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Just $10M Keeping "Red Neck Rocket Scientist" From Reaching Space

Posted by timothy on from the this-calls-for-a-roadtrip-to-arizona dept.

McGruber writes "The Arizona Republic has an update on Morris Jarvis, a Project Manager at Intel who also happens to head Space Transport and Recovery (STAR) Systems, a commercial space-travel company, out of his east Mesa, Arizona home. Jarvis has built the Hermes, a prototype, proof-of-concept model of a space shuttle, that is 27 feet long with a 21-foot wingspan. He believes that if he were to receive $10 million today, he could have the first test launch in a year. Jarvis 'envisions two tour options for his completed Hermes. In the first, a high-altitude balloon will raise the Hermes to 100,000-plus feet, where customers can see the curvature of the Earth. The second is a rocket-powered option that will put customers in a suborbital trajectory where they can experience weightlessness.' According to the Silicon Valley Watcher, Morris likes to describe himself as the 'Red Neck Rocket Scientist.' (He was interviewed in this May 24, 2011 IntelFreePress Video posted at YouTube.)"

7 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. First Sentence by MagdJTK · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...who also happens to Space Transport and Recovery (STAR) Systems...

    I think you accidentally a word.

  2. that's nothing by dirtyhippie · · Score: 4, Funny

    this guy's offer sucks. if you give ME $10 million today, i GUARANTEE YOU that i WILL have my first test launch of a mission to jupiter. so what if it's made of rubber bands and has no chance of making it! then on to my next problem: what to do with $9,999,997 =)

  3. Is it on Kickstarter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    He only needs one million people to give him $10 each.

  4. There's a Darwin by AliasMarlowe · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wish him luck. It takes cojones grandes to be the first. If he's patient, deliberate, extraordinarily cautious, and more than a little lucky then he can pull it off.

    Yep, it sounds like he's in the running for a Darwin Award.

    --
    Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
    1. Re:There's a Darwin by bughunter · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Hey ya'll hold my beer and watch this!"

      Fixed that for you; he's the Red Neck Rocket Scientist after all.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  5. Even the title... by FatLittleMonkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just $10M Keeping "Red Neck Rocket Scientist" From Reaching Space

    So how much should we be spending to keep him from reaching space?

    --
    Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
  6. Actually... by tlambert · · Score: 4, Funny

    All of those who left on sea voyages on the 1600s are dead.