N-Prize Founder Paul Dear Talks Prizes For Nanosat Race 217
Rob Goldsmith writes to point out this interview with Dr. Paul Dear, founder of the N-Prize, and explains: "For those of you who haven yet heard of the N-Prize, the N-Prize is a £9,999.99 (sterling) cash prize which can be claimed by any individual, or group, who are able to prove that they have put into orbit a small satellite. The satellite must weigh between 9.99 and 19.99 grams, and must orbit the Earth at least 9 times. This project must be done within a budget of £999.99 (sterling)."
English - English Translation... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Get into orbit for a grand? (Score:5, Informative)
15. Piggybacking and Shared Resources
Entrants may not 'piggyback' on other aerospace projects (for example, by launching a satellite as a passenger on a larger launch vehicle). If they do so, the entire cost of the launch will be considered part of the budget of their N-Prize entry. Similarly, no two entries (whether simultaneous or consecutive; whether by the same entrant or different entrants) are allowed to share the cost of common hardware (for example, if a single launch vehicle carries two satellites, then the total cost of the launch vehicle will be considered part of the budget for each of the two satellites).
Re:What is a sterling? Pound? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is a sterling? Pound? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:English - English Translation... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What is a sterling? Pound? (Score:4, Informative)
The full, official name pound sterling (plural: pounds sterling) is used mainly in formal contexts and also when it is necessary to distinguish the currency used within the United Kingdom from others that have the same name. Otherwise the term pound is normally used. The currency name is sometimes abbreviated to just "sterling", particularly in the wholesale financial markets, but not in amounts; so "payment accepted in sterling" but never "that costs five sterling". The abbreviations "ster." or "stg." are sometimes used. The term British pound is commonly used in less formal contexts, although it is not an official name of the currency. A common slang term is quid (plural quid).
The term sterling is derived from the fact that, about the year of 775, silver coins known as "sterlings" were issued in the Saxon kingdoms,[6][dubious - discuss] 240 of them being minted from a pound of silver, the weight of which was probably about equal to the later troy pound. Because of this, large payments came to be reckoned in "pounds of sterlings", a phrase that was later shortened to "pounds sterling". After the Norman Conquest, the pound was divided for simplicity of accounting into 20 shillings and into 240 pennies, or pence. For a discussion of the etymology of "sterling" see Sterling silver.
The currency sign is the pound sign, originally with two cross-bars, then later more commonly £ with a single cross-bar. The pound sign derives from the blackletter "L", from the abbreviation[citation needed] LSD - librae, solidi, denarii - used for the pounds, shillings and pence of the original duodecimal currency system. Libra was the basic Roman unit of weight, derived from the Latin word for scales or balance. The ISO 4217 currency code is GBP (Great Britain pound). Occasionally, the abbreviation UKP is used but this is incorrect. The Crown dependencies use their own (non-ISO) codes: GGP (Guernsey pound), JEP (Jersey pound) and IMP (Isle of Man pound). Stocks are often traded in pence, so traders may refer to pence sterling, GBX (sometimes GBp), when listing stock prices.
You are designing a cannon to launch satellites (Score:5, Informative)
The simplest way to launch satellites is to design a great big gun. The U.S. did some experiments with this with Project HARP [wikipedia.org]. They were abandoned because manned flight required lower g-forces. However, if you just wanted to put a satellite into orbit, then guns can make sense.
Unfortunately, the last guy to try this (Gerald V. Bull), went on to attempt to build a super-gun [wikipedia.org] for Saddam Hussein, and then mysteriously got shot [wikipedia.org] (possibly by Israel's Mossad).
I'm not sure I want to win this contest. There have been quite a few projects in the area, and they all get canceled.
Re:What is a sterling? Pound? (Score:4, Informative)
The pound sign comes from "L". Where LSD - librae, solidi, denarii - was originally used in duodecimal from pounds, shillings and pence.
I never in my life thought that history lesson from high school would ever come in hand.
Re:English - English Translation... (Score:2, Informative)
0.50 liter = 1.06 US pints = 0.88 Imperial pints.
Re:English - English Translation... (Score:5, Informative)
1. Space is an altitude. Orbit is a velocity. You can orbit 1 inch off the ground if you could some how sustain 8 km/s - for example, if you put a pipe filled with vacuum surrounding the Earth. So to get to orbit, you need a lot of speed, not a particular position.
2. GEO orbit (35786 km) is really hard to get to - and pretty pointless, really. Go above 400 km and you will hang around quite a while.
3. If you are in an orbit, you cannot possibly be a risk to airplanes. (Except on the way down, and even then the risk is way smaller than the risk caused by ducks, etc. - assuming you can even survive reentry)
Probably the easiest way to win this is with a mylar balloon as the "satellite". You could make a very large, highly reflective surface that would last a few orbits.
That said, this is unlikely to be won - $2K is just too low, it will cost more than that to get flight insurance / government permission.
Re:What is a sterling? Pound? (Score:4, Informative)
The original "Pound Sterling", way back when, was just that -- one pound of Sterling (92.5% pure) silver.
Paul Dear (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Delta-V = *** FAIL *** (Score:3, Informative)
No, I did not neglect gravity, air resistance, etc. Orbital velocity is 7.7 km/s. I had a few hundred m/s extra for drag, and a few for gravity. I assumed a dense fuel (that's why the Isp sucks at 280), which minimizes air drag. I assume a rapid (as in high G) boost, because I don't see how you could possibly do this otherwise. I made lots of other assumptions, all vaguely reasonable, to make a back of the envelope calculation. The most unreasonable assumption, if you want to know, is that I am assuming an SSTO - which was obvious from the math, and so since you did not call me on it you are obviously not someone who has ever designed a rocket! An SSTO is very hard at normal sizes, and a tiny one is going to really require some "clever stuff", but hey, that why you get the big bucks for this design!
20:1 ratios have been achieved in the 1960s - yes, it is aggressive, are you saying this prize is not going to require an aggressive design?
If you really want to go into all this, read the wiki on delta-v - last time I was there, it was pretty good. High Isp designs (450 seconds, like the shuttle) require large delta-v budgets for air resistance and gravity losses, because they use hydrogen which is not dense, leading to larger airframes and lower thrust engines. (Engine T/W ratio is linked to propellant density).