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

Video University of Waterloo Students Launch Rocket Breaking World Record

41k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.0k

u/coldpassion Sep 08 '26

Breaking world record of....? Speed? Height? Noise? Spins? Fuel Consumption? All the previous?

3.3k

u/DiggWuzBetter Sep 08 '26 edited Sep 08 '26

Article about the launch and record: https://uwaterloo.ca/news/engineering/waterloos-student-rocketry-team-breaks-world-record

It’s a record for greatest altitude achieved by an amateur liquid bi-propellant rocket. The rocket achieved an altitude of 19.35 km (63,497 feet), which honestly is less than I would have guessed from this video. That’s roughly 2.2x the height of Everest (8.85 km above sea level), and to me it’s surprising that there’s a mountain nearly half this height, it just seems so insanely high in this video.

70

u/Andrew_7032 Sep 08 '26

not just any mountain, we are talking about mount Everest here

80

u/pumpkil Sep 08 '26

It's basically a mountain that starts on top of an already massive mountain(Himalayan plateau).

36

u/Andrew_7032 Sep 08 '26

Not just any mountain, we are talking about mount Everest here.

48

u/Gwanbulance Sep 08 '26

I always like to describe Mt. Everest as “the Mt Everest of mountains”.

13

u/SwordfishOk504 Sep 08 '26

But how many football fields is it?

12

u/sourcefourmini Sep 09 '26

At least four, I'd bet

1

u/Skulder Sep 09 '26

One Mt Everest-sized football fields

2

u/My_hairy_pussy Sep 09 '26

Crazy, when you put it like that...

9

u/whistling_serron Sep 08 '26

The first time wasn't that funny but the second time broke me 😅

2

u/Chilli-pepper-bean88 Sep 08 '26

We are doing what to Everest??

2

u/Buttonball Sep 08 '26

Standby, we are now mounting…

1

u/dicuino Sep 08 '26

It's basically a mountain...

6

u/Andrew_7032 Sep 08 '26

Not just any mountain, we are talking about mount Everest here.

3

u/JoeyDJ7 Sep 08 '26

are you a bot?

12

u/Bucket_of_Spaghetti Sep 08 '26

Not just any bot. We’re talking about Mt Everest bot here.

0

u/Andrew_7032 Sep 09 '26

Are you a bot? Or are you just crying?

1

u/Ob1s_dark_side Sep 08 '26

The Mount Everest?

14

u/UncleWinstomder Sep 08 '26

Is this the mountain version of being born with rich parents?

2

u/Affordable_Z_Jobs Sep 09 '26

Nepo-mountains sucks. 

-3

u/Andrew_7032 Sep 09 '26

No it's the mountain where you have the skill-set and financial capacity to achieve. Rich parents don't buy skill sets to climb the highest mountain on the planet. And if your parents aren't rich, then money doesn't grow on trees, go work for it both financially and physically. Or just rot on reddit whichever...

4

u/irish_faithful Sep 08 '26

Most people don't realize that people don't actually climb 29000 ft to get to the peak. Start at like 19000 or so.

2

u/alinroc Sep 09 '26

People still get altitude sickness just at base camp.

The elevation of the airport in Khatmandu is "only" about 4300 feet, so by the time you get to base camp you've already ascended about halfway to the peak. People aren't getting airlifted to base camp regularly.

1

u/irish_faithful Sep 10 '26

Yep. I think people spend like 45 days at base camp just to acclimate. Highest I've ever been are peaks in colorado around 14k feet while skiing and hiking. It is noticeably harder to perform physical activity!

1

u/isotope123 Sep 09 '26

Technically it doesn't start on top, it's just been whittled down least.