Copenhagen Suborbitals Seeking $10k In Crowdfunding For New Space Capsule 31
Plammox writes "As Copenhagen Suborbitals continue to develop their donation-based, garage-level technology solution to manned suborbital spaceflight, they're looking to crowdfund the next space capsule design. For a mere $25, your name will fly in the next capsule test launch. $2000 will buy you a guided tour of the premises in Copenhagen. The volunteer-based organization has previously done a number of different static engine tests with spectators, and two sea launches of a launch escape system and their first big rocket."
Re:Crowdfunding? (Score:5, Informative)
Sponsorship = one large, or many large companies offering rewards in return for exposure.
Charity = tax status, possible "good feelings" for donatee
Crowdfunding = low value donations en mass for negligable reward, possible "good feelings" for donatee
These guys don't screw around (Score:5, Informative)
They conduct their launches from a marine platform that they tow out to sea using the fully functional submarine that they built for a previous project.
Also, in reply to the surprising number of negative responses questioning why a bunch of enthusiasts should build a giant rocket... /. is a community of hackers (in the proper sense of the term), and building your own manned rocket qualifies as an epic hack. Technology shouldn't be just a shiny black box made by a corporation somewhere for us to consume in the approved ways... it should be something we tear apart and put back together, modify it and use it to unconventional ways that were never intended.
a) because it's awesome, and
b) because they can.
The world is full of black boxes, and full of people who want to tell us never to peak inside. Good on these guys for ignoring the nay-sayers and having the courage to build something awesome.