Starchaser Plans Test Drop 149
cwalkden writes "Everybody's favourite amateur rocketman, Steve Bennett
has
unveiled his new space capsule that he hopes will get him one step closer to the edge of space. This one is due to undergo a test descent (with Steve inside) in Arizona. Earlier versions of Steve's capsules included one made with a cement mixer and some old joysticks." Our previous story was in 2001.
TV Land? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:TV Land? (Score:5, Interesting)
BBC News Online put these criticisms to Steve Bennett. He responded: "We are not planning any tests such as wind tunnel or vibration tests before we launch it. That is what the test flight is for."
Man this guy has serious balls
On a related note; there was a programme along the lines of ScrapHeap that aired a while back in the UK where 3 teams from the UK, USA and France (I think) were given the task of building aircraft with the eventual goal of competing for maximum distance, and controllability (they had to land on a line). The caveat was that only tools and materials from the Wright brother's era were allowed to build the craft.
Anyway, come the day, the French and US teams had based their craft upon proven designs, whereas the UK entry was just made up out of thin air so nobody knew quite what would happen! The teams took it in turns to test; the French pilot got his plane rolling and practiced a few hops a few feet in the air. The US team did something similar, but with a little more height, and damaged their craft a bit.
Now the UK team went for their "test run". The pilot gave it full throttle and launched himself into orbit (one of the ground crew mentioned the pilot was "a bit of a nutter") - the thing was hundred of feet up, the pilot - big shit-eating grin plastered across his face was throwing it around the sky for several minutes before making a perfect landing in front of the astonished opponents! It was so utterly irresponsible, but cool at the same time - not testing, just give it some welly and see what happens. Brilliant!
Obviously the UK entry won pretty convincingly in the real flight.
Re:TV Land? (Score:2)
Not for long!
Re:TV Land? (Score:1)
Science lovers (Score:5, Funny)
I earnestly wanted to share in this man's interest, but that "free underwear vouchers" ad in the right hand column got me......distracted. Figleaves.com baby.
Re:Science lovers (Score:3, Insightful)
What Steve is doing is more like rocket science, albeit at a fairly amateur level.
OT, I remember when he had a real (early) starchaser rocket above the bar in a place here in Manchester. Now we have to make do with a full size replica...
Re:Science lovers (Score:3, Insightful)
Brave, inquisitive and amazingly reckless.
Its a bit like the invention of bungee jumping, base jumping etc. exactly what would the loss to humanity be if people had not invented them?
Apart from a new way for millionaires to go for thrill rides there does not appear to be a major payoff here.
I would be much more interested in a cheap way to stick a bot on the moon or on mars.
Re:Science lovers (Score:4, Insightful)
Apart from a new way for millionaires to go for thrill rides there does not appear to be a major payoff here.
Oh, but there is! Many people believe NASA has become too buerocratic and ineffective. While I do not know enough of NASA's inner working to determine whether the American people get good value for money or not, it is not unreasonable to assume that they don't. When the space race began NASA was a small company that all of a sudden was given an almost unlimited budget. It growed to fast - of course there's going to be some friction.
What I'm getting at is that projects of this sort may wake people up. Maybe NASA isn't the only way of getting into space. Maybe there are other ways - better ways. We'll never know until we try, that's all.
Re:Science lovers (Score:2)
Its a bit like the invention of bungee jumping, base jumping etc. exactly what would the loss to humanity be if people had not invented them?
Apart from a new way for millionaires to go fo
Re:Science lovers (Score:2)
While I do not know enough of NASA's inner workings to determine whether or not the American people get good value for the money.
Ah, but this is not true! Both forms are valid. I quote from Dictionary.com [reference.com]:
1. Used in indirect questions to introduce one alternative: We should find out whether the museum is open.
Also on shakey ground is "there's going to be some friction." You were speaking in the past tense, and
Ok, I give up! (Score:2)
Theodore Logan: 0.
Re:Ok, I give up! (Score:2)
Re:Ok, I give up! (Score:2)
Re:Science lovers (Score:1)
Remember that the most costly part of a satellite launch happens before we get into what we would call space (as opposed to just really really high in the atmosphere). If this guy can build a better/cheaper/easier way to get into space, then its just a matter of patience, good aim, and a little luck.
Re:Science lovers (Score:2)
Re:Science lovers (Score:1)
I wonder if this guy filled out his organ donor card... He has got more than his fair share of balls and it would be a shame to waste em when some poor
Right, wrong, irrelevent. What is, is.
In the words of Gus Grissom... (Score:5, Funny)
Are you sure this isn't a prt of Jackass II? (Score:2, Funny)
this is british (Score:2)
(That was an allusion to Trigger Happy TV, the only British show worth watching outside of Junkyard Wars.)
"Salvage One"? (Score:4, Interesting)
I think that was the name... anyone else remember that TV series with the home-made rocket where the capsule was made out of a cement truck's mixer?
I think their logo was a vulture... the whole idea was they made money by salvaging space junk (or something like that, I was a kid).
Re:"Salvage One"? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:"Salvage One"? (Score:1)
Re:"Salvage One"? (Score:3, Insightful)
reminds me of Explorers! http://us.imdb.com/Title?0089114
-l
Re:"Salvage One"? (Score:2)
YESS!! (Score:5, Funny)
i got dibs on his stereo and leather jacket.
Re:YESS!! (Score:4, Funny)
Rocket science isn't rocket science (Score:2)
By the way, anybody know where that aphorism come from? I think I saw it first in "Blue Mars", but I don't know whether it's original.
Re:YESS!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:YESS!! (Score:2)
Re:YESS!! (Score:1)
There's little doubt that he will survive 12 seconds. What happens after that is the concern. And Orville had the tiny advantage of only being three feet off the ground [killdevilhills.com] when his machine stopped flying. Old RM's going to be slightly higher than that, and if things go wrong he will no longer be Rocket Man, but rather Pancake Man, o
Re:YESS!! (Score:2)
Re:YESS!! (Score:4, Interesting)
The year is 1650. We've already made a couple of voyages to the new colonies. Everyone says that if you want to go there on your own, you need to spend a lot of money: building a rather large ship with multiple masts, training a crew of sailors to operate it, filling it with provisions for the journey, etc. Even if you plan ahead and take every precaution, it's still a perilous journey.
Steve Bennett claims that he can get to America on a tiny single-mast vessel made out of cheap wood by himself. If people point out the problems in this -- catching enough wind to move, rowing when there's no wind, lack of room for food, etc. he blows them off as saying that they're afraid of him accomplishing the impossible.
In all likelihood, he's going to end up drowning in the Pacific.
I mean, seriously. The man has never had any astronaut training, never been subjected to high Gs, and his last press frenzy involves him strapping a bunch of rockets to a converted cement mixer and launching himself into the air. That's nearly 12 Gs of acceleration -- we feed high-oxygen air to fighter pilots who experience 3 or 4 Gs at best to keep them from blacking out.
um..... (Score:2)
Either you meant to say "Atlantic", or you are predicting that Steve will reach mars.
Re:um..... (Score:1)
Re:YESS!! (Score:1)
Cement mixer and some old joysticks (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cement mixer and some old joysticks (Score:3, Funny)
true, but hey it's what he wants to do. Some people are born to be a Darwin award winner, others work at it real hard. I think he is the latter. The question is who will get first post submitting this one to the awards people.
Old sock + duct tape (Score:1)
Re:Cement mixer and some old joysticks (Score:1)
Toilet paper tubes as an exaust system?!?!? Why the hell didn't I think of that
NOW I can finish my own rocket! Thanks!
Re:Cement mixer and some old joysticks (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE...... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:But then again... (Score:2)
Seriously though, I think that his idea is a hit. Simply Smashing.
Oops, I think I hear the pun police comming...
Re:But then again... (Score:2)
siri
=-=-
a=1, b=1
a=b
a*a=a*b
a^2=ab
a^2-b^2=ab-b^2
(a+b)(a-b)=b(a-b)
(a+b)=b
1+1=1
2=1
=-=-=
Re:THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE...... (Score:2)
Re:THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE...... (Score:2)
I'm sure this guy's group could do it - just so long as they don't want it to be the same pilot and passengers.
cement mixer? (Score:5, Informative)
The article says that his rocket resembles a cement mixer, not that it actually was a cement mixer.
"But other rocket experts are worried, not least because the Thunderbird capsule resembles a converted cement mixer, containing sheets of hardboard and a few computer joysticks."
Re:cement mixer? (Score:1)
Re:cement mixer? (Score:1)
Sturgis police arrested seven Sturgis men for placing more than 20 threatening letters on various businesses, schools, banks and at the post office. At least 12 signs were posted Monday morning. Another 20 were put up Tuesday evening, according to Sturgis police.
The letters all read "All your base are belong to us and you have no chance to survive, make your time."
(offtopic BTW)
I dont know whether to laugh or cry -"This is no joking matter," he said. "During a time of war and with the present conce
You think this sounds a bit amatuerish... (Score:5, Interesting)
From http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ewm/newsletter/e wm302.html [manchesteronline.co.uk] (near the bottom):
IMAGINE THE SPACE SHUTTLE BEING CARRIED by a team of men through the streets of New York. Well Hyde rocket man Steve Bennett had to have his team of assistants carry his rocket Starchaser 3a through the streets of Manchester. It had been on show at the Fab cafe theme bar, Portland St, and should have been taken to Salford University for a lecture, but the lorry booked to carry it was delayed, so it had to be transported using leg and shoulder power! Salford University lecturer Steve hopes to make it big through his rocket-building hobby-turned-business, and predicts a glowing future for space travel. Who knows, maybe in a few years time we'll be blasting off in one of Steve's rockets from Ringway to Mars on a late booking.
Anyway, he's been a local minor celebrity for years now, all the best to him.
Re:You think this sounds a bit amatuerish... (Score:2)
And who knows... perhaps that Space Shuttle part #B1565.23 'solid booster aft telemetry cable retainer' is really a paper clip.
Re:You think this sounds a bit amatuerish... (Score:1)
You need planning if you are going to build a comfortable space vehicle for rich people to fly into space with. Not just the bare min. but the Ritz.
Re:You think this sounds a bit amatuerish... (Score:1)
Anyway, it was written by a local newspaper, what do you expect?
Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket flight (Score:5, Interesting)
A lot of his early tests, some of which were filmed for an X Prize documentary, appeared to be flights of a big model rocket, powered by commercially available rocket motors.
Nothing wrong with that, but you can't really learn anything of value by doing this that would be applicable in making a rocket capable of boosting a capsule to office.
I would be more impressed to see Bennet testing liquid fuel rocket motors. Amatuers on this side of the pond (e.g., the Pacific Rocket Society) have been doing this for YEARS without coming up with a "man rated" motor.
Stefan
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1)
Nope, nothing of value, save giving Bennet the adventure of the life time, and moving it from the theoretical "Yeah, it probably might work," to "Jesus the bastisge did it".
Which I think is what he's actually after. Innovation is cool, but this guy is going into space, and I probably won't.
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1)
This guy is not going into space. This guy is getting as much publicity as possible for planning to go into space. He's showing the press impressive looking "test launches" using rockets well known both to work, and to be incapable of lifting a person into space.
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1)
Solid fuel won't get any reasonably sized manned capsule into orbit. Suborbital, maybe.
[M(f)+M(0) / M(0)] = e^(Vd/Vex)
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:2)
He's only aiming for sub-orbit (that's all the X-prize requires, and what he claimed in the article).
The problem is that he's trying to do it with model rocket engines that Were Not Specced For That. It would be like me trying to build a rocket using D engines that could hit Detroit from Chicago. It doesn't matter how many I'm going to tape together - it won't work. Saying how beautifully my latest duct-tape contraptio
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:2)
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:2)
No photos in the non-flash version of his site.
He fed the columnist in this article a line of vapour that his design team quickly downplayed. Until he actually demonstrates a liquid-fuel rocket, he doesn't have one.
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:2)
2) It remains to be seen if the message passing overhead of the microkernel can be made small enough to rival the throughput/latency balance of a quality monolithic kernel. That's sort of Linus' challenge to the microkernel community. Having said that, Linux is becoming more of an evolved blend of mono- and micro- architectures. Modules, user-mode Linux, user filesystems, etc.
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1)
Legally and technically, you are right that linux preceedes freeBSD. Practically, FreeBSD is a direct decendant of BSD, which was first by a long margin. Many hackers (The real ones) had access to BSD code for years before linux was even a gleam in Linus' eyes.
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:2)
-l
Re:Bennet's early "tests" were HP model rocket fli (Score:1)
steve bennett (Score:1, Insightful)
oh and good one about the centrifuge training, yet more lies from possibly the worst ambassador to the UK amateur rocketry community, with his lies and relentless media whoring damaging the hard work put in by many groups such as Mars [mars.org.uk] and Aspire Space [aspirespace.org.uk].
Darwin canidate (Score:1)
Re:Darwin canidate (Score:2, Insightful)
Darwin (Score:2)
I hope he succeeds. This will be one giant leap for commercial space flight.. I can't wait to see that pearly blue from orbit!
Go Russia (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Go Russia (Score:2)
this guy is a moronic blowhard (Score:3, Troll)
Combined with his obvious propensity to make false statements (e.g. saying he was sponsored by NASA) I think we can only hope he wins the Darwin award with style, if he actually launches.
Re:this guy is a moronic blowhard (Score:1)
Maybe acknowledging that he stands little chance but wishing him well would be more appropriate?
Re:this guy is a moronic blowhard (Score:5, Insightful)
From http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19991222/mcconn
Insult him for being stupid. Insult him for using cheap rockets. But don't insult the man for trying. Don't knock him because he hasn't succeeded. Don't berate him for not being the best.
You may hate him for statements he makes, but at least he tries. Most people I know haven't the spine to do anything requiring half the courage as what he's trying. I may not respect him for what he chooses to attempt, but I respect his courage, and that he does attempt it.
He's not my favorite amateur rocketman! (Score:4, Informative)
Re:He's not my favorite amateur rocketman! (Score:2)
Standard equipment: big knife (Score:1)
I hope he secures the knife well in the cockpit. After all, we wouldn't want it to suddenly fly loose and cause him bodily harm or even death.
Buy Estes stock now!!! (Score:2)
Estes stock is going to shoot through the roof with this news! Pun intended
Re:Buy Estes stock now!!! (Score:1)
They've got the market cornered on model rockets, but I think the rockets mentioned in this story are in a different class. I don't think they have anything with a 6 second burn time, as the story mentioned.
Why wait till the last minute? (Score:5, Funny)
Give him a Darwin award now, while he's still alive to enjoy it!
Hmmm... sounds familiar (Score:5, Funny)
Step 1: Build Website
Step 2: ??????
Step 3: Profit!
Upcoming Space Boom:
Step 1: Build Homemade Rocket
Step 2: ??????
Step 3: Death!
Re:Hmmm... sounds familiar (Score:2, Funny)
Two Words (Score:1)
Guys like this prove that the awards don't descriminate for even rocket scientists.
Darwin Award in progress (Score:2, Interesting)
I can imagine him saying:
"no planning, no testing, I put my life on the line because I believe in my product."
Not the way to get investment $$.
Illudium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Illudium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator (Score:2, Interesting)
You're refrencing the Aludium Q-36 Pumkin Modulator. From here: PumpkinCaptial.com [pumpkincapital.com], and here http://www.atbeach.com/punkinchunkin/ [atbeach.com]
If you like pumkin cannons, & potato cannons you should check out the yahoo group, http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/spudguns [yahoo.com] << shameless plug (I'm the owner/moderator), as well as geocities.com/pyrocookbook/ [geocities.com] << shameless plug, and finally http://www.spudguns.org [spudguns.org].
Enjoy.
He's a brave, foolish man (Score:4, Insightful)
I truly hope he does make it and proove the critics wrong! Good luck to him, he's one of a dying (no pun intended) breed of true pioneers!
Good luck, and good-bye (Score:1, Interesting)
Not a bad way to go really!
Mystery Science Limerick 3000 (Score:2, Funny)
there once was a man-made rocket
that was built with funds out of pocket
three were shot into space
and vanished without trace
the hatch they forgot to lock it
Michael.
Who's the other two passengers? (Score:1)
BTW, in Soviet Russia, the space program builds YOU, and that's the way it ought to be.
Re:Who's the other two passengers? (Score:1)
I'd give it a go, what good is life if you don't expand your horizions a little? (pun only partially intended)
The greatest losses in your life will come from chances you never took. Course, I'd make sure my life insurance covered this and was paid up.
Not my favorite! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not my favorite! (Score:2)
THE RIGHT STUFF (Score:1)
Re:Oh boy... (Score:1)
Re:Oh boy... (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, good thinking. You better mirror the story for them here on Slashdot... Those little independent newspaper sites don't stand a chance against the onslaught of
Re:Oh boy... (Score:1)
I think they'll be ok.
Re:Dude... (Score:1)