Slashdot Mirror
Amateur Rocketeer Derek Deville's Qu8k Rocket Flies to 120,000+ Feet (Video)
Derek Deville is a rocket hobbyist. A lot of us have messed with Estes Model Rockets, which start at about $13 for a pre-assembled rocket that can go 800 feet straight up. Derek's rockets are on a whole different level. His personal rocket altitude record is closer to 33 miles, which is about 150 times as high as the entry-level Estes rocket -- and takes more than 150 times as much effort to build and launch. Derek's employer, Syntheon LLC, helps him out a lot with tools and materials. Lots of other people help him, too. Derek has been mentioned on Slashdot before. This video is a chance to get to know him a bit better. And anyone who shoots rockets to the top of the Stratosphere for fun is worth knowing, right?
He works for a company making flexible endoscopy devices. Yet he's building a rocket. Should we be worried?
"If anyone needs me, I'm in the angry dome."
I have done effluent studies for rockets of this size and they produce about 70 pounds of water, about a pound or two of HCl, about 12 pounds of aluminum oxide, and about 4 pounds of carbon or so and some other mostly benign stuff per 100 pounds propellant. To put this in perspective they pollute less than a big rig running for one hour and do so in very remote areas where the material disperses to immeasurable levels immediately.
To the folks that are concerned about stratospheric pollution, these rockets burn out in the air and coast about 2/3 of the altitude or so.
Pollution from rockets is a straw man argument. There are too few flown worldwide to ever matter.
JJ
[quote]and do so in very remote areas where the material disperses to immeasurable levels immediately[/quote]
You might as well fire it off in LA then since you won't be able to measure the change there either.
Let's see. Two guys apply for a high paying engineering job. One has a degree. The other is a world class rocket builder. Who get the job?
The guy with the degree of course. HR will throw the other resume out.
Two guys date the same hot girl. One has a nice house. The bother is a world class rocket builder with high paying engineering job. Who gets the girl?
The guy with the big house of course. "Hey want to come back to my place and relax in my hot tub?" Or "Hey want to see my rocket? --SLAP"
You really need to re-adjust your perspective of what is attractive to women and employers.