Maverick Rocketeers Pursue Space Access

Mad.Scientist writes "This article at Space.com is about mavericks who are trying to lessen the cost of going into space. One of the companies, Armadillo Aerospace, is founded by John Carmack, who is also a founder of Id Software, and the brain behind games such as Doom or Quake. I just have to say, godspeed to all." Carmack is only one of the people mentioned in this story, but see our previous story for more on Carmack's rocketry habit.

Comments

mavericks, outsiders, rabblerousers, troublemakers

[tps12]

Whatever you call them, rebels have defined our history from Day One. The first to rebel against conventional wisdom? Eve. We're still recovering from the fallout from that ordeal.

Seriously, look at how many "rebels" have made their way into our history and into our hearts: Socrates, Jesus, Gandhi, Ford (the auto-maker, not the president), Darwin. The list goes on. At every major step in mankind's evolution, there has been someone who smacks us in the face and shows us something new.

It's painful.

But where would we be without it?

Maybe Linus, RMS...today's rabblerousers?

Think about it.

Re:hahaha is this a joke - have you read his code?

[victim]

carmack is not a computer programmer. Programming the computer can not be his goal. This should be clear to anyone who has read his code. I believe Mr. Carmack programs as a means to fulfilling his vision. You will find very little if anything in there that is done for the art of programming or to fulfill anyone's vision of how programming should be done.

What he does, and brilliantly, is bring his vision to reality.

I say he should follow his vision, where ever it goes and regardless what anyone tells him he can and can not do.

And no. I would not put my life in the hands of anyone's vision of a rocket ship. Show me the real rocket and then we can talk.

I should disclaim... I have never met the man, but I have read his code.

It won't be cheap

[mblase]

This article keeps talking about space flight as if it were something that should be cheap, that brilliance is the only thing keeping us out of orbit.

We wish.

Space flight isn't like air flight, where a couple of bicycle repairmen from Ohio could study the basic principles and build a device on their own. Air flight can be done with an ordinary gasoline engine and the right kits. Goddard developed the first successful rockets with a combination of basic physics and lots of chemistry, but those weren't manned or orbital.

On the other hand, sending a man into space for the first time took the combined financial and intellectual resources of an entire superpower. It still does, not because the principles are too advanced but because the raw materials are hideously expensive and because the margin for error is enormous. If you're trying to fly yourself into orbit, you damned well better have your engineering right because after a certain point, even parachutes won't save you from a miscalculation.

About the only thing that could make orbital commutes cost-effective would be a successful space elevator, a tether between a geosynchronous station and the ground along which cargo and people could climb and descend. High-tech planes won't do it, rockets won't do it, all of those take too much money and have too much risk. An elevator would have an initial cost and then be relatively cheap to run and re-run. And once you had one, you could send up parts for a second one again and again.

But I'm not holding out hope for a $200 ticket on a space shuttle anytime soon.