comcn writes "The BBC have an article about an amateur "rocketeer" trying to send himself into space. After the £7m prize was announced for the first non-commercial person to get into space, it seems there are now several people aiming to win it. Cool."
NASA out of business?
by
mind21_98
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· Score: 2, Interesting
If this does succeed, does that mean NASA will die? Since private companies would be able to do it more efficently than them? Or is there still a use for them?
Re:This guy...
by
TMacPhail
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· Score: 2, Interesting
That would only be a darwain award if he did not actually make it to space. If he did make it I would not consider the way he killed himself stupid at all. He managed to get into space as somewhat of an amature. That is no small acomplishment.
I still tend to agree with you just becasue it is so funny yet also true.
Link:
Starchaser
He might just do it, maybe. I'll give him a 1/2 chance of doing it within 2010.
Is this guy serious?
by
Shade,+The
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· Score: 3, Interesting
It's one thing to launch an 11m rocket some 5000ft, it's quite another to build a functioning spacecraft!
At the very minimum it would have to carry a ton of payload; most probably quite a bit more. To get an idea of the kinds of equipment involved, this link on the Delta II provides a good overview of the kind of sheer power and equipment needed to put even a relatively small 5 ton payload into space.
Even the new X-34 being developed by NASA for cheaper space-flight still estimates a $500'000 cost per launch, and that's not even including the construction costs!
That an amateur could attempt this at all is ridiculous, let alone be the first non-governmental outfit to achieve this. You have to wonder what's going on in this guy's head.
To win you need to fly up 100000m. This rocket flew 5000m and the recovery system failed. That 95% remaining height is a big deal and the recovery from that height is going to be a real b*tch. It is not just a matter of putting more fuel in the rocket and stratospheric parachuting is not like the usual parachute descent.
This looks like a fund raising media event more than proof of anything that will win the prize within a year. Still, this is cool.
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Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
Old stuff...
by
chhamilton
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· Score: 2, Interesting
After the £7m prize was announced for the first non-commercial person to get into space, it seems there are now several people aiming to win it. Cool.
You make it seem like a new prize... this article is just talking about the same old X-Prize, which has been around since 1996. In fact, almost a year ago there was an article in the BBC discussing several of the contenders, and Bennett was generally talked about as being a crazy risk-taker, and least likely to win. Another (closer to home) competitor is toy-inventor Brian Walker (aka Rocket Guy, about whom there was a Slashdot article, but I can't find it as Slashdot's search is down), as well as famous aircraft designer Bert Rutan and his company Scaled Composites.
There are several other contenders, and lots of cool animations and info to be found at the X-Prize homepage.
John's the man
by
Docrates
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· Score: 4, Interesting
The BBC and CNN do it again. They oversimplify matters so that they sound like better news than they actually are, in order to satisfy their increasing market of people whose IQ is slightly lower than their shoes size. At least this article didn't twist the facts like the BBC has beeng doing during the last few months (I still can't figure out why, and the whistle has been blown broadly).
I'm pretty sure this guy is running low on cash so he hurried up this test in order to get some media attention that would help him get some more funds. It doesn't really matter really, since I already know who's goign to win. That will be Armadillo Aerospace
They had a crash a few months ago and have recovered very well. their plans are the opposite from what most of the other contestant's are doing. They're working on a design that revolves around the ability to seat people on it, instead of trying to get higher than anyone and then picking up the parts. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't even think they're doing this for the prize, which makes them even better candidates.
Of course, now I am also oversimplifying things, but at least I don't make money doing it, so I encourage you to go to John Carmak's site and check out the logs. Maybe someone here can help out with those Windows ME features he's been having problems with (check out the last few log entries)
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There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
davinci project
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Re:This might be very dangerous.
by
ZigMonty
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Such sick evilmen might attack commucinations satellites and bring down the whole internet in no time.
I know this is a joke but it raises a point made in a New Scientist article this year called "The Heavens At War" (Sorry, no link). You don't need much of a rocket to take down a satellite. All you need is the ability to deposit lots of hard objects in the satellites path. Ball bearings would do. The satellite flys into them with the combined speed of both (if they are going opposite directions). This puts puts the impact at about 14km/s. Ouch!
According to the article, dozens of countries are capable of firing this 21st century flak.
Slashdot Mirror
If this does succeed, does that mean NASA will die? Since private companies would be able to do it more efficently than them? Or is there still a use for them?
US businesses that currently accept chip and PIN/signature
That would only be a darwain award if he did not actually make it to space. If he did make it I would not consider the way he killed himself stupid at all. He managed to get into space as somewhat of an amature. That is no small acomplishment. I still tend to agree with you just becasue it is so funny yet also true.
Link: Starchaser He might just do it, maybe. I'll give him a 1/2 chance of doing it within 2010.
It's one thing to launch an 11m rocket some 5000ft, it's quite another to build a functioning spacecraft!
At the very minimum it would have to carry a ton of payload; most probably quite a bit more. To get an idea of the kinds of equipment involved, this link on the Delta II provides a good overview of the kind of sheer power and equipment needed to put even a relatively small 5 ton payload into space.
Even the new X-34 being developed by NASA for cheaper space-flight still estimates a $500'000 cost per launch, and that's not even including the construction costs!
That an amateur could attempt this at all is ridiculous, let alone be the first non-governmental outfit to achieve this. You have to wonder what's going on in this guy's head.
To win you need to fly up 100000m. This rocket flew 5000m and the recovery system failed. That 95% remaining height is a big deal and the recovery from that height is going to be a real b*tch. It is not just a matter of putting more fuel in the rocket and stratospheric parachuting is not like the usual parachute descent.
This looks like a fund raising media event more than proof of anything that will win the prize within a year. Still, this is cool.
--- -- - -
Give me LIBERTY, or give me a check.
After the £7m prize was announced for the first non-commercial person to get into space, it seems there are now several people aiming to win it. Cool.
You make it seem like a new prize... this article is just talking about the same old X-Prize, which has been around since 1996. In fact, almost a year ago there was an article in the BBC discussing several of the contenders, and Bennett was generally talked about as being a crazy risk-taker, and least likely to win. Another (closer to home) competitor is toy-inventor Brian Walker (aka Rocket Guy, about whom there was a Slashdot article, but I can't find it as Slashdot's search is down), as well as famous aircraft designer Bert Rutan and his company Scaled Composites.
There are several other contenders, and lots of cool animations and info to be found at the X-Prize homepage.
The BBC and CNN do it again. They oversimplify matters so that they sound like better news than they actually are, in order to satisfy their increasing market of people whose IQ is slightly lower than their shoes size. At least this article didn't twist the facts like the BBC has beeng doing during the last few months (I still can't figure out why, and the whistle has been blown broadly).
I'm pretty sure this guy is running low on cash so he hurried up this test in order to get some media attention that would help him get some more funds. It doesn't really matter really, since I already know who's goign to win. That will be Armadillo Aerospace
They had a crash a few months ago and have recovered very well. their plans are the opposite from what most of the other contestant's are doing. They're working on a design that revolves around the ability to seat people on it, instead of trying to get higher than anyone and then picking up the parts. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't even think they're doing this for the prize, which makes them even better candidates.
Of course, now I am also oversimplifying things, but at least I don't make money doing it, so I encourage you to go to John Carmak's site and check out the logs. Maybe someone here can help out with those Windows ME features he's been having problems with (check out the last few log entries)
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those with good memory.
see:
http://www.xprize.org/~Xprize/teams/davinci/ind
the site also has links to other teams
tres cool!
According to the article, dozens of countries are capable of firing this 21st century flak.
More can be found at the authors site.