(BAR-40) Moonfall Rover

I watched the 2022 movie "Moonfall" yesterday and took a stab at making a flying rocket of their Shuttle / Rover.

Grabbed some screen shots from the movie, created an Open Rocket simulation, then knocked out a CAD model and some preliminary drawings.

In the movie the fins and the solar panels are hinged at the front, deploy outward while flying and even slide back toward the rear and then fold forward. Pretty cool design. I assumed a 15 degree angle for the Fins / Solar Panels. This should help with stability, but the Open Rocket model doesn't reflect the angle.

A swing test should help to determine stability.

Looks like a fun build!

 2024-12-15 Drawing Set, Rev 01

2024-12-17 

 

I decided to upscale this rocket to a BT-80.  Bigger is better for my manufacturing methods.  Full drawings are pending, but I knocked out the BT-80 upscale CAD Model, made the Outline and Nose Cone dwg's and then took advantage of the warm weather, turning the Nose Cone on my wood lathe out in the barn.

 

 

 

 

 

2024-12-18 BT-80H Upscale Drawing Package, Rev 02

 

2024-12-19 Fabricated the plywood components of the fins... and drilled the nose cone.

 

2024-12-20 Gluing Fin Sub-Assemblies

 

 

2024-12-21 Fabricated: Fin Supports, Ballast and Nose Cone Dowel

Wood Glued: Ballast and Dowel to Nose Cone

 

 

2024-12-23 Fin Fixture

Used CAD to create a fixture to help align the fins and establish the 15 degree angle off horizontal. And to hold the rocket, I get by with a little help from my circle of friends.

First order of business was to sand a radius at the front of the fins, I used my Ryobi table top belt sander.

Then it's a simple matter of aligning centerlines and gluing the first fin.

 

 

 

2024-12-24 Solar Panel Prep

So now that the Fins are tacked into place I was able to prep the Solar Panels. They needed a bit of clearancing on each side, and the radius sanded into the front.

I checked the fit, and then proceeded to glue the Back Braces onto the c/l of each Panel.

 2024-12-25 Here's a photo of the rocket with the fins attached. It still need the Fin Braces and the Launch Lug installed.

 

 

 

Next up is attaching the launch lug. 

 

I used a 3/8" Forstner bit to make the hole in the Fin, and used a 1/4" sanding dowel to fine tune the hole for the BT-3 Launch Lug tubing. I cut the BT-3 with my chop saw then glued it into the hole and then installed a support at the rear of the lug. 

 

I'll sand the forward sloped end of the BT-3 once the glue dries.

 

 2024-12-28 

Got all the fin supports glued up, so the rocket is pretty much ready for sanding, CWF and some more sanding.

I also updated the simulation. Should be an interesting flight, multiple canted fins, straight fins and sloped surfaces.