink plate, and the sensor module on a short ribbon cable. For minimal drag[Joe] wants just the lens to poke out through the side of the rocket, so he uses slightly longer aftermarket ribbon cables to make this easier.

The camera’s original cooling design, optimized for drone airflow, meant the device would overheat within 5 minutes when stationary. To increase the run time without the need for an external heat sink, [Joe] opts to increase the thermal mass by adding thick aluminum to the existing cooling plate with a large amount of thermal paste. In an attempt to increase heat transfer from the PCB, he also covers the entire PCB with a thick layer of thermal paste. Many of the video’s commenters pointed out that this may hurt more than it helps because the thermal paste is really intended to be used as a thin layer to increase the contact surface to a heat sink. It’s possible that [Joe] might get better results with just a form-fitting thermal block and minimal thermal paste.

[Joe] is permanently epoxying three of these modified cameras into his latest rocket, which is intended to fly at Mach 3, and touch space. This may look like a waste of three relatively expensive cameras, but it’s just a drop in the bucket of a very expensive rocket build.

We’ve seen GoPros get (ab)used in plenty of creative ways, including getting shot from a giant slingshot, and reaching the edge of space on a rocket and a balloon.

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BPS.Space Succesfully Lands A Model Rocket

August 5, 2022 by Danie Conradie 16 Comments

If you’ve been following [Joe Barnard]’s rocketry projects for the past few years, you’ll know that one of his primary goals has been to propulsively land a model rocket like SpaceX. Now, 7 years into the rollercoaster journey, he has finally achieved that goal with the latest version of his Scout rocket.

Rocket touching down — We have touchdown!

Many things need to come together to launch AND land a rocket on standard hobby-grade solid fuel rocket motors. A core component is stabilization of the rocket during the entire flight, which achieved using a thrust-vectoring control (TVC) mount for the rocket motors and a custom flight computer loaded with carefully tuned guidance software. Until recently, the TVC mounts were 3D printed, but [Joe] upgraded it to machined aluminum to eliminate as much flex and play as possible.

Since solid-fuel rockets can’t technically be throttled, [Joe] originally tried to time the ignition time of the descent motor in such a manner that it would burn out as the rocket touches down. The ignition time and exact thrust numbers simply weren’t repeatable enough, so in his 2020 landing attempts, he achieved some throttling effect by oscillating the TVC side to side, reducing the vertical thrust component. This eventually gave way to the final solution, a pair of ceramic pincers which block the thrust of the motors as required.

Another interesting component is the landing legs. Made from light carbon fiber rods, they are released by melting a rubber band with nichrome wire and fold into place under spring tension. They also had to be carefully refined to absorb as much impact as possible without bouncing, which killed a few previous landing attempts.

Scrolling back through [Joe]’s videos and seeing the progress in his engineering is absolutely inspiring, and we look forward to his future plans. These include a functional scale model of the belly-flopping starship, a mysterious “meat rocket”, and the big one, a space shot to exceed 100 km altitude.

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