Posted by Ray Katz in current, private
Can A "Hobby Rocket" Reach Space?
The short answer is: “yes.”
An amateur rocket reached the edge of space back in 2004. Impressive stuff, but an article in the current Wired magazine suggests there’s much more to come.
Apparently, without millions of dollars, some serious hobbyists are launching increasingly sophisticated rockets in the Nevada dessert. Members of a group called the “Association of Rocket Mavericks” are building powerful rocket engines, designing onboard computers, and launching vehicles that increase their skills at launch, control and recovery.
Like the better financed private space adventurers (such as SpaceX, and Scaled Composites), the “Mavericks” have their own prize to reach for. The “J-Prize” of $10,000 will be awarded to whoever makes 2 or more successful flights to 30,000 feet carrying a payload of 4.4 pounds. It’s considerably less than the $10 million X-Prize…but it will drive innovation.
One prominent rocketeer, Tom Atchison, believes that amateur rockets could achieve orbital flight by 2015.
