Amateur engineer creates functional miniature SpaceX Starship model with autonomous flight capabilities using 3D printing and Arduino technology.
A hobbyist known online as “yo90bosses” has successfully developed a miniature version of SpaceX’s Starship that operates as an autonomous drone, completing a multi-year development project that merges rocketry aesthetics with practical flight technology.
The 3D-printed model mimics the distinctive silhouette of the SpaceX Starship while utilizing counter-rotating propellers instead of rocket engines to achieve vertical takeoff, hovering capabilities, and controlled landing. All operations are managed by a custom flight control system that enables autonomous navigation.
“It’s a fully functional and 3D-printed autonomous Starship model that uses cheap sensors and servos,” explained the creator. “Everything from task scheduling, sensor communication, sensor data fusion, control algorithms, data link, etc. was custom designed and implemented and runs on Arduino.”
The project’s electronics package centers around a Teensy 4.0 microcontroller connected to multiple sensors, including a TDK InvenSense MPU-9250 nine-axis inertial measurement unit, a Bosch Sensortec BME280 environmental sensor, and a u-blox SAM-M8Q GNSS receiver. Communication with ground control is maintained through a Semtech SX1280 LoRa transceiver.
In contrast to the full scale real world version, which is intended to have the capacity to transport 100 crew members and payloads of over 440,000 pounds, the miniature version shifts its priority to replicating the flight dynamics of the ship. SpaceX started working on the real world starship back in 2012; its first successful test flight under the name Starhopper was in 2019.
The yo90bosses user is “probably not doable without a lot of experience”, meaning reproducing the design without advanced engineering skills is virtually impossible. While no other steps towards achieving the build, schematics and source code may be released down the line.
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Unlike its full-sized inspiration, which once became the heaviest object to cross the Kármán line into space before exploding, this model drone is designed for stable flight within Earth’s atmosphere, combining the iconic spacecraft design with practical drone technology.
