The miracle of 3D printing. First ghost guns, and now ghost rockets. Will be curious to see what prediction markets will have for these.

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altruios 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

you get some good, you get some bad.

Building a rocket shell is probably just fine: you need to fuel yet - that you can't 3D print. probably fine...

Overall 3d printing is a lot more than ghost guns and ghost rockets. That the conversation dominates this small sub-section reeks of 'think-of-the-children' screeching that hides explicit power grabs in regulation and surveillance with the main intent seemingly to be 'enforce copywrite' (of only the big players that can afford to throw their weight around).

Fear pushes people's buttons.

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rmvt 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

i've recently had youtube randomly suggest me a video where this dude was building his own opensource manpads, with a single rocket costing under $100 in parts (there was no explosive payload so that makes it just a rocket and not a missile, i guess). not long after, someone posted it here on hn but i think it's been removed (by the mods, i imagine) since.

i find these projects both fascinating and terrifying. seeing a single person building what normally involves huge defense corporations and government contracts, these things in their bedroom is amazing. it shows how information wants to be free and how ingenious people can get with whatever motivates them.

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embedding-shape 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> someone posted it here on hn but i think it's been removed (by the mods, i imagine) since.

The submission: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47425297 "Tech hobbyist makes shoulder-mounted guided missile prototype with $96 in parts" - https://github.com/novatic14/MANPADS-System-Launcher-and-Roc...

Seems to have almost as many comments as points, so guessing it got pushed down the frontpage list because of the "anti-flame-war" thingy HN has.

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chasd00 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The knowledge and skill in the HPR (high power rocketry) hobby is definitely there to build basic weapon systems. Active stabilization using movable fins is a thing, onboard gps and flight controllers are also a thing. Nobody puts it together end to end though because it gives the whole hobby a bad look and the hobby governing organizations strongly discourage it too. Also, fortunately, most people have no interest in mass murder either. Much of the hobby is old engineers who are retired but still want to work on engineering projects in their garage.

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_trampeltier 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It was here on HN (441 points)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47385935

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mandeepj 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> with a single rocket costing under $100 in parts

Is there a parts list?

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nbernard 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I believe it is the same project that was discussed here a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47385935

	▲	mandeepj 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I know; I thought they'd have a handy parts list on their new site. But you are right; I should have looked in their Google Drive docs. There's a section - "Bill of materials and cost breakdown", but details are buried somewhere. Thanks, though.

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Onavo 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Need itar to be defanged first.