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Europe's Biggest Amateur Rocket Completes Test-Firing

Posted by timothy on from the in-space-no-one-can-file-a-noise-complaint dept.

Michael Eriksen writes "The Danish amateur rocket group Copenhagen Suborbitals has successfully test fired their rocket (article in Danish). It is a 90,000 kW monster delivering a total of 140,000 N. According to the group, this is by far the biggest amateur rocket ever fired in Europe. The final goal is a manned (!) low-orbital flight."

10 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Rocket fuel for thought... by retech · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is this cute and interesting when done by a group of European amateurs and a global threat when done in North Korea?

    1. Re:Rocket fuel for thought... by mattaw · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Amateur rocket people don't have a stock of chemical, biological and possible a few nuclear weapons, a historical grudge against a southern neighbor and totalitarian government (although their welfare state does have very good coverage).

    2. Re:Rocket fuel for thought... by Xiph · · Score: 4, Insightful

      quit trolling...

      but i'll bite.
      When amateurs do things like this, they do it out of interest, and the development is quite open.
      When North Korea launches, we're reminded that they've tried detonating nuclear weapons.

      The difference is what we hope space is used for.
      these people hope space is used for "cool things", hence this piques our curiosity.

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      Blah blah sig blah blah blah irony blah blah
    3. Re:Rocket fuel for thought... by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why is this cute and interesting when done by a group of European amateurs and a global threat when done in North Korea?

      Inexplicably, the European amateurs don't have a nuclear warhead development programme.

      --
      Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    4. Re:Rocket fuel for thought... by captainpanic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why is this cute and interesting when done by a group of European amateurs and a global threat when done in North Korea?

      Inexplicably, the European amateurs don't have a nuclear warhead development programme.

      That's because European governments already have had nuclear programmes and indeed warheads for the last 50 years.

      We DO have *several* nuclear programmes in Europe... who else made those two nuclear submarines carrying ballistic missiles that collided in the Atlantic a couple of weeks ago? (Perhaps the Americans did, I'm not sure).

      The reason why this is cute is that the Danish army doesn't need these rockets, since they probably already have decent rockets that can do the job, and if not, then surely the French, English, Italian (etc) allies.

      You can bet that the moment that these rockets become better than anything the army has, the "cuteness" is gone, and it will be classified, forbidden and of interest to the generals.

    5. Re:Rocket fuel for thought... by reallocate · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Perhaps you ought to lose some of those illusions.

      When an amateur group, Danish or otherwise, develops a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead across the Pacific, as opposed to carrying a mouse across a pasture, you can believe it will attract all kinds of attention.

      Also, the Danes aren't poised to invade northern Germany, aren't out of touch with reality, don't issue regular threats against their neighbors, don't have a multi-million strong military, don't kidnap their neighbors' citizens, don't starve their citizens, etc., etc.

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      -- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
  2. Ummm by MichaelSmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...because the North Koreans are militaristic nut cases and the Danes are not?

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    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  3. Re:And so what... by ozphx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Pfft, when was the last time America nuked a neighboring nation?

    Oh.. wait :/

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    3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
  4. Re:And so what... by pjabardo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    George W. Bush is a reasonably balanced leader? That's a first! Obama? Let's wait and see...

  5. Re:As I have a Danish surname and live in UK by digitig · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You think Danish beer is an improvement over English? You must be American.

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    Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?