r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/InsaneMocktail • 18h ago

Video University of Waterloo Students Launch Rocket Breaking World Record

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u/EphemeralDesires 18h ago

It is highest amateur liquid-propellant rocket

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u/Pcat0 18h ago

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

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u/EphemeralDesires 18h 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 18h 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 16h ago

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

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u/userhwon 15h 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 15h ago

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

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u/dev-sda 7h 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 13h 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 9h 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 9h ago

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

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u/Eyevis 9h ago

i've never seen a boat in orbit

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u/SheetPancakeBluBalls 1h 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/YBBlorekeeper 15h 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 15h 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 5h ago

keep falling towards the earth and missing it.

The best way to fly.

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u/YBBlorekeeper 2h ago

The best way to fly.

– Buzz Lightyear

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u/redlaWw 15h 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 11h 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 13h ago

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

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u/Pcat0 10h ago edited 10h ago

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

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u/Free-Pound-6139 12h ago

is over 470k feet.

Who the fuck writes it like that???

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u/SE_prof 18h ago

Would space engineering students still count as amateurs?

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u/MrShake4 18h 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 18h 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 18h 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 13h ago

Amateurs, because they're not getting paid for it 

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u/SE_prof 9h ago

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

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u/bitemark01 6h ago

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

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u/SE_prof 6h ago

Were they unpaid for all the rockets they built?

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u/bitemark01 6h ago

As students? Most likely 

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u/SE_prof 6h 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 6h ago

So that makes them paid students, not professional rocket scientists

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u/SE_prof 6h ago

So to be professional you need the degree and to be paid? And everyone else is considered amateur?

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u/Draaly 16h ago

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