Starchaser Plans Test Drop

cwalkden writes "Everybody's favourite amateur rocketman, Steve Bennett has unveiled his new space capsule that he hopes will get him one step closer to the edge of space. This one is due to undergo a test descent (with Steve inside) in Arizona. Earlier versions of Steve's capsules included one made with a cement mixer and some old joysticks." Our previous story was in 2001.

Comments

TV Land?

[blackmonday]

Why do I have the sudden longing to watch a McGyver re-run?

Re:TV Land?

[FyRE666]

From the previous BBC article (concerns over safety):

BBC News Online put these criticisms to Steve Bennett. He responded: "We are not planning any tests such as wind tunnel or vibration tests before we launch it. That is what the test flight is for."

Man this guy has serious balls ;-)

On a related note; there was a programme along the lines of ScrapHeap that aired a while back in the UK where 3 teams from the UK, USA and France (I think) were given the task of building aircraft with the eventual goal of competing for maximum distance, and controllability (they had to land on a line). The caveat was that only tools and materials from the Wright brother's era were allowed to build the craft.

Anyway, come the day, the French and US teams had based their craft upon proven designs, whereas the UK entry was just made up out of thin air so nobody knew quite what would happen! The teams took it in turns to test; the French pilot got his plane rolling and practiced a few hops a few feet in the air. The US team did something similar, but with a little more height, and damaged their craft a bit.

Now the UK team went for their "test run". The pilot gave it full throttle and launched himself into orbit (one of the ground crew mentioned the pilot was "a bit of a nutter") - the thing was hundred of feet up, the pilot - big shit-eating grin plastered across his face was throwing it around the sky for several minutes before making a perfect landing in front of the astonished opponents! It was so utterly irresponsible, but cool at the same time - not testing, just give it some welly and see what happens. Brilliant!

Obviously the UK entry won pretty convincingly in the real flight.

Science lovers

[mao che minh]

It is amazing how passionate some people are about science (especially astronomy). It takes a brave and inquisitive person to take the time to not only develop such a vessel, but to also test it.

I earnestly wanted to share in this man's interest, but that "free underwear vouchers" ad in the right hand column got me......distracted. Figleaves.com baby.

Re:Science lovers

[sprouty76]

To be fair, this isn't really astronomy - astronomy is studying space and the objects in it, especially visible ones.

What Steve is doing is more like rocket science, albeit at a fairly amateur level.

OT, I remember when he had a real (early) starchaser rocket above the bar in a place here in Manchester. Now we have to make do with a full size replica...

Re:Science lovers

[Zeinfeld]

It takes a brave and inquisitive person to take the time to not only develop such a vessel, but to also test it.

Brave, inquisitive and amazingly reckless.

Its a bit like the invention of bungee jumping, base jumping etc. exactly what would the loss to humanity be if people had not invented them?

Apart from a new way for millionaires to go for thrill rides there does not appear to be a major payoff here.

I would be much more interested in a cheap way to stick a bot on the moon or on mars.

Re:Science lovers

[Theodore Logan]

Its a bit like the invention of bungee jumping, base jumping etc. exactly what would the loss to humanity be if people had not invented them?

Apart from a new way for millionaires to go for thrill rides there does not appear to be a major payoff here.

Oh, but there is! Many people believe NASA has become too buerocratic and ineffective. While I do not know enough of NASA's inner working to determine whether the American people get good value for money or not, it is not unreasonable to assume that they don't. When the space race began NASA was a small company that all of a sudden was given an almost unlimited budget. It growed to fast - of course there's going to be some friction.

What I'm getting at is that projects of this sort may wake people up. Maybe NASA isn't the only way of getting into space. Maybe there are other ways - better ways. We'll never know until we try, that's all.

In the words of Gus Grissom...

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

"Spam in a can"

Are you sure this isn't a prt of Jackass II?

[Geekonomical]

The article says He will have an extra parachute strapped to his back and a large knife inside the capsule - just in case he has to get out in a hurry. This sure sounds like Jackass II or Fear Factor on steroids to me :))

"Salvage One"?

[Kevin Burtch]

I think that was the name... anyone else remember that TV series with the home-made rocket where the capsule was made out of a cement truck's mixer?

I think their logo was a vulture... the whole idea was they made money by salvaging space junk (or something like that, I was a kid).

Re:"Salvage One"?

[Black Jack Hyde]

Yup, here it is.

Re:"Salvage One"?

[Luyseyal]

reminds me of Explorers! http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089114

-l

YESS!!

[kingkade]

This one is due to undergo a test descent (with Steve inside) in Arizona.

i got dibs on his stereo and leather jacket.

Re:YESS!!

[ArsonSmith]

You make it sound difficult or something. I mean it's not rocket science.

Re:YESS!!

[isorox]

Y'know, its sad that people are so unimpreessed and negative about this sort of thing. I wonder what you would have said 100 years ago when a couple of madmem tried flying, in the air!

Re:YESS!!

[Uller-RM]

Bad comparisons. Here's a better one.

The year is 1650. We've already made a couple of voyages to the new colonies. Everyone says that if you want to go there on your own, you need to spend a lot of money: building a rather large ship with multiple masts, training a crew of sailors to operate it, filling it with provisions for the journey, etc. Even if you plan ahead and take every precaution, it's still a perilous journey.

Steve Bennett claims that he can get to America on a tiny single-mast vessel made out of cheap wood by himself. If people point out the problems in this -- catching enough wind to move, rowing when there's no wind, lack of room for food, etc. he blows them off as saying that they're afraid of him accomplishing the impossible.

In all likelihood, he's going to end up drowning in the Pacific.

I mean, seriously. The man has never had any astronaut training, never been subjected to high Gs, and his last press frenzy involves him strapping a bunch of rockets to a converted cement mixer and launching himself into the air. That's nearly 12 Gs of acceleration -- we feed high-oxygen air to fighter pilots who experience 3 or 4 Gs at best to keep them from blacking out.

Cement mixer and some old joysticks

[raskchanky]

Sweet! Nothing inspires confidence in your homemade spacecraft like listing the garage-sale parts it was built from. I'm betting he's got a few toilet paper tubes in there somewhere too, most likely as part of the exhaust system.

Re:Cement mixer and some old joysticks

[UniverseIsADoughnut]

"" Sweet! Nothing inspires confidence in your homemade spacecraft like listing the garage-sale parts it was built from. I'm betting he's got a few toilet paper tubes in there somewhere too, most likely as part of the exhaust system.""

true, but hey it's what he wants to do. Some people are born to be a Darwin award winner, others work at it real hard. I think he is the latter. The question is who will get first post submitting this one to the awards people.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

cement mixer?

[cpeterso]

The article says that his rocket resembles a cement mixer, not that it actually was a cement mixer.

"But other rocket experts are worried, not least because the Thunderbird capsule resembles a converted cement mixer, containing sheets of hardboard and a few computer joysticks."

You think this sounds a bit amatuerish...

[sprouty76]

I remember when he had one of his real unmanned rockets displayed in a bar in Manchester, then the lorry to transport it got delayed, so it had to be carried on foot through the city centre!

From http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/newsletter/e wm302.html (near the bottom):

IMAGINE THE SPACE SHUTTLE BEING CARRIED by a team of men through the streets of New York. Well Hyde rocket man Steve Bennett had to have his team of assistants carry his rocket Starchaser 3a through the streets of Manchester. It had been on show at the Fab cafe theme bar, Portland St, and should have been taken to Salford University for a lecture, but the lorry booked to carry it was delayed, so it had to be transported using leg and shoulder power! Salford University lecturer Steve hopes to make it big through his rocket-building hobby-turned-business, and predicts a glowing future for space travel. Who knows, maybe in a few years time we'll be blasting off in one of Steve's rockets from Ringway to Mars on a late booking.

Anyway, he's been a local minor celebrity for years now, all the best to him.

Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket flight

[StefanJ]

The High Power rocketry community is fairly amused by Bennet.

A lot of his early tests, some of which were filmed for an X Prize documentary, appeared to be flights of a big model rocket, powered by commercially available rocket motors.

Nothing wrong with that, but you can't really learn anything of value by doing this that would be applicable in making a rocket capable of boosting a capsule to office.

I would be more impressed to see Bennet testing liquid fuel rocket motors. Amatuers on this side of the pond (e.g., the Pacific Rocket Society) have been doing this for YEARS without coming up with a "man rated" motor.

Stefan

this guy is a moronic blowhard

[anonymous loser]

I think this comment from the linked article sums it up best:

John Bonsor, of Starr, a Scottish rocketry group is puzzled. "I don't understand what is happening. He has been using cheap rockets, has a mixed bag of success and disaster and has achieved less than many others have working from their garage. It is ridiculous to claim that he leads the field, except in the number of crashes."

Combined with his obvious propensity to make false statements (e.g. saying he was sponsored by NASA) I think we can only hope he wins the Darwin award with style, if he actually launches.

Re:this guy is a moronic blowhard

[Pyromage]

"Thomas edison worked on the problem of designing a filament for an electric light bulb for nearly two years. An issastant once asked him how he could keep trying after failing so many times. Edison didn't understand the question. In his mind, he hadn't failed at all. He is supposed to have replied, "What failure? I know thousands of things that do not work."

From http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991222/mcconne l_02.htm

Insult him for being stupid. Insult him for using cheap rockets. But don't insult the man for trying. Don't knock him because he hasn't succeeded. Don't berate him for not being the best.

You may hate him for statements he makes, but at least he tries. Most people I know haven't the spine to do anything requiring half the courage as what he's trying. I may not respect him for what he chooses to attempt, but I respect his courage, and that he does attempt it.

He's not my favorite amateur rocketman!

[Theodore Logan]

I assume he could be, but up to now I hadn't even heard of him. I thought everybody's favorite was Brian Walker.

Re:Oh boy...

[orius_khan]

BBC's site is already under big load with that war stuff now with slashdot I don't know if there severs can take it.

Yeah, good thinking. You better mirror the story for them here on Slashdot... Those little independent newspaper sites don't stand a chance against the onslaught of /.'ers...

Why wait till the last minute?

[countach]

Give him a Darwin award now, while he's still alive to enjoy it!

Hmmm... sounds familiar

[jonfromspace]

Dot Com Boom:
Step 1: Build Website

Step 2: ??????

Step 3: Profit!

Upcoming Space Boom:
Step 1: Build Homemade Rocket

Step 2: ??????

Step 3: Death!

Darwin Award in progress

[knowledgepeacewi]

Sounds like a darwin award is coming.

I can imagine him saying:
"no planning, no testing, I put my life on the line because I believe in my product."

Not the way to get investment $$.

Illudium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator

[Esion Modnar]

Where was the boom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering Kaboom!

Re:Illudium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator

[kmfdmk]

Hey.. I know what you're spoofing the name of in your

Illudium Pew-36

You're refrencing the Aludium Q-36 Pumkin Modulator. From here: PumpkinCaptial.com, and here http://www.atbeach.com/punkinchunkin/

If you like pumkin cannons, & potato cannons you should check out the yahoo group, http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/spudguns << shameless plug (I'm the owner/moderator), as well as geocities.com/pyrocookbook/ << shameless plug, and finally http://www.spudguns.org.

Enjoy.

He's a brave, foolish man

[Zerbey]

You've got to hand it to Steve, he's been told by countless critics that if he tries to launch into space he'll die trying but he presses on regardless.

I truly hope he does make it and proove the critics wrong! Good luck to him, he's one of a dying (no pun intended) breed of true pioneers!

Mystery Science Limerick 3000

[Michael.Forman]

there once was a man-made rocket
that was built with funds out of pocket
three were shot into space
and vanished without trace
the hatch they forgot to lock it

Michael.

Not my favorite!

[HisMother]

Steve Bennett isn't my favorite Amateur Rocketman -- John Carmack is!

Re:Darwin canidate

[2short]

Sadly, I don't think he will ever earn the darwin award. He's after the publicity of "planning" to launch into space. He's clearly smart enough to not try more than talking about it.