Unmodded DJI Osmo Action 6 cameras hitch ride on Chinese rocket

Twelve unmodified DJI Osmo Action 6 cameras survived 500°C reentry heat to film the first landing of a Chinese private rocket booster.

We don't need no USA or NASA or Elon Musk!

This is pretty impressive. Twelve standard DJI Osmo Action 6 cameras, with no modifications, were mounted on LandSpace's Zhuque-3 reusable rocket for its August 19 flight. This enabled them to capture POV footage of the first successful land-based orbital launch and booster recovery by a private Chinese launch company.

During the rocket's journey, temperatures rose to between 400–500°C (752–932°F), while the engine and flight produced the sort of continuous high-frequency vibration that is well known to shake things to bits. The cameras' onboard direct-recording capability preserved footage through the "blackout zone," the period of atmospheric re-entry when external communications are lost, which suggests this was something more than just a publicity stunt.

As DJI points out, the Osmo Action 6 uses a 1/1.1-inch square-format sensor, recording up to 4K at 120 fps with 13.5 stops of dynamic range. They were therefore more than capable of capturing footage all the way from engine ignition and grid-fin attitude adjustments to landing cushioning across a range of lighting conditions, from high-altitude sunlight to low-altitude backlighting and dust.

What they didn't capture, or at least not in the video that made it to YouTube, is that the Zhuque-3 toppled over after landing, damaging the booster (though that might have happened as much as four hours after the landing). But that wasn't DJI's fault, so you can chalk this up as a notable success for the company.

Now, how about hard vacuum next, eh?