US Navy Railgun Projectile - How it was Filmed in Flight

[@WonderWorldYTC]

★★★ *FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE VIDEO / FACT UPDATES* ★★★ *1) how does the mirror track the projectile?* - I am not sure, but I would assume the camera tracking system is tied into the firing of the weapon and the mirror starts rotating at a set speed, calculated off the projectile speed. Either that or it has an amazing tracking system. *Ryan Heat said in the comments below* - The mirror movement is generally started by using a flash detector pointed at the muzzle. This way the Flight Follower can be used with any medium/large calibre systems without making special interfaces or modifying the firing system. Also the system can work using an estimated velocity, or it can measure the velocity at various points along the flight path and adjust the speed of the mirror to suit. *"I know this because I designed the system"* *2) What is the smoke coming out of the railgun* - That is metal on metal contact from the round going down the shaft of the gun, hence why shooting this gun starts tearing apart the barrel.

[@حسوني-ذ9ك2خ]

😙💨

[@RyanHeath85]

The Mini Flight Follower is actually manufactured by MS Instruments. I know this because I designed the system :) The system can work using an estimated velocity, or it can measure the velocity at various points along the flight path and adjust the speed of the mirror to suit. If you have any other questions, just let me know!

[@WonderWorldYTC]

@@RyanHeath85 nice thanks :)

[@RyanHeath85]

Oh, and the mirror movement is generally started by using a flash detector pointed at the muzzle. This way the Flight Follower can be used with any medium/large calibre systems without making special interfaces or modifying the firing system.

[@andrewrogerson3615]

S

[@MakeSushi1]

I was wondering how they panned so fast and so well, thanks for clearing that up

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Happy to help!

[@ilvendicatore]

With a mirror! The camera stand still, the mirror rotate

[@Felix-zv6rx]

Amateurs... Just take another railgun and shoot a camera next to the projectile

[@gordo1163]

you do it for demonstration

[@BiteMyShinyMetal4ss]

Awesome, I laughed so hard!

[@Daniel-ld7xs]

hahhahahhaahah

[@Chickenworm9394]

Why don't we just strap a GoPro on the projectile?

[@sakmadeek4118]

Rofl

[@johnprudent3216]

Wow! In all the times I've watched videos of rail guns, I was always amazed by them and projectiles as well as the incredible frame rate. But I never stopped to wonder how amazing it is that the camera was even able to track the projectile. Thanks for the explanation.

[@WonderWorldYTC]

:)

[@gloriadevos1790]

My friend provided the test projectiles for the Navy back in 2007, they were just under 2 inches tall and made out of titanium. There was about 6 or 8 different projectile profiles he made for the contract. Once the Navy finished their tunnel testing, they returned them to him and I was able to play with them in 2008. He lives in southern Oregon and is an Army Veteran who owns his own company.

[@JaZoN_XD]

That real-time ping pong ball demonstration thing was incredible

[@SCARPENTER290]

I like the little space ship at the start

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks :)

[@stardude2006]

Yes !

[@jesusfernandezgarcia9449]

Its speed is easy to follow.

[@peterxyz3541]

Reason why “spinning mirrors” is better than spinning a camera + lens: mirrors has low mass, smaller motor, easier fine control of mirror, faster response when starting mirror spin.

[@PavelMy]

only if the mirrors are metal, the glass will give double vision

[@SivaKanthSharma]

@@PavelMy not if it's a surface mirror, i.e. the reflective surface is on the glass, not behind it

[@akiraakiraakiraakira]

@@SivaKanthSharma and what is the glass for then

[@SivaKanthSharma]

@@akiraakiraakiraakira a surface to apply that reflective surface? Also easier to make it flat

[@akiraakiraakiraakira]

@@SivaKanthSharma glass is very brittle though, maybe it's just me but the glass seems superflous

[@deecember69]

We used these cameras, the best was an older version that used air driven mirror rotation. Hardest part was tuning time to firing to actually catch the shot in the rotation perfectly.

[@ConReese]

Seen it done where the weapon fires based off the mirror and not the other way around, similar system to how a plane machine gun in older prop planes could fire through the props without hitting them, except done electronically basically arm the device and when you 'fire' the system takes over for a fraction of a second and waits for the rotating mirror at a given specific rpm to rotate to the precise angle in order to track, takes a lot more math but with expensive ammunition it ends up saving a lot in the long run

[@jamesbutler5995]

Good stuff never thought a mirror would track a missile.

[@E9X330]

It's not a missile

[@Tigray_Hagerey]

This video gave mirror more credit than it deserves I think. The mirror just give you a much wider field of view that only a slight angle change could show you the entire trajectory. So more credit should be to the camera that is able capture this from the mirror

[@zeke7100]

I love how you can very clearly see the pressure around the projectile as it slices through the air.

[@sweetlord5099]

The insects can be tracked for many meters, with a cam a few inches behind them. The system works with cables, with wires. 3 wires, 1 up down, one left right and one wire for front and back. Third person cam, just behind a dragonfly. Never more then 3 inches away, for macro footage. Amazing how it is done.

[@djSpinege]

this is how my eyes work when a hot girl walks past me on the sidewalk.

[@kalelwilson8337]

Hahaha 🤣

[@babydriver8134]

40 years ago, the women of Mexico were still wearing dresses. I was fascinated. I parked my butt on the steps of a cathedral to watch the beautiful ladies walk by. Truth be told, if I watched one for more than a second or two, I missed several other beauties go by. It was wonderful. All gone now.

[@panismith1544]

Lol😅😂🤣

[@makesense2931]

That mirror tracking an object at high speeds is mind blowing !

[@bernard6413]

No camera or mirror is fast enough to catch me sneaking the last biscuits from the jar!

[@FOH3663]

BISCUITS? ... Biscuits? ... from a jar? Biscuits aren't kept in a jar;)

[@bernard6413]

@@FOH3663 jary biscuits.......the beeest a maan caan geeet!

[@tuckerhendershott3979]

@@FOH3663 its a European thing i think...

[@tuckerhendershott3979]

@@bernard6413 Respect.

[@tuckerhendershott3979]

@@bernard6413 their american cookies right?

[@WRMonger1]

That’s brilliant!!! I work for the company making that rail gun and I had no idea how they tracked a Mach 7 plus projectile.... not that I had ever thought about it.

[@TheTibetyak]

I like to think about the excited conversation the munitions engineers were having conceptualizing the speed and destructive capabilities when THAT ONE engineer asks, "Yeah, but how are we going to stop it?"

[@broskydoodle6697]

1:10 The shockwaves from the explosive power of the railgun

[@WonderWorldYTC]

That's not the railgun, that is a tank firing a round

[@broskydoodle6697]

@@WonderWorldYTC ah, my mistake

[@mr_confuse]

@@broskydoodle6697 APDSFS... even that Dart flies with 1.5km/s or even more... Ridiculous isn't it?

[@The_Crimson_Fucker]

@@mr_confuse APFSDS, Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot. I don't think that's APFSDS though, the projectile is too large and I didn't see a sabot. I could be wrong, of course, but usually the flechettes are quite small.

[@rhazien2502]

@@The_Crimson_Fucker I think you are rigth that maybe is a HEATFS but I doubt it my best guess is it was a APHEFS because of the size of the projectile it most likealy has a lot of explosive mass in It, and the tip of the shell is very pointy regular HE shots are not always compromised with that aspect. Edit:wording

[@markmalasics8413]

I remember decades ago this was done by rotating a mirror by hand to capture the flight of artillery shells. Amazing to see the shell spinning as it flew and ever so slightly out of a perfect path as gravity affected the shell to tilt downwards as it left the barrel.

[@FarmerFpv]

Impossible to do by hand with a mirror. The mirror is used for less rotation mass and it's tracking on 3 axes. You would also be tacking backward No way a human can do that by hand. You're confused about how it works. That neer happened decades ago by hand. You're fibbing.

[@kempmt1]

You know, I used to believe that a tracker was put on the projectile and the camera had an amazing motor that allowed it to follow the projectile as it moved

[@vipon9491]

kempmt1 Lel XD

[@squidwardo7074]

some camera operator throwing out their shoulder to film it

[@corb.6837]

You learn something new every day.

[@itsbradmin3423]

Curious Droid made a nice video that goes a little more in-depth about how these work.

[@mangar3147]

I figured they strapped a gopro to a second projectile

[@CrazyCoupleDIY]

This is awesome, gold, pure gold

[@huberdahum2683]

Hahaha the intro was so cute I cudnt help but watch it over and over again...so harmless and so innocent..I can't stop haha!

[@TheGreg6466]

the slow mo guys did this, i was surprised this wasn't in your video

[@sidd0405]

1:16 you can very clearly see the shockwave formed by the projectile above the muzzle starting from the tip of projectile.

[@walshy2116]

That’s cool. During your other video about the Navy’s railgun that was the first thing I wondered when I saw it.

[@WonderWorldYTC]

yeah a few people did, hence why I made this video, because I myself wanted to know as well.

[@TheDementation]

Awesome video once again.

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks

[@ruffryders285]

2:02 insane man look what it does to the air in front of it.

[@spongememefunnypants9101]

I saw it its EPIC!!

[@blueballs8599]

my farts do that

[@kunjukunjunil1481]

Shockwaves

[@peoplez129]

The reason why we use mirrors is because it's easier to rotate a light weight mirror than it is to rotate a heavy camera. Even if a camera is relatively light, it might weigh a thousand times more than the mirror. So the simple solution is to use a mirror, where it can be done with less components. And it keeps from having acceleration/deceleration issues that might crop up, which could either cause visual loss of tracking or wear and tear on the camera itself from the sudden acceleration/deceleration. Another benefit is that the mirror itself is balance in mass/shape. A camera is not. So a camera being physically rotated, would need inconsistent amounts of rotation power depending on the arch you're rotating it at, in order to rotate it consistently.

[@hutzdani87]

Those cameras work by knowing the expected volocity of the projectile and are triggered via a set of cameras that detect how long it takes the projectile to pass through the two cameras under a barrel. Plug the FPS measurement in and away it goes, if your tracking something that's Likely to slow down after passing through an object it will eventually end up out the frame.

[@glitchd_]

Actually, this footage was brought to you by The Slow Mo Guys.

[@christianlabanca5377]

Wow the shockwaves in both projectiles are clearly visible...look how they look exactly like the waves ships produce since it's the "exact" same phenomenon

[@andyguy0610]

mach 7 is 2382 meters per second, to even track something going that fast is amazing, but to be able to record video so sharp you can make out detail on the projectile is something else !

[@stardude2006]

The shell looks like a tiny spacecraft 👽💚

[@deelanders6132]

I'm not into taking pictures or any of that jazz but this video was outstanding. I guess I'm mostly into things blowing up and fire. Sorry if I was misleading and not totally honest with everyone to start.

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks Dee

[@beginator8637]

Woah, that's pretty EPIC

[@David-yy7lb]

Pretty cool to see the shockwave on the last projectile firing from the tank👍🏾

[@vamshivamshiraghava]

Thanks a Lot for the info. i recently wondered how they focused on the rail-gun projectile............

[@WonderWorldYTC]

glad you found it helpful

[@Indyfuzzman]

@@WonderWorldYTC how the mirror knows where the object is?

[@WonderWorldYTC]

@@Indyfuzzman I don't know how it works, it may track movement or it may be programmed to turn at a set pace when the gun is fired.

[@sidd0405]

@@WonderWorldYTC It may surely be programmed because real time tracking would require vast amount of calculations to be done every second.

[@WonderWorldYTC]

@@sidd0405 yes i agree Sid, seems the most logical way. But then again I am no engineer, so i have no clue.

[@Hebrews13verse2]

1 year ago? Showing this 1 year ago? It is already 20 years old news! What we have now is indescribable!!!

[@putteslaintxtbks5166]

Multi high speed cameras can also be set up and after they've shot, a computer can put the images together. That's how I thought they had done it. Thanks.

[@karinmai3846]

Thanks. Now I want to purchase one of these cameras.

[@aviralsinghal1274]

Wtf. How did KZbin knew i was about to search this .

[@WonderWorldYTC]

they see all, they hear all. literally, they listen through microphones.

[@nealstevenhawkins]

@@WonderWorldYTC Are you saying KZbin does the following??? "They see all, they hear all. literally, they listen through microphones."

[@WonderWorldYTC]

@@nealstevenhawkins not youtube, google. there are youtube videos proving this, and the results of that test in the video have happen to me here in my home, so yes I believe it 100%. But just to be clear, people are not listening, machine learning is / AI. and that AI responds to what you say.

[@rajatdani619]

@@WonderWorldYTC I was searching for Tupolove Tu 22m3 a bomber from Russia. On Google. Later I started getting related video's on KZbin. Woow Google and KZbin works together. And shows same detail and even adds. (Privacy is in dustbin)😶

[@WonderWorldYTC]

@@rajatdani619 pretty much, i googled cargo mat for my suv, visited HYUNDAI & a 4x4 website and and bought one, now every where I go to websites are side adverts of cargo mats.

[@drahunter213]

The ping pong ball tracking was pretty cool lol

[@robertschlesinger1342]

Interesting and worthwhile video.

[@keithbrown2458]

Truly amazing cameras they come along way

[@nozyspy4967]

1:58 You can actually see the shockwave in the air bouncing off the ground!

[@Playingwith3D]

@2:02 that looks to me like the projectile is breaking the sound barrier at that moment. Pretty cool.

[@BiteMyShinyMetal4ss]

No that is just compressed air because of the speed of the projectile. It broke the sound barrier even before it left the barrel.

[@garyives1218]

Holy crap! That's some of the coolest stuff I've ever seen in a 3 minute vid ( well, when you don't consider the implement of war factor).

[@tractorsmachinesro1405]

Great work....Thanks for sharing

[@bobsnabby2298]

In that ping pong ball video, the ball isn't really in the center but wobbles around it and that is because the lag of the computing and mechanical mass movement of the mirror. What they should do is post processing the video data where the ball is drawn artificially to the center by moving the center point of the footage. This is called digital image stabilization or artificial image correction.

[@NasirKhokhar]

Excellent

[@gamebriz4163]

Crazy how you can see the projectile deforming the atmosphere around it😲

[@dingus_doofus]

You can see the air being compressed around the rocket with your naked eye (if slowed down enough). That's wild.

[@infoVn800]

great video

[@EXTRA300s]

Drawing laser images happens almost the same way, a very fast mirror draws the same image 20+ times a second with one laser dot, and so you see a image. It's a older system.

[@jpscharged]

How does the mirror track a hypersonic projectile? Well fusion of two cameras, one Infrared and one visible light. IR is used to track the projectile while the visible light camera gives us the video we are watching here. A projectile traveling at hypersonic speeds creates incredible heat that creates incredible contrast in an IR picture. Tracking software follows the contrast changes in IR while also capturing the visible light video simultaneously.

[@troyknows7340]

thanks for all your great work and great videos :) i enjoy your channel very very much. HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

[@ratintosh]

How does the resulting video not slowly tilt if its the camera filming the moving mirrors?

[@shaggydawg5419]

I thought it was animated. I was thinking... that's a damn good animated videos, it looks so real.

[@EaglefireflyGaming]

Thats epic! They look so graceful in flight!

[@AsjadSS]

2:34 Hey my CAT can do that.

[@perentee77]

What's the lines appearing at the front of the projectile at 2.02?

[@AidenFry99]

That's the air being forced out of the way as it's breaking the sound barrier.

[@SuperSedingAngeL-yr0]

Space and time are being warped at those speeds. 2mph more and we'd be witnessing Marty's arrival.

[@sidd0405]

That's the shockwave formed by the projectile when it is travelling at supersonic speed. The sound waves are literally squashed together because of the speed of the projectile.

[@deanmoncaster]

I absolutely don't care, don't need to know, am not interested, it is of no use to me if I forgot that this was done tomorrow it would make no difference to me or my life, but by hell I'm glad I watched and have found out!

[@sto2779]

That is crazy, they are using glavo motors to track the projectile... that means software is key to track in real time.

[@marianhadarau6280]

Nice work man!!!!

[@R4pStu]

Last time I was this early, the high speed mirror cam couldn't track me down, before I hit the like button.

[@HandsomeNature]

Nearing 200,000 subscriber! What an amazing pace you have had. Well deserved !

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks Handsome, i missed this comment 2 months ago

[@jaiprakashchauhan4186]

Keep the good work ..

[@robertansley6331]

Well, I wanted to know the frame rate. Thats as important as the mirror to keep the image smooth. 10k fps maybe?

[@robertansley6331]

barbara Corcoran Thanks! Super slow motion opens up an entirely new world, I love watching them.

[@scetinka]

very nice, interesting and informative video. and this was prepared as an answer to some viewers of the previous video. awesome job

[@nostradumbass4984]

I remeber watching a show on PBS about slow motion photography back in about 1980 or so. They had the "same" technology with a rotating mirror back then, too. The video quality was horrible though; just a low resolution black and white video. I was impressed as hell, though :) Actually seeing a cannon shell in flight! Amazing!

[@navinyas]

That was simply mind blowing

[@futuredude5020]

Very informative video. Thanks!

[@cachhomevideo1546]

I learned something from this video

[@juan72338]

Que son unas lineas que se ven como una honda, alrededor de un disparo y del proyectil?

[@Luci_the_Demon]

1:10 you can see the shockwave as it's fired

[@brianmck7363]

I guessed but I figured there had to be mirrors involved!! Them projectiles from the rail gun can go through almost anything…

[@Arash_Leopard]

war thunder : Yeah. we're definetally not gonna use this in our game War thunder a few year later : Time to put railgun update

[@geirtwo]

I learned a lot, and I didn't even look for it!

[@craigjohnson4302]

Look at the second to the last projectile that is painted white and has a loop on the nose. Just after it's fired you can see it 'bending" the air at it's nose, an extreme molecular disturbance due to its instantaneous velocity.

[@nishanperera6874]

bruh some dumb dude here thinks he smart by using big words lol its just a rigid object pushing air nothing special about it guys the dude above thinks he's smart lmfaooo

[@bobboberson2024]

I HAVE wondered about this!! Now, I know! Well done, WW.

[@rachidzaoui916]

Thanks for the informations

[@mundane4546]

the video was informative but why the mirror can't focus on other things

[@ArchangelExile]

But how does the mirror know when to start turning to track the projectile? How is the firing and mirror turning synchronized?

[@JS-ob4oh]

The way it is synched is to have 2 sensors located one at the end of the barrel and one slightly further down the barrel that serves 2 purposes. 1) It allows for the exact calculation of the muzzle velocity; all ammunition differs slightly in their velocity and although the difference is relatively small, it can throw off the mirror tracking system. 2) It tells the mirror when to start rotating. The above allows the mirror system to track at the exact speed and at the exact moment the round leaves the barrel. This is actually the key to what makes these kinds of filming possible. The camera itself is an ordinary high speed camera.

[@dartmaster501]

@@JS-ob4oh No, they set the camera to the known muzzle velocity of the round being shot which is pretty well established. For missiles, which do not have a set muzzle velocity, they use sensors downrange.

[@mahlithebest]

Imagine when the revolutionary guard get shirty in the gulf and then this goes through their ship.

[@WRMonger1]

From 70 miles out in the water. Didn’t see that one coming, did they...

[@BatMan-oe2gh]

The IRG uses high powered small speedboats, not big ships. So I cant see anyone wasting a projectile like on them. A shell from a ship 20 miles away would do the job.

[@luckylilrobot4719]

Congrats on 200k subs :)

[@WonderWorldYTC]

Thanks i just woke up and saw I was 200,021 :)

[@ken3137]

Just amazing!

[@alanhardman2447]

Excellent explanation!

[@buvanekagunasekare5681]

Thank you for that informative video.

[@FileFixer007]

It is about tracking system but camera and speed are more important things... eg. IX Cameras Series 5 for slow motion have 6,382 fps. For that reason you can to see 212 times slower picture at 30fps without losing any frame in second.

[@jacksdaddy13]

Thanks for the follow up 👍

[@lakshandesilva5165]

Thank You excellent video

[@lordieshepherd]

Very cool series

[@apxpandy4965]

And now I know, too! Thanks, very interesting and gets great result!

[@maidengems304]

That's as cool as the rail gun its self!

[@rykerhasyounow]

Did it need to track it if we know the exact time it will take to go down range to impact?

[@The_Crazy_Monkey75]

I think they should pair this with ultra high definition cameras and use it to track and film UAPs. That way, we'd really know what we're dealing with.

[@BooRadley452]

It rocked that big ass truck pretty hard! I hope this is protected from adversaries.... Lol