[AR] Re: Autonomous recovery: A poll.
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arocket <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2022 23:57:36 -0500 (EST)
On Fri, 28 Jan 2022, Paul Breed wrote:
BTW: Unit will never be able to have the landing spot “programmed” in.
That would be targeting and is illegal
I built hovering rockets with a definite target landing position...
Can you quote/reference the relevant law here? I've heard much "it must be
so", but never a specific statute.
This seems to be one of those superstitions -- a related one is "guidance
systems are illegal" -- that spread by word of mouth. Nobody seems to be
able to point to a specific law or regulation justifying it.
I conjecture that it arises from progressive exaggeration of the "I will
not launch my rocket at targets" rule found in the standard model-rocketry
safety code -- which is a *custom* of the model-rocketry community, meant
to steer ignorant or thoughtless model rocketeers away from doing stupid
things that might bring the hobby into disrepute. (The full wording, as
of the latest safety code, is "I will not launch my rocket at targets,
into clouds, or near airplanes, and will not put any flammable or
explosive payload in my rocket.") As far as I know, this has always been
just cautious self-protection of that community, not anything imposed from
outside.
Henry
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