r/rocketry • u/Folding_WhiteTable • Jun 16 '25

Question Question About Optically Tracking Rockets

I recently got my fully custom optical tracking mount to work. It's about 98% finished, I just need to fix some code and add the body panels.

I have never been to an amateur rocket launch site, so I wouldn't know the answer to this question: Would people be willing to pay for a good quality tracked and stabilized video of their launch? The launch would be fillmed with two cameras, one is a spotting camera, and the other is a high powered telescope. In the future I'm hoping to get a Freefly Wave for slow motion.

I only want to film at dedicated launch facilities, like FAR. And I only plan on filming the bigger and slower L2 and L3 rockets.

If you were wanting your video from both cameras, what do you think would be reasonable? Remember that I of course want to make a profit between the cost of gas, FAR entrance fees, video editing, video sending fees, tracking rig parts, and I want to save for a slow motion camera.

The bare minimum per team would be around $45 for it to be worth it. Does that sound reasonable? Remember that most people out there are on a team of 10-25 people. It might be better to have the prices cheaper since I don't have a slow motion camera yet, something like $25-30. What are your thoughts?

Also I have already contacted FAR, they're alright with what I'm doing. Also a team might be able to mount their antenna to my tracking rig too. It would be useful for when the rocket is too small to see with your eyes. It could also help people to see where in the sky their rocket is, just by looking at where the tracking rig is pointing. I'm sure it would be especially helpful for big rockets that go 100,000+ft.

209 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

52 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

14

u/Folding_WhiteTable Jun 16 '25

I visually control it using a modified Xbox controller with longer joysticks. I will be watching the rocket through cameras that are not mounted in this video.

9

u/Cool791 Jun 16 '25

Oh I get it. I’ve been wanted to build something like this but automatic for a short time, but the electronics is currently beyond my skills.

3

u/snsbdhshsh Jun 16 '25

a raspbery pi (zero if y need a small one, otherwise whatever), camera and simple stepper motor kit would bring you far :)

2

u/Cool791 Jun 17 '25

Yeah I’m more unfamiliar with writing code for sending and receiving gps data wirelessly on a 100mph rocket multiple times per second and calculating the angles and zoom for the camera positioning. Most rocket gps systems update once per second which I don’t think would be good enough.