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Catching Up With The Rocket Guy
Jedi Holocron writes "The full article is at Space.Com and reports on the current status of Brian "Rocket Guy" Walker's home-brew space program. This is the guy who is planning to build a rocket in his backyard, funded by his toy inventions. He's scaled back from an X-Prize launch to a mere 15,000 feet with a sky-diving return. This could be the next ride installed next to Disney's Mission:Space if he has his way!!! All told he's now calling it an amateur rocket, however it doesn't look like the model rockets I remember."
Hell, I can drive my car on a paved road above 14,000 feet.
"And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."
As technology advances, it becomes tougher for the small-scale individual to do pretty much _anything_ themselves. I'm really psyched that this guy is trying.
When airplanes were new, anybody could build a decent one that would compete with at least the low-range commercial ones. Same with computers, cars, operating systems (but then, hey, look at Linux now!). I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter how may people call this dude a fool, I think he's doing something really cool =:-)
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Play Six Pack Man. I
One problem is that Carmack's H202 suppliers demanded that he sign papers saying that he wouldn't concentrate the H202 any further, IIRC.
You've got to hand it to Carmack, he takes things seriously.
One of Carmack's biggest problems now is where to launch his rocket, as the parachute descent could end anywhere within a few dozen mile radius, and it's hard to secure that large an area. He's seriously considering going to a powered landing just so he can land it at a particular place.
The X-Prize is seriously hard. I'd be surprised if anybody actually makes it by the specified cut-off time of Jan 1 2005.
thad
I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.