well I'll be damned, a month back I argued that it would be impossible to
have a rocket using H2O2 catalysis. Well good luck to this dude
atek
----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Emery <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 10:49 AM
Subject: CDR: A completely irrelevent item germane to a long running
previous thread
> BACKYARD ASTRONAUT'S
> BID FOR GLORY
>
> By LANCE LAYTNER
> _____
>
>
>
>
> May 6, 2001 -- BEND, Ore. - Self-taught rocket scientist Brian Walker
plans
> to shoot himself into space this fall in a $250,000 rocket he built in his
> back yard.
>
> For the past two years, "Rocket Guy," as he's known locally, has been
> constructing Earthstar 1, the rocket he hopes will carry him to the edge
of
> space and then bring him back to Earth alive.
>
>
> "My whole mission is to show what a person can do on his own," says
Walker,
> 44, a self-made millionaire who's invented dozens of mass-market toys for
> children.
>
>
> A college dropout who attended just two semesters of engineering school,
> Walker will be staking his life on how well he has been able to teach
> himself rocket science.
>
>
> The launch will be from a 200-foot tower in a dry lake bed in central
> Oregon. If all goes as planned, steam rockets and 12 Earthstar 1 motors
will
> generate 12,000 pounds of thrust at lift-off, and in 15 seconds it should
be
> out of sight.
>
>
> For the next 85 seconds, pure hydrogen peroxide will pour out of a giant
> fuel tank and over a silver screen, creating a violent chemical reaction
> that will push the rocket upward at four times the speed of sound - about
> 2,200 mph.
>
>
> At an altitude of about 30 miles, the fuel tank will detach and parachute
> back to Earth, hopefully to be used again.
>
>
> Momentum will carry Walker and his capsule up to 32 miles, where he will
> experience several moments of weightlessness and then begin to fall back
> toward Earth.
>
>
> During re-entry, a giant airbag will deploy to slow the descent.
>
>
> Once the capsule slows, a massive parachute will open and Walker expects
to
> drift down to the lake bed.
>
>
> According to his plans, a pickup truck will be waiting to drive him to a
> group of bleachers where fans and 12 Hooters bar girls will pour champagne
> all over him.
>
>
> Walker shrugs off any talk of danger.
>
>
> "If I die, I die," he scoffs. "I'd rather die trying this than spend the
> next 40 years bitter that I never made the attempt."
>
>
> The only glitch could be the Federal Aviation Administration, which has
> demanded that Walker produce a flight plan and details of his rocket
design
> before it issues a permit for his launch.
>
>
> "If they are not going to grant me permission to launch, I'll just take
the
> whole thing across the border to Mexico," Walker says.
>
>
> --
> Dave Emery N1PRE, [EMAIL PROTECTED] DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass.
> PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2 5D 27 BD B0 24 88
C3 18
>
>
