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Amateur Rocket Reaches Space
PatMouser writes "An amateur rocket carrying a ham radio avionics package reached the edge of space May 17. Launched from Nevada's Black Rock Desert, the 21-foot Civilian Space Xploration Team (CSXT) GoFast rocket quickly attained the 100 km altitude to make Amateur Radio and amateur rocketry history. Two earlier CSXT attempts to reach space--the last almost two years ago--were unsuccessful. A jubilant Avionics Team Leader Eric Knight, KB1EHE, called the successful launch 'a phenomenal experience.' The full ARRL article can be read here. There's nothing on CSXT's site yet..." (See this pre-launch story for more details.)
Just straight up and down. In other words they made a sounding rocket. huzzah. welcome to the 1940's.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
Im sure airlines have laws on what can go into domestic aircraft space.
It kind of scares me that there is no mention of laws relating what, how, who can launch into space.
Space junk falling back onto earth has to be a concern....
No matter how many years you spent doing ballroom dancing you'd never become a professional until you got paid. And even if you were terrible at it but got paid you'd still be a professional.
But let's say you're a good dancer who isn't paid. People might say you were "very professional" in your attitude or presentation but in that case they're using an analogy - saying you're as good as a professional, not saying you're actually a professional.
I think a lot of people are confused about this word. We use the term "amateurish" to talk about things which are crappy and I really think this helps to add to the confusion. For instance I write free software which by definition is an "amateur" activity since I don't get paid for it but I'd really like to think it's not "amateurish" and crappy!
There are some other distinctions used these days too. I play in a band which you'd definitely describe as "amateur". But maybe someday we'll get booked at a venue and become "semi-pro", meaning we get paid to play - but not enough to give up our day jobs. Not quite "professional" but not "amateur" either.
!bersl2.RTFA
Though it has been argued (unsuccessfully) that a sponsorship is not necessarily a waiver of amateur status (a bit of a stretch, stretched further by my application of it to this situation). So YMMV: Jeremy Bloom v. NCAA (Warning: DOC file...).
And interestingly, as I preview, the banner ad is for Nike.
more importantly it also means you probably have some sort of guidance system (other than fins). It's pretty easy to go straight up - but to get into orbit you basicly have to go straight up (to get out of the atmosphere as fast as possible) and then turn 90 degrees sideways and go fast enough that you fall back at the same rate the earth is falling away from you. That's hard - without air fins don't work - you need some sort of reaction control or thrust vectoring as well as some inertial system so you know where you are and where you are going
In theory, could a private individual put a satelite in orbit?
Am I free to build, launch and use my own space gadgets?
What does international law say about this?
The similarities arise from the similar circumstances of origion of the two dialects. Both are designed to be extremely terse, due to limited available "bandwidth." In the case of l33t, any time spent of the numpad detracts from game play, while with ham, you need to key out each letter with multiple strokes.
What?
I've been watching "1337" evolve and devolve for over a decade. It may *now* involve a lot of numeric keypad usage, but I can't believe it started as a way to be efficient.
Ten or twelve years ago there was hardly any number usage at all, just the dorky "i aM a HaXoR, aLL VoWeLZ R LoWeRCaSe" capitalization. I would see variations like using zeroes for o, fours for a, ones for l, threes for e, and sevens for t, but writing it "3Y3 4M 4 H4X0R, 4LL V0W3LZ R NuMB3RZ" actually takes more effort than spelling it normally.
I see it as being a deliberate obfuscation, like slang or the illegible writing style that taggers use.
"...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
> No matter how many years you spent doing ballroom dancing you'd never become a
> professional until you got paid. And even if you were terrible at it but got paid you'd still
> be a professional.
That is not entirely true. As a dancer you can simply declare yourself "pro" and start entering competitions for professionals.
On the other hand in many countries amateurs teach and do demonstrations and get paid for all of these, though usually there are some limits. The distinction between amateur and pro is pretty arbitrary really... In the case of space rockets i think amateur has come to mean "not financed by the government or a business with intent of making a profit", or something similar.
> We use the term "amateurish" to talk about things which are crappy and I really think this
> helps to add to the confusion.
In the sometimes rather bizarre dancing world "amateurish" can actually mean the opposite. In this case it is a distinction to the social dancer. In this case "looking like an amateur" means to look like a serious competitive dancer...
Anyway, i never thought i'd see a ballroom dancing reference on slashdot!
Its not a conspiracy, its stupidity. The general public doesn't have a friggin clue about how significant this or the Scaled Composites events are. When I was young and ignorant, I thought the round-the-world nonstop flight (i.e. Rutan's Voyager) would be huge news & possibly spark a new interest in aviation. But basically nothing happened. All the hoopla 6 months ago for the Wright 100th anniversary was largely unnoticed by the media. The SpaceShipOne launch last week & this amateur rocket are further examples of how science doesn't sell. If the thing had exploded on the ground & killed half the team, THAT would be news. If SpaceShipOne blows up or crashes into a trailer park, the media will be all over the story. But if they have another ho-hum flight where nothing goes wrong, it ain't news. Apollo XIII, anyone?