Swivro Blog

Image credit goes to Trevor Mahlmann. This is an image of Starship SN11, performing the bellyflop maneuver to descend back to the landing zone. It does this bellyflop maneuver to maximize drag & slow the vehicle down as much as possible without spending propellant on it, and simply using the atmosphere as a brake. During today's test, early in the morning, the vehicle began fueling up & chilling down its 3 methane-oxygen closed-cycle raptor engines in preparation for ignition. This test was taking place in Boca Chica, Cameron Country, Texas, or as Elon Musk & SpaceX calls it, Starbase. We prefer Boca Chica, or Starbase Boca Chica. The rocket successfully lifted off at the targeted T-0 Time. T - 0 is the exact time that the rocket engines start up & the rocket lifts off. That is not an explosion, that is the rocket lifting off. It is very foggy so you cannot tell. The rocket was intended to launch to an apogee (highest point) of 10 kilometers. Above is an image of 3

Spaceflight is an advanced industry. To get to outer space efficiently, you need to create combustion with a fuel & oxidizer. Some fuels are more powerful than others. The image you see above is an image of NASA testing their Artemis Moon Rocket, called SLS, short for Space Launch System. It has 4 engines (known as RS-25 Engines). All 4 of these engines are being reused from old space shuttle missions from space shuttles. For a fuel, they use Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) and for oxidizer, they use Liquid Oxygen (LOX/LO2). You need an oxidizer in a rocket, because rockets go to space, and space is a near vacuum, meaning it is emptiness, resulting in pretty much no oxygen being present. To create combustion/a fire, you need oxygen. We have plenty of that on Earth, which is why & how fires exist, but in space, you need to bring your own with you, so rockets carry Liquid Oxygen. Liquid because it is more dense than gaseous oxygen, so you can fit more of the oxygen in your fuel tank. When

  Flying cars, a concept dating back to the year 1917. Flying cars were often thought to be a great idea, dividing the traffic between the on ground roads and "skyways" aka roads in the sky. And yes, this indeed would seem like an amazing idea. There are a lot of risks involved with flying cars and problems. Starting with risk of failure. Mid-flight, what if a turbine fails? What turbine? Yes, in order to stay hovering you need to react against air, whether that is a turbine, multiple turbines, air blowers, and more. What if just ONE of those (lets say 4) turbines fail? You are likely dead, as the thrust will not be balanced, and due to lack of control authority, your hovering car would flip out. If all turbines fail, you drop to the ground and slam into it, causing either an explosion or death.  Another issue is, power. It takes a lot of electricity to stay hovering in the air for a while and keep moving for hours without needing to recharge/refuel, like a conventional car.

  Today, we at Swivro conducted several tests of our solar-powered autonomous Lupus Drones, designed to fly up to high altitudes, provide internet, communications, high-resolution imaging, 24/7 live video, temperature & atmosphere monitoring, and more. We conducted a total of 3 flights today with this Lupus Drone. One very short hop, one 50ft hop, and one 150ft hop. All of these hops gave us data about aerodynamics with the drone, throttle capability, and more. The drone can throttle from about 10%-100% throttle and can move on its X-axis by individually throttling the 4 rotors.  This first Lupus Drone does not (yet) feature any solar panels, as it is the first Lupus drone. During these test flights, we also tested imaging, with the onboard HD Camera. The ascent for these 3 test flights was manually controlled, the hover & altitude hold was autonomous, and the landing was also autonomous, all via the onboard computer. Different tasks can be initiated on the ground via a program

  Moments ago, Starship SN10 attempted a flight to 10km, to then orient itself into a unique horizontal bellyflop position, flip itself upright after it has descended to about 1km, deploy the landing legs, and touch down on the landing pad softly. This vehicle, Starship Number 10, uses Liquid CH4 (methane) and Liquid Oxygen aka LOX/LO2, used by its 3 powerful Raptor engines.  Today, SpaceX started their official stream for the Starship SN10 Flight. SpaceX have privated the stream replay, so we cannot replay it. In case you want the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDEgFsefrGw&t=541s The vehicle began fueling up with Methane and LOX, and then shortly after, it started the engine chill process, which is the process of chilling the engines down in preparation for engine ignition, so the engine material does not crack or get damaged from sudden shock. The vehicle attempted to start up its 3 Raptor engines, by opening the fuel & oxidizer valves, starting up the turbopumps, sho

  LUPUS ATMOSPHERIC SATELLITE NETWORK. Phobos Aerospace & Swivro are developing satellites that operate within Earth's Atmosphere, hovering at around 55,000 ft with 4 propellers, basically a drone. We have not yet flown any of these drones yet. But the first few tests will consist of a smaller scale version of the eventual design, and will practice hovering at low altitudes, as well as testing a bluetooth connection from a phone to the drone to get internet access via bluetooth. There is no scheduled date for the first test, but it will be coming up soon. The drone propellers & drone structure will eventually be 3d printed out of transparent-ish resin with small motors to spin the propellers & control throttle. 4 propellers will be used, likely always, for enough power & control authority.  The satellites will be able to hover themselves in the sky on their own battery power for only 10 minutes with their standard battery. To solve this, more batteries will be added