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Most Powerful Amateur Rocket in Canada

Posted by michael on from the good,-eh? dept.

Alex Schmidt writes "A group of Canadian 'amateur' rocketeers successfully launched a 16 1/2 foot rocket to a height of about 5500 feet. The rocket is based on the 'Dauphine' a meteorological rocket from the 1960's. The rocket weighed 300 pounds, stood 16.5 feet high and 21 inches in diameter. The motors generated 2400lbs of thrust. It successfully landed after 3 of 4 parachutes properly deployed."

5 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. In a (vain) attempt at disscussion... by fiftyvolts · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I read the article, and it seems to me that what these 4 guys did was quite impressive. The article mentions this was the largest launch in Canadian History. Anyone know what the largest anywhere was?

    What I am really happy about is the amount of publicity they got. Having the rocket being put in a museum and making a Discovery Channel special about the event is going to catch a lot of people attention. Well maybe not that many, but at least the people who care about space exploration.

    Perhaps amateurs like these guys will lead to private space travel organizations.

    --
    100% Crunchier
  2. Uh... SI units anyone ? by deniea · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is the article so confusing about the units ?

    The rocket is 16 feet 1/2 foot high, diameter in inches, weight in pound as is the thrust..

    Then they move on to the landing zone, and switch to meters for that and also where the crouwd was watching, then back again to pounds..

    Confusing read..

    Why can't they stick to real scientific notations, all with SI units ??

    1. Re:Uh... SI units anyone ? by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "How can people in the 21th century measure forces or torques with units like "a pound at the lenght of the feet of a old king"

      We don't. The legal definition of the foot in most countries that still use it is "30.48 centimeters." In fact, in the US, the foot has been defined in metric terms since the nineteenth century.

      "And i still cant realize the beauty of a system of lenght units that convert like"

      Well, for one thing, you're never going to confuse ounce with pounds or yards with miles. I recall seeing an article from the UK about a doctor that accidentally gave a fatal overdose to a newborn because he confused miligrams with micrograms.

      "how many yards are 0.34 miles?"

      Decimals are not the end-all be-all of numbers. They have the nasty habit of repeating when describing perfectly rational numbers. SI is nice and all, but I still don't see it as being the alpha and omega of arbitrary measurement systems.

  3. Re:Was it really impressive? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I was thinking the same. You can get 6K out of a G or H class, maybe it was a typo of 55,000 feet?. It is ashame they didn't discuss more of the technical details. The plume makes it look like amonium nitrate/magnesium or aluminum.

    Curious,
    Frank

  4. Re:Rockets are old! by Planesdragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is technically feasible. But noone seems to be interested in it.

    That's because it's only theoretically feasible. The USAF and NASA have been working on alternate methods of reaching space for decades now, and their tests haven't been roaring successes.

    Got an alternative that works? Apply for a grant, test it, and then sell it to USAF / NASA. If you can't get a grant yourself, go find someone who can get grants and sell your idea to them.