EKV/KV/KW/KKV/LEAP (Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles) Hover Test - Compilation Video (SM-3, GBI, etc.)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it as footage of what thruster-driven interceptors look like, including as a mundane comparison for odd-looking motion in UFO videos.
What it is
A compilation of hover tests of exoatmospheric kill vehicles, the small rocket-propelled interceptors used in missile defense, including early prototypes from the late 1980s. It shows the vehicles maneuvering with thrusters in test facilities.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2022 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Cites bally0241 · 2022-03 · on “Famous Navy UFO video was camera glare, evidence suggests”
There are plenty of "mundane" explanation for the motion of the object to be real as well, and not just camera glare. No need to invoke aliens. For example, this video shows SDI technology from the 80s: [this video] which appears perfectly capable (albeit in test) of in-place rotation/motion very similar to that of the object. It could very well have been a drone, but I find it incredible that people dismiss first hand accounts in preference to some internet armchair quarterback.
Cites mgdlbp · 2022-04 · on “HUDS and GUIs: an inspiration resource site featuring Future User Interfaces”
The realistic detail I remember from that movie is that the drones had plausible-looking reaction control thrusters (like those from missile interceptors [1]). There's a behind-the-scenes video that mentions the idea and has some (spoiling) shots from the film. [2] [1] [this video] [2] [LINK] == Tangential physics nitpick == In a scene (spoilers, [3]) where a hovering drone is firing its side-mounted autocannon turrets, the reaction thruster animation doesn't match what's needed to counter the torque from the recoil: 1. The drone begins by firing both port and starboard turrets forward--no torque from recoil here, only backwards force that is countered by the drone's gimballed main thruster. 2. T
Cites samstave · 2024-08 · on “Magnetically levitated space elevator to low-earth orbit (2001) [pdf]”
What would the mass of said asteroid have to be to accommodate such a design? Maybe you could have a HALO of THORNS (Telemetry homogeneous orbital restrainer nano-lattice stabilizer) - that have 13 satellite thrusters that can maintain the alignment of the nano-pillars... and have them sectionaly distributed as rings on the Z -- with tethered lattice of tubes tying it all together like a Chinese finger trap. [this video] <-- These things... [LINK] and the carbon lattice is also a fuel-capillary system - that feed like a live thing...