PhysBrain
April 30th, 2002, 06:10 PM
In the hopes of generating some interesting discussion, I would like to direct your attention to a project which I have been following for some time now. A small company called JP Aerospace ( http://www.jpaerospace.com/ ) has been making steady progress towards a high altitude launch platform. Their goal is to be the first amateur group to launch a payload into orbit. Right now, their team consists of around fifty volunteers supported by a couple dozen commercial sponsors. Their approach is to loft their rockets to 100,000 feet aboard a balloon lifted platform, and then launch from the airborne platform to around 50 miles. They've had a few set backs, but on the whole, they have made remarkable progress for such an underfunded venture.
I fell in love with this launch concept almost immediately. In addition to giving their rockets a 30 mile head start, they are also bypassing the most difficult part of the launch: the dense lower atmosphere, where the drag and aerodynamic stresses are the greatest. The net result is that they can go alot higher with much smaller rockets using much less fuel. This idea makes so much sense to me, I can't believe that there are no other organizations (that I've seen) that are attempting this strategy. I personally think that this launch mode has enormous potential once the technology has been proven and the infrastructure put in place.
I'd like to hear what you think of this group's efforts.
I fell in love with this launch concept almost immediately. In addition to giving their rockets a 30 mile head start, they are also bypassing the most difficult part of the launch: the dense lower atmosphere, where the drag and aerodynamic stresses are the greatest. The net result is that they can go alot higher with much smaller rockets using much less fuel. This idea makes so much sense to me, I can't believe that there are no other organizations (that I've seen) that are attempting this strategy. I personally think that this launch mode has enormous potential once the technology has been proven and the infrastructure put in place.
I'd like to hear what you think of this group's efforts.