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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.)
Alright....next step is to add a couple extra pounds of propellant, and 3 guys. j/k
I dont get it. I mean, I understand the concept of "Amateur Radio", and "Amateur Rocketry" right, but theres got to be a point when your mad scientest project gets out of the garage and into, say, space, and all of the sudden like pair of twin torpedos slaming into the death star your Amateur project gets a slashdotting and its pro.
Hell, I can go pro by buying an $8,000 digital SLR camera, why is it that shooting a home brew satelite into space is amateur? (j/k)
Its not like some homies duct taped an 8-track to an upside down trash can and stuck some dinomite under it, right? Please, for the love of god, come up with a better classification than this!#!
Hell, even in soviet russia amateur rockets launch you.
Come on, you know you were thinking it too
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
wants to retain its amateur status so it can compete in the olympics.
I'm sure it can make its costs back in sponsorship though.
It's professional when you get paid to do it.
Two Roommates and a Boyfriend, updates Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
"Eh, might someone wake me up when they actually reach space?"
It's kind of arbitrary. 100km or 60mi is the cut-off, so if they made it past that -- which they apparently did -- they "reached space."
I really hope that when they reach the landing site they don't find any petunias or sperm whales.
World's first amateur nuclear power? Isn't that taken what with France and all?
"Well now, that was off said. He'll be cryin himself to sleep tonight on his HUGE pillow"
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
According to The Previous Slashdot story:
"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."
So, they didn't actually launch an Amateur Satellite into orbit (darn!).
But it looks like these guys are trying just that.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Anyone that could launch a radio into space could launch a re-entry vehicle full of bio-engineered, which could upset the entire eco-system. Those damn terrorists would love to get in on something like that. Imagine........just one rocket full of bio-engineered corn over the corn belt could bring the entire country to it's knees as every farmer in middle america got sued for copyright infringement by the patent holders. :-)
Today's show is brought to you by the number 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0: 25
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.
We do it 3-4 times a year have been for 15 years or so. We arrange ahead of time and then we call into ATC before we light up the waiver and again when we're done. We regularly get waivers to 100k ft ASL (20 miles up) well above the 30k ft commercial planes fly at. Though we seldom fly that high.
Getting a waiver above 100k ft is much much harder - the normal FAA ATC doesn't have juristiction above there - you have to apply to a different part of the govt. who worry about things like stuff landing on other countries etc etc
Want to come to a launch? - you're welcome - check out www.aeropac.org
Scaled Composites, which is a company founded to develop and design experimental aircraft obtained the world's first license for a sub-orbital manned rocket flight in early April, for their Ansari X Prize entry.
I don't know about laws relating to private rockets but I'm sure there are regulations in place and the team behind GoFast have been responsible in abiding by what rules exist, especially as its made amateur rocketry history and is a controversial area in law right now.
What with terrorism and 9/11 the enforcing of the law in this area would probably become more strict, even if they can potentially be used as weapons and have the ability to shoot down aircraft (despite the fact that this isn't very likely as guidance systems are exceedingly difficult to design).
In case you are wondering, as I was, how you get the acronym "ARRL" out of "National Association for Amateur Radio" but don't want to search the site... one of their pages explains that it stands for American Radio Relay League, founded in 1914.
Ok I'm just out of bed but I read, "An amateur rocket carrying a ham..." And immediately thought of the Muppets' 'Piiigs Iiiiiin Spaaaaaaaaaaace!' (sorry)
What really happened: The parachute opened early and it was caught by a gust of wind, the rocket ended up in a pine tree down the block and they had to throw sticks and a frisbee at it to get it back. A fin was damaged by the frisbee but can be repaired with some elmers glue. A frog has been captured to be the payload for the next flight.