A Chat with Kristian von Bengtson, co-founder of Copenhagen Suborbitals (Video)

Copenhagen Suborbitals says their mission is "very simple. We are working towards launching a human being into space." That doesn't sound so simple, really, but they're approaching this gargantuan task with an intentionally simple approach: a small team, relatively unhampered by bureaucratic hassles, who are taking advantage of existing, off-the-shelf high-tech solutions when they make sense, and low-tech solutions when possible; if the parable of the Soviet space pencil hadn't worked its way into the mythology of space technology, it could have been based on the Copenhagen Suborbitals point of view. I talked with project co-founder Kristian von Bengston about the project's progress so far, as well as what the next steps are. Among those next steps: in summer 2014, the Suborbitals team plans to launch their HEAT2X lift vehicle loaded with the TDS-80 capsule; you can download the preliminary trajectory projections for both the launcher and the capsule.

Comments

Re:Looks like they are about 5 years behind SpaceX

[capedgirardeau]

I think you guys would do well to emphasize you are a non-profit, amateur group.

It looks at a glance like you are trying to do stuff commercially and so are judged based on that impression.

People would end up with a totally different impression if they understood this is basically a very advanced hobby for you and your team.

And I do not mean to say you are amateurs, just that you are not a for profit commercial enterprise. There is probably a good English word for what is between those two but I can't think of it.