Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#1

Post by zackbelow » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 3:37 PM UTC

Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet
ddeville.com

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#2

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 3:56 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#3

Post by mekoka » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:03 PM UTC

Sending your own widget up and having it bring back snapshots of other continents and a round Earth, only seconds later. What an amazing feeling it must be. Makes me wanna go dig up my old mechanics book. Can someone give a ballpark figure of how much it would cost to build something like this and how long it took them?

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#4

Post by jcapote » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:04 PM UTC

"As the GPS devices on Qu8k failed to log readings above 100,000 feet, the attempt is likely disqualified."

would love to know what happened

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#5

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:04 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#6

Post by tibbon » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:05 PM UTC

Looks like they were at the Black Rock Playa. Hope they take all their moop with them, since the Burning Man people just got done cleaning it up...

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#7

Post by tibbon » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:05 PM UTC

jcapote wrote: post #4

"As the GPS devices on Qu8k failed to log readings above 100,000 feet, the attempt is likely disqualified." would love to know what happened

Went higher than the GPS satellites could see?

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#8

Post by shuaib » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:06 PM UTC

One of the most awesomest things I've seen in a while.

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#9

Post by jgrahamc » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:06 PM UTC

jcapote wrote: post #4

"As the GPS devices on Qu8k failed to log readings above 100,000 feet, the attempt is likely disqualified." would love to know what happened

Well, it could easily be that they hit the CoCom limit on the GPS units they were using: http://blog.jgc.org/2010/11/gaga-1-cocom-limit-for-gps.html

Perhaps the GPS devices were disabled by speed, or altitude, and didn't have time to reset while at apogee to get the reading.

Re: Amateur rocket launch reaches 121,000 feet

#10

Post by jgrahamc » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 4:08 PM UTC

mekoka wrote: post #3

Sending your own widget up and having it bring back snapshots of other continents and a round Earth, only seconds later. What an amazing feeling it must be. Makes me wanna go dig up my old mechanics book. Can someone give a ballpark figure of how much it would cost to build something like this and how long it took them?

You could cheaply reach the same altitude using a helium balloon. 121,000 ft is only 37km. Plenty of home grown helium balloons have reached that height (and higher).

My project reached 32km: http://blog.jgc.org/2011/04/gaga-1-flight.html