h o l y s h i t

[Jerome Scuggs]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...#post381212767

these scandinavians have waaay too much time on their hands, and built an "amateur" rocket that will take someone up to space.

they built the rocket, the launch platform, and even the submarine that is next to the launchpad.



they are going to tow the launchpad out to sea, and launch the rocket. the rocket will have a dummy in it for the first few flights, but the end objective is to put someone into space.

on the link, go to page one for some photos of the submarine and the construction of the rocket & its engines

[Creature]

wut

[Ilya]

pretty cool.. but what's the sub for?

[Jason]

to hide from the aliens they're gonna piss off when they crash land on jupiter

[soup]

pretty cool.. but what's the sub for?

u stupid irl?


its to go cave diving

[Ilya]

speaking of aliens and cave diving -- there is some fucked up shit living in the deep sea

http://www.seasky.org/deep-sea/deep-sea-menu.html

deep sea anglerfish:

who is that son of a bitch and what does he taste like?

[Ilya]

is there intelligent life in the deep sea ???? maybe thats where all the mermaids are hiding

party @ the mariana trench, holla

[Xog]

party @ the mariana trench, holla

I'm in there like butthair

[Jerome Scuggs]

pretty cool.. but what's the sub for?

i don't know but if it were me i would do pretty much everything i do now, except... in a submarine

smoke weed... in a submarine
have sex... in a submarine
play beer pong... in a submarine

the possibilities are endless

[phata$$]

Eat a submarine sandwich while listening to The Yellow Submarine... in a submarine.

[Fit of Rage]

For an amateur effort, this is pretty impressive. Hybrids are basically like the poor man's liquid engine--less capability but simpler and easier to build. If they manage to build a powerful enough rocket to achieve a complete orbit of a mini-satellite, I'll be damn impressed. They're probably operating on a fraction of what SpaceX does, which in turn is a fraction of NASA and the Air Force's space budgets.

[Jerome Scuggs]

For an amateur effort, this is pretty impressive. Hybrids are basically like the poor man's liquid engine--less capability but simpler and easier to build. If they manage to build a powerful enough rocket to achieve a complete orbit of a mini-satellite, I'll be damn impressed. They're probably operating on a fraction of what SpaceX does, which in turn is a fraction of NASA and the Air Force's space budgets.

yeah the cost thing is also mind-blowing, if you read through the SA thread it's actually pretty scary how much tech they don't have. it's like 7 days til launch and someone -just- donated the components that would allow them to track the rocket.

also from what i read, they chose the particular type of engine due to the ability to turn it on and off, but i think that has more to do with it being a liquid (as opposed to solid) fuel rocket. what do you mean by "hybrid"?

this is one of those things that makes me wish i knew more about metalworking, welding, physics/aeronautics, etc. the biggest thing i've ever built is an earthen shelter. fuck.

[Jason]

i don't know but if it were me i would do pretty much everything i do now, except... in a submarine

smoke weed... in a submarine
have sex... in a submarine
play beer pong... in a submarine

the possibilities are endless

you would never make it to the sex and beer pong. spark that weed and KABOOM.

[Zeebu]

deep sea anglerfish:

who is that son of a bitch and what does he taste like?

Many species of anglerfish are fished commercially throughout the world. They are compared to lobster in taste and texture. In Japan, anglerfish is considered a delicacy and can fetch a premium price.

done and done

[Fit of Rage]

yeah the cost thing is also mind-blowing, if you read through the SA thread it's actually pretty scary how much tech they don't have. it's like 7 days til launch and someone -just- donated the components that would allow them to track the rocket.

also from what i read, they chose the particular type of engine due to the ability to turn it on and off, but i think that has more to do with it being a liquid (as opposed to solid) fuel rocket. what do you mean by "hybrid"?

this is one of those things that makes me wish i knew more about metalworking, welding, physics/aeronautics, etc. the biggest thing i've ever built is an earthen shelter. fuck.

There are three kinds of rockets: solids, hybrids, and liquids. Solid motors have their fuel and oxidizer bound together in some kind of polymer substrate and can be easily scaled from a little Estes rocket to the space shuttle boosters. The problem is, they're good for boosting but are not a great "mile per gallon" kind of rocket in terms of putting things into space. Liquid engines use liquid propellants stored in tanks and in general use a small amount of that fuel to run turbopumps and pump the rest into the combustion chamber. The best examples of this are liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) or kerosene (RP-1) and LOX. These have been used in various methods since the 50s and generally represent the "safest"/most reliable engines because catastrophic failures can be limited in a number of places by shutting off a valve. They also get more performance (we call it specific impulse) per unit mass of propellant that you have to carry.

Hybrids are kind of like a marriage between the two. Instead of carrying heavy pumps, tanks, and lines for both fuel and oxidizer, a hybrid uses a solid fuel bound the same way a full-solid motor would, but instead of having the oxidizer bound in the polymer as well, it's stored in a tank and fed through at a certain rate to react with the fuel. Doing this allows you the "benefit" of being able to shut off the rocket in the event of something going wrong and hopefully will allow a greater chance of being able to recover the rocket and determine exactly what the flaw was. However, you just don't get the same performance you would out of a completely liquid engine because of the nature of the propellants. They're attractive to amateur rocketeers because they offer just enough complexity for the brave (read: these Danes) but not so much that you need millions of dollars and a full-scale rocket to run a liquid system.

That was probably more than you actually wanted, but hopefully you can feel enriched and shit that you learned about how rockets work.