The first free flight from the remote-controlled Starship turbine, completely without safety. Turbine-powered Elon Musk Straship, if the remote-controlled, flyable Starship would see Elon Musk, then….

StarShip project
The StarShip from SpaceX fascinated me, as it is a spaceship that can take off vertically and land again.

Text by Ingmar Grote for Modellpilot.EU:
Balancing an object on its thrust jet is a challenge and that's exactly what I wanted to know if I could do it on a model scale.
What was available, an older 140 Frank turbine and a thrust tube with a diameter of 100mm.
First consideration, how can the thrust jet be deflected in all directions in order to enable control,
The decision was made to use 4 “paddles”, which are located below in the thrust jet.
These allow the jet to be deflected in all directions and, importantly, also the rotation of the thrust jet.
The sensors to record the situation in the robbery provide a somewhat "noble" copter control.
The remote control is my Jeti DC24 which is connected to the copter control with a REX3 via SBus.
Ingmar's main task now was to determine the PID control parameters in such a way that floating on the thrust jet is possible.

Flight tests and as of September 2021:
The hovering works amazingly well and precisely.
Taking off and landing in particular on the feet is quite dangerous for the model.
Possible solution, such as SpaceX, do without the feet and grab the StarShip from the air using a gripper arm.
But the developments are currently at the highest level, more on that soon.

Data:
Scale: 1/30, which results in the model 30cm in diameter and 1,66m in height.
Weight: The drive unit weighs 5,5 kg without fuel.
Turbine thrust: measured a good 160N.
Control servos: Ditex
Copter control: TheCube
Remote control: Jeti DC24

Royalty-free soundtrack from Frametraxx