The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
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The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
1–10 of 39 posts
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#2I wish these guys the best of luck and hope they get to do it quickly and safely. If anything, our drive for beating someone else into space for political or economic reasons has really poisoned the well, so to speak. Maybe it does take the crazy pioneers to get up to the Black Sky... just because it's there.
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#3It's great to see people hacking away at space travel. Not everything needs to be done on a NASA scale. The hard part will be the rocket engine, access to rocket fuel and launch facilities where you can launch without risking homes and lives. Denmark is in a poor location for launches: too far north, surrounded by populated countries, and their likely launch direction would go over Russia. You need a heat shield if you're planning on orbiting, it's not needed to go straight up and parachute down. Wish them the best of luck!
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#4This is awesome, and nothing in this comment is meant to take away from that awesome, only to contextualize it.
Getting above the Karman Line (100km above sea level) and getting into orbit are dramatically different problems. In case the name "Copenhagen Suborbitals" didn't make it clear, they're shooting for the former.
For an amusingly-illustrated take on this, see the recent http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
As another piece of context, compare the size of the rocket used by Scaled Composites (to win the X-Prize) with the size of rocket used by SpaceX. What's the difference? One can orbit, and the other cannot.
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#5Copenhagen Suborbitals Supporter here. I just wanted to let you know that these guys have an awesome youtube profile over here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA
Also, you may find more information on this page http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/support_us.php (Yeah, shameless linking to the support us-page.
Peter Madsen writes in Danish on his blog on the Danish newspaper Ingeniøren: http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart-pa-den-anden-made
Kristian von Bengtson is blogging on wired.com: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#6I immediately thought "Kerbal Space Program".
This is extremely cool.
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#7This is awesome, and nothing in this comment is meant to take away from that awesome, only to contextualize it. Getting above the Karman Line (100km above sea level) and getting into orbit are dramatically different problems. In case the name "Copenhagen Suborbitals" didn't make it clear, they're shooting for the former. For an amusingly-illustrated take on this, see the recent http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ As another…
http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/
This xkcd explains this really well. At orbital height, Earth's gravity's pull is still a full 90% of what we experience on the surface. Orbiting objects "dodge" this fall by going really fucking fast.
I think I saw a comparison once that it takes about 15~20X more energy to attain orbit speed as it does to attain orbital height.
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#8I wish these guys the best of luck and hope they get to do it quickly and safely. If anything, our drive for beating someone else into space for political or economic reasons has really poisoned the well, so to speak. Maybe it does take the crazy pioneers to get up to the Black Sky... just because it's there.
> If anything, our drive for beating someone else into space for political or economic reasons has really poisoned the well, so to speak.
I assume you are American. If so, I may be fuzzy on the historical facts, but didn't the Russians beat you guys into space?
Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#9This is awesome, and nothing in this comment is meant to take away from that awesome, only to contextualize it. Getting above the Karman Line (100km above sea level) and getting into orbit are dramatically different problems. In case the name "Copenhagen Suborbitals" didn't make it clear, they're shooting for the former. For an amusingly-illustrated take on this, see the recent http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ As another…
http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ This xkcd explains this really well. At orbital height, Earth's gravity's pull is still a full 90% of what we experience on the surface. Orbiting objects "dodge" this fall by going really fucking fast . I think I saw a comparison once that it takes about 15~20X more energy to attain orbit speed as it does to attain orbital height.
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Re: The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space
#10This is awesome, and nothing in this comment is meant to take away from that awesome, only to contextualize it. Getting above the Karman Line (100km above sea level) and getting into orbit are dramatically different problems. In case the name "Copenhagen Suborbitals" didn't make it clear, they're shooting for the former. For an amusingly-illustrated take on this, see the recent http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ As another…
http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ This xkcd explains this really well. At orbital height, Earth's gravity's pull is still a full 90% of what we experience on the surface. Orbiting objects "dodge" this fall by going really fucking fast . I think I saw a comparison once that it takes about 15~20X more energy to attain orbit speed as it does to attain orbital height.
So is this centrifugal force counteracting gravity?
So then gravity would be like your hand's grip preventing the bucket from flying away when you swing a bucket of water?
If this is the case then I think I'd understand the way planets don't fall into the sun better. The way I've heard it described before as something like 'forever falling into the sun' confusing.