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Amateur Rocket to Carry Ham Radio Payload to Space
n1ywb writes "An amateur rocket team this month will attempt to send a 21-foot-tall rocket carrying a ham radio avionics package into the fringes of space. The launch by the Civilian Space Xploration Team (CSXT) could occur as early as Monday, May 17. Some 20 months ago, the last CSXT try to reach space ended some three seconds after launch when the rocket's engine exploded. Avionics Team Leader Eric Knight, KB1EHE, says CSXT has since rebounded from that devastating blow with a newer, bigger vehicle. In terms of Amateur Radio, the GoFast rocket will transmit telemetry on the 33-cm amateur band and Amateur TV at 2.4 GHz using a high-quality color camera. The avionics also incorporate multiple global positioning system (GPS) systems to record the vehicle's precise location and flight path, redundant data acquisition and storage systems, and a variety of data sensors. Plans call for the solid-fuel rocket to zip upward from the desert floor and reach a speed of more than 4000 MPH in about 9 seconds. The suborbital vehicle will attain an altitude of 100 km or 62 statute miles--high enough to be considered 'space'--linger there for a couple of minutes then arc back to Earth some 26 miles down range. The whole thing will take somewhat less than a half-hour. If successful it would mark the first amateur rocket launch into space."
I wonder if they'll do a webcast of the TV signal for those of us out of range/without HAM equipment.
Does that model rocket come with an airbag?
;)
Honestly this is rather interesting. I've heard about the problems of establishing a GPS lock after a 25G sustained force- and that it's near impossible. Pulling it off is quite a feat.
I don't understand why they are returning to earth so soon, however- shouldn't a parachute (which arguably wouldn't provide much slowdown with ~1000 molecules/cm3) delay the reentry more than 1/2 hour? Unless they are expecting to lawn dart
Here's to their success
It's amazing that the department of homeland insecurity would let ordinary people launch a homemade missile...
Why is the /. crowd so anti-amateur radio?
/. can still talk about how great pac-man was (with a straight face), and yet totally trash Amateur Radio.
It's like, the original geekdom, and while a LOT of the geezers out there are boring as shit to talk to, there's a LOT of cool stuff going on.
Tons of digital modes, (interfacing comps with radios), satellite coms, EME, meteor bounce.
Really, it's just confusing to me that as a group,
You want retro roots? THERE"S your roots.
Don't park drunk, accidents cause people.
It would be great if someone could get an amateur rocket to put a satellite into orbit in October 2007 to celebrate the anniversary. At this rate, it might even be possible.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
I don't know about CATS, but the X-prize (before Ansari stepped up) was funded by insurance -- basically, the X Prize foundation found an insurance company willing to gamble that no one would be successful and the prize wouldn't be awarded. The time limit was necessary before the insurers would assume the risk.
Yup. There is currently an ARRL working group putting together stuff on a new ham radio mode: HSMM. That is, High Speed Multimedia. Takes advantage of hams being 2.4GHz primary users over all the Part 15 WiFi stuff. It's based on 802.11b and uses regular stuff like VOIP, etc. It's all still a work in progress, as far as I know, but I'm excited. 50-80 mile WiFi links are spiffy.
:) Because we can go up to 100W in that band (with some restrictions, of course), unlike the wimpy 40mW of your Linksys wireless card.
If you've ever looked to buy any 2.4GHz amps, you might have noticed that the higher-powered ones are only available for export, to the military, or to licensed radio amateurs. That's right---ham radio operators.
So yeah, ham radio is definitely still out there. (I'm a ham, and I'm in college. Imagine that!)