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Europe's Biggest Amateur Rocket Completes Test-Firing
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."
..is 14000 kilograms force. So the total mass of your spacecraft at launch will be 7000kg (or less) if you want to accelerate at 1g initially. In practice you would want more that that so 3-4 tonnes is probably the limit for the whole spacecraft.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Why is this cute and interesting when done by a group of European amateurs and a global threat when done in North Korea?
Top Gear's Reliant Rocket was claimed to be the biggest non-commercial amateur rocket in Europe. The Danish rocket must be bigger, though the video shows only an engine test. Can you claim it to be a rocket test when there is only the engine?
...because the North Koreans are militaristic nut cases and the Danes are not?
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Up-close videos from the test:
http://www.vimeo.com/3531197
Pretty cool stuff, the whole team is all smiles. What was tested is a scaled-up design from a smaller hybrid rocket motor. The fact that the burn was even and stable demonstrates that the motor design is sound, and the math checks out. As such the team remains confident that an atmospheric launch of either this specific rocket or its twin can be carried out by mid-summer. Also, work continues on scaling the design further for the HEAT booster with a body diameter of 60 centimeters (3 times the diameter of the HATV rocket tested yesterday). The goal of the HEAT booster program is to develop a safe, economical and environmentally friendly man-rated sub-orbital propulsion technology. On the www.copenhagensuborbitals.com website you can read about their miniature spacecraft that would sit atop HEAT and carry a would-be astronaut on a no doubt exciting suborbital flight.
If you look at the hi-speed movie, you can see that their exhaust nozzle ring gets blown off after a few seconds (no timestamp on the video). I love what they're doing, but they're not there yet unfortunately. Bart
...because the North Koreans are militaristic nut cases
And would you claim that the Americans less militaristic nut cases than the North Koreans?
(Rhetorical question - you need not answer I've already prejudged you by reading the second amendment).
Those are the same guys who built the biggest amateur Submarine before. Bunch of swell fellows. http://www.uc3nautilus.dk/index.htm
Actually, no. The nozzle ring sits on for 10+ seconds.
At 00:34 in the video you can see it fly off, the distinct luminous object leaving the rocket, which ignites at 00:19. I'm no booster specialist (I work video and telemetry), but my understanding is that the booster team is satisfied that at the time of nozzle failure the expansion effect (produced or supported by the nozzle) is no longer required. In any case a thicker nozzle wall has already been drafted for the next test.
The high speed (1200fps) footage closeup (side view) is edited timewise; the whole thing takes about an hour to play back at 30fps. We'll be releasing a video with time codes and more data later this week.
Great that it's not an important failure for you guys. I'm really impressed with it. I didn't know there was such a professional amateur rocketry club in Europe. Way to go Danes :-)
The final goal is a manned (!) low-orbital flight.
The result could be some crispy Danish bacon.
I can assure you that the Danes do have a record of invading their Southern near neighbours, and I believe the governments of the time were pretty totalitarian. If the Danes had that rocket capability in the 10th century AD, nobody would have heard of King Alfred. And we'd be making the Lego for them.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
To think for oneself does not mean to be contrarian for the sake of it, that would be stupid.
It does not mean ignoring countrywide living conditions similar to those in a Nazi Germany concentration camp for the inhabitants who behave and a Nazi Germany extinction camp for those who don't, that would be stupid.
It does not mean excusing a government simply because one can draw parallels and similarities to other governments, that would be stupid.
It does not mean that it is in any way acceptable to gamble with the lives of tens if not hundred of millions for the sake of moral relativism without any practical gain but bloodshed and/or worse.
It does not mean continuing to ignore the information available through kidnapped then freed South Koreans and Japanese as well as escaped North Koreans. Nor to ignore the material including covert recordings made by civilians amply illustrating what happens IN PUBLIC in North Korea (and to a lesser extent what happens to some North Koreans in China). Doing any of that would be extremely stupid.
The only people who shouldn't have problems with North Korea should be die-hard fascists in the political sense of the word, as opposed to using the word as a swearword (and using the word in a non-political sense would be... stupid).
What's the Matter with Denmark?
and
Denmark's Military Arrogance.
Apparently we can add legalized pot to the catalog of horrors you mention.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I can assure you that the Danes do have a record of invading their Southern near neighbours, and I believe the governments of the time were pretty totalitarian. If the Danes had that rocket capability in the 10th century AD, nobody would have heard of King Alfred. And we'd be making the Lego for them.
Who's King Alfred?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/rocket3.htm
Rocket folk call them diamond patterns. This article gives a good explanation.
Beyond rhetoric, what clear military action was done in the last 10 years by North Korea in which they destroyed any foreign military facility (or even civilian one) or even shoot down a rocket carrying a satellite ? I am sorry but I usually ignore both rhetoric (US/EU/North korea), Rhetoric is good for politic, but just at that, beyond that you have to look at the action.
You should be utterly ashamed of yourself for comments that so undermine one of the greatest violations of human rights the world has ever seen. "You have to look at the action", is that what you pretend to judge by? Then tell me what you really think about a country that uses a brutal secret police and propaganda campaign to enforce the indoctrination of the Great Leader as a Deity on it's population from birth until death? A country were those questioning that basic 'truth' end up executed or in concentration camps? Where even those that honestly believe in the Great Leader end up in forced labor camps, mal nourished and honestly believing they are LUCKY to be where they are protected from the evil Americans by Kim Jong Il, the God?
Honestly, North Korea is home to a people so horribly repressed and so indoctrinated they really do believe they live in one of the best places on the planet. It sickens me to see anyone outside that world snidely talking about how much more evil America is.