Getting the hang of it

The noise and heat are the two things we're fighting now. I have two helpers, John and Harris. They complain too but we're driven like never before. John (made up name) is a skilled mechanic able to create any custom piece needed using cad/cam and the machinery we have. What I described below was for the most part principles and theories. Now it's sweat, practical experimentation, damn secrecy and more sweat. Not sure if picking a god forsaken patch in the desert was a good idea but no one will hear anything if it blows up. Well no need the roar of the 2 small engines lifting the prototype are enough. Movies show the quiet roar of the engines of a spaceship. The real deal deafens at 150 decibels in an orgy of hypersonic shockwaves. We do the flying tests on the hangar for now. Earplugs in. First time we tried on the desiccated ground rocks went flying like shrapnel. Having your very own space program is fun like that so to speak. Harris (made up name) is in charge of the electronics. And me and him try to pilot the damn thing. It looks a bit like a firefly from the series with rougher edges and exposed insides. The 2 tanks. The metallic body that took 4 months to build by hand and a set of cables. It hovers but unstable. This week-end we will shoot for 10 min at 100 ft of height. No ai yet to control the critical stability but Harris added a few low level assembly routines to board in charge of the attitude control. Tired.

Simulation issues

It seems the same problems that were affecting the V-22 Osprey crept up in the prototype I am building. Namely a strange resonnance effect when the reactors are being tilted from vertical to horizontal and when the body of the ship is leveled up.

Flying tests in my desert secret location have revealed it is controllable but I am thinking of applying some kind of adaptation mechanism to let the ship learn and control by itself those forces, probably using some basic AI.

So far the tests have let me fly the small prototype I created for about 5 min. The fuel is methane and liquid oxygen powering a rocket engine and a turbofan that replicate the performance curve I expected from the versatile air scooping engine that will power the real thing.

400 lb total mass vs. 250 tons for the end game... some ways to go but moving fast.