Skip to main content
2 of 4
added 11 characters in body
uhoh
  • 151k
  • 1
  • 13
  • 29

Beginner questions adding maneuverability and/or guidance under power to amateur model rockets; could/should they be closed as inherently dangerous?

Background

What kind of security while using solid propellent? was asked at 2018-06-27 00:06 UTC, I flagged it at 01:28 and it was closed by moderators at 16:09. This ultimately lead to the drafting of a community specific close reason:

Questions about dangerous amateur experiments, such as constructing your own engine or propellants are off-topic. Rockets and their propellants are INHERENTLY DANGEROUS and can pose hazards to not just yourself, but others around you (friends, family, neighbors, etc). It may also be illegal. Please see this meta post for more information.

We have both that meta post and a previous one:

Question

While the specific risk discussed in those is rocket fuel or the handling of explosive/dangerous chemicals, and "constructing your own engine", the expressed goals in these posts and the close reason is to close questions that ask about doing things that are inherently dangerous and/or illegal, and therefore preventing (further) answers to these questions from being posted.

How to make a model rocket that doesn't spin? asks about a rocket with articulated fins connected to servo motors, which are presumably connected to some control system with at a minimum some inertial feedback. The question asks about roll control (avoiding spinning) as a side issue, so presumably the main purpose goes beyond just avoiding the spinning that the adding of articulated fins near may cause.

Can we explore the following two questions:

  1. Could building a model rocket with maneuverability and/or guidance under power have some reasonable potential to be inherently dangerous? (please consider how many launches this would take to get working by trial and error; servo systems with millisecond response control loops are not beginner projects, and once perfected, this thing starts looking like a small missile)
  2. Would some model rocket question that was deemed potentially inherently dangerous and five people would like to close it be properly closed under the current existing close reason?
uhoh
  • 151k
  • 1
  • 13
  • 29