r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/InsaneMocktail • Sep 08 '26

Video University of Waterloo Students Launch Rocket Breaking World Record

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u/01010110_ Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

World record of amateur rocket altitude at 63k feet (edit: liquid propellant rocket)

Edit 2: Since people are so excited about my use of feet, the altitude could be measured approximately as;

  • 9,852 toises
  • 22,860 varas (using the 0.84-meter Spanish standard)
  • 109.1 to 122.3 stadia (depending on whether the 157-meter or 176-meter anient Greek standard is applied)
  • 62.09 hPa or millibars.

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u/nm9899 Sep 08 '26

Very impressive, still only 20% of the way to space. Crazy perspective at this scale

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u/tonyhart7 Sep 08 '26

its only 20% ????? I swear the video got to atmospher already

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u/nm9899 Sep 08 '26

19.5km apparently. The generally accepted range in 100km above sea level

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u/TamponTimTheCuck Sep 08 '26

So only 19.5%. Wild!

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u/rex8499 Sep 08 '26

And probably only like 5% of the way to orbit, cuz you got to go sideways very fast as well as up. Space is hard.

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u/randombits0110 Sep 08 '26

More like 0% of the ways to orbit (or incredibly close to it). They went (roughly) straight up... which means you come straight back down.

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u/astrodude23 Sep 08 '26

At 44 degrees of latitude, they're about 4% of the way to orbital velocity at LEO. That's why countries tend to put their launch facilities closer to the equator: the faster the rotational speed at your launch site, the less fuel you have to burn.

At the equator you're about 8% of the way there just by virtue of the Earth's spin (assuming, of course, you're not trying for a retrograde or polar orbit).

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u/jtr99 Sep 08 '26

So if I throw a rock on the equator I'm already ahead of these students' efforts?

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u/Glittering-Ad3488 Sep 08 '26

I guess it depends which direction you’re throwing it in

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u/jtr99 Sep 08 '26

At the speed I throw: not really! ;)

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u/That_dude_wow Sep 08 '26

already threw my rock. the record is mine

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u/jtr99 Sep 09 '26

Congrats!

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u/That_dude_wow Sep 09 '26

lol thx dude

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u/dna_beggar Sep 08 '26

Must be a rocket shaped rock.

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u/Ecurbbbb Sep 08 '26

I just want to say I am super impressed with everyone's knowledge and input in this thread. However, you're all nerds! NERDS!!!

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u/Ivan_Whackinov Sep 08 '26

RIP Donald Gibb.

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u/dirtydigs74 Sep 08 '26

There's another reason: the achievable orbital inclination. The minimum inclination orbit you can achieve is equal to your latitude. i.e. an equatorial orbit is only achievable at launch from the equator. A polar orbit is achievable from any latitude.

In order to go into an equatorial orbit from a higher latitude a plane change maneuver is required. Theoretically this can be done during launch, but it would depend on the profile your rocket can achieve.

Either way, expensive on fuel compare to an equatorial launch.

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u/Felosele Sep 08 '26

I assume you meant 4% to orbital altitude, not velocity

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u/Betaateb Sep 08 '26

Nope, they mean velocity. You need to get to ~8 km/s to orbit the Earth. At the equator the Earth's rotation is going to give you 485 m/s of that velocity velocity for free. Altitude is largely irrelevant(not entirely, the desired orbit altitude changes the speed you need a bit), it is the speed you need, then you just have to point it in the right direction to get the altitude.

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u/Felosele Sep 09 '26

Oh right should have read the rest of the comment thanks for the clarification

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u/rex8499 Sep 08 '26

Getting up out of the thickest atmosphere is the first significant part of getting to orbit. Going up is an important element of getting to orbit as far as the total energy that needs to be expended goes.

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u/Additional_Teacher45 Sep 08 '26

The total energy expenditure to first escape the atmosphere and then attain orbital velocity is wildly higher than the energy required to perform both maneuvers at the same time. And that's before we even get into the gravity turn.

Modern rockets are so advanced that they can insert directly into a circular orbit straight from launch with no circularization burn needed. Math is wild shit.

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u/Homers_Harp Sep 08 '26

Strictly speaking, any and all ballistic objects are in an orbital trajectory.

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u/edfitz83 Sep 08 '26

You can leave the earth’s gravity by going straight “up”, it just takes a lot of energy.

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u/SomethingIWontRegret Sep 08 '26

Unless you go straight up with enough energy to get to about 40,000 kph.

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u/Much-Anything7149 Sep 08 '26

You can get to orbit at the Karman line with a higher speed. Low earth orbit requires 17,500 mph.

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u/Alt3rnativ3Account Sep 08 '26

When you start out on a sphere, every sideways direction is also “up”.

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u/BearysWorkRedditName Sep 08 '26

Not really, unless you're measuring from a plane. Every point on a sphere has one very specific "up".

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u/firstcoastyakker Sep 08 '26

To paraphrase Elon, getting to space is easy, staying there is hard.

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u/sjmuller Sep 09 '26

There is no minimum altitude requirement to orbit. If the Earth was a perfect sphere, you could orbit it a foot off the ground if you were going fast enough tangentially. But if you are traveling straight up like this rocket with no tangential velocity, there is no altitude that would allow you to orbit the Earth.

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u/rex8499 Sep 10 '26

Air resistance is going to burn you up even if the earth was a perfect sphere, so that isn't realistically possible. Just a theoretical discussion ignoring the realities.

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u/nm9899 Sep 08 '26

The math appears to be mathing here!

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u/DotesMagee Sep 08 '26

nope. it wasnt i. football fields so its basically magic.

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u/Jive_Turk Sep 08 '26

Nice math TamponTim!!!

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u/Finn_Storm Sep 09 '26

The real truth is that about 20% is still accurate. The 100km "kármán line" is quite blurry in reality. It is defined as a point in space where there are nearly no molecules to slow down the craft. Importantly there is no clear cutoff point, they just said "that's good enough". Because whether you're 50km, 100km, 400km, or even 35786km (high earth orbit) there will always be some particles in the air to slow you down, just in different amounts.

Technically, you could count 5 feet up as being in space too, just with lots of molecules to slow you down.

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u/Neuraxis Sep 08 '26

Yes however NASA defines it at 80.5km

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u/LowerEntropy Sep 08 '26

Two completely arbitrary limits, chosen using the "Uh, 50mi/100km is pretty number 😜"-metric.

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u/milkdrinker7 Sep 08 '26

And it might be worth noting that at 100km, you won't be orbiting for long at all if you tried it. Unless your satellite is very dense and/or very aerodynamic, it probably won't last for much more than a single orbit at that altitude. Even at 400km, the ISS requires frequent(~monthly) reboots to stay in its lane.

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u/partyatwalmart Sep 08 '26

I just pictured someone yelling at the ISS to stay in it's lane, and I think that that's humorous.

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u/syngyne Sep 08 '26

Even at 400km, the ISS requires frequent(~monthly) reboots to stay in its lane.

"Sir, we're getting low again."

"You know what to do."

\Windows shutdown chime**

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u/Betaateb Sep 08 '26

Yep, interestingly. If everyone on Earth died suddenly, the thing that would kill the astronauts on the ISS first is running out of altitude. They need booster resupply missions about once a quarter to stay in orbit, but have food and air reserves for much longer.

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u/Jesus_of_Redditeth Sep 09 '26

NASA has never had a single, consistent definition. Sometimes it's 50 miles (80.5 km); sometimes it's the 100 km Kármán line.

For awarding astronaut wings, they've always used the latter.

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/chris_ro Sep 08 '26

How many football fields?

19

u/nm9899 Sep 08 '26

American or European?

49

u/nach0srule Sep 08 '26

"I-I don't know that!"

\gets cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril™**

11

u/lookitmegonow Sep 08 '26

I absolutely appreciate this

4

u/analogkid01 Sep 08 '26

"How do you know so much about swallows?"

"Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know."

3

u/Can-Sea-2446 Sep 08 '26

r/suddenlymontypython

1

u/nach0srule Sep 09 '26

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

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u/pinniped90 Sep 08 '26

Canadian.

They're in Waterloo and they have BIG football fields there.

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u/rowdy0044 Sep 08 '26

Huge… tracts of land!

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u/arminghammerbacon_ Sep 08 '26

thwap Message for you, sir.

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u/Bumkin007 Sep 08 '26

One day.. all this will be yours..

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u/arminghammerbacon_ Sep 08 '26

But I dont want any of that. I’d rather just…sing.

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u/twinnedcalcite Sep 08 '26

You mean the Canadian Geese training facilities?

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u/exkingzog Sep 08 '26

Canadian

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u/rizorith Sep 08 '26

They said football, so clearly they're talking about Australian rules football

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u/ewild Sep 09 '26

If Australian, then from that point the rocket should've dug through the Earth first before skipping into the air.

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u/Actually_a_DogeBoi Sep 08 '26

6

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u/CommercialPosition76 Sep 08 '26

How many barleycorns?

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u/Actually_a_DogeBoi Sep 08 '26

Am I the only one who can do conversions?

The answer is 16.25

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u/Suitable_Ad_3851 Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

What? No, 63k feet is 11.9 miles.

Edit: Just noticed you were replying to a post about a different number, not about the height the rocket achieved.

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u/DeadAssociate Sep 08 '26

63 sounds more believable

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u/Suitable_Ad_3851 Sep 08 '26

Ohhh wait, I just noticed they were replying to someone about a different number.

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u/Andrewbie Sep 08 '26

Or about 1.54 million cans of Budweiser

1

u/mmccxi Sep 08 '26

how many baby elephants is that?

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u/Civil-Lobster-3136 Sep 08 '26

952 chains worth

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u/mmccxi Sep 08 '26

That’s a lot of elephants

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u/Positive_Issue8989 Sep 08 '26

63k feet is about 12 miles.

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u/stlredbird Sep 08 '26

In Kerbal it’s only 80k. I feel lied to.

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u/Betaateb Sep 08 '26

It is a very fuzzy line. There is atmosphere for hundreds of kilometers out. Even the ISS at 400km still has atmospheric drag that requires frequent reboosts to stay in orbit.

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u/nellyruth Sep 08 '26

Damn. I was hoping the accepted range was a bit higher so that Katy Perry would no longer be an “astronaut”.

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u/CranberryCode Sep 09 '26

For reference spacex satalites are about 15+ times further out than the rocket went.

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u/markleung Sep 08 '26

For reference the radius of Earth is 6,371 kilometers (3,959 miles).

That didn’t look like it flew 0.3% of Earth’s radius.

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u/BrownianMaximus Sep 08 '26

Ah, the Katy Perry line!