Rocket
Space
Part 2: Amateur, Student & Small Company
Experimental Rocketry
Copyright 2002 - Armadillo Aerospace
January 2002 test of Amadillo
Aerospace's rocket powered
vertical-takeoff-and-landing prototype. The vehicle
has a seat for a pilot but in this instance was
remotely controlled. Still image taken from video.
Amateur advanced (or Experimental) rocketry groups
develop sophisticated rockets that are reaching towards
the threshold of space (100km or so depending on whom
you ask!).
The vehicles include liquid and hybrid propulsion
technology in addition to solid fuel motors.
Besides trying to break high altituderecords,
these rockets are intended to provide low cost vehicles
for research in such areas as microgravity.
Though these advanced rocket projects demand enormous
amounts of work and dedication, they are fun, exciting
and educational for all involved.
The organizations listed here include student groups,
student/commercial company collaborations, purely amateur
clubs, amateur/company collaborations, and small, entrepreneurial
companies.
News about launches and other developments in advanced
rocketry typically appear first in one of the bulletin
boards or mailing lists.
News sites include:
Advanced
Rocketry News - latest developments in
the world of advanced amateur and student rocketry,
experimental rocketry, and entrepreneurial rocket
companies
Black
Brant Project
The Black
Brant Project will build a 107% scale version of
the Black
Brant II and propel it with three "54,600 NS
motors (33% "P" motors), all lit on the pad." It
should reach 14,700 feet (4.48km) and a velocity of
Mach 1.20 (1320 Feet/Second)
They plan to launch the vehicle at BALLS
2004 in Nevada.
Canyon
Space Team
This Seattle, Washington rocketry organization plans to
enter the X-Prize with its XPV
(X-Prize Vehicle). It has many projects in support of
this goal. CST is an open organization that encourages
applications for membership.
Experimental
Rocket Propulsion Society ERPS is a San francisco Bay area group that concentrates
currently on development of liquid fuel rockets. In particular,
hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) oxidizers combined with fuels
such as kerosene and jet fuel.
"EMRAA is a attempt to bring science fiction
into reality, to make manned rocketry common place.
EMRAA is a Internet meeting place where engineers,
technicians, aviators, and craftsmen can find each
other to start projects, share ideas and information,
and make friends with people who have liquid rocket
engines, hybrid rocket motors, and manned rocketry
as a common interest. This is a association, there
are no officers or dues. EMRAA is not a pie in the
sky organization.
EMRAA projects will be worked on in spare time by
most people. Capital will be generated by individuals,
advertising sponsors, and by bartering services. Even
though the aerospace giants are working on projects
their is no good reason why individuals and small
companies cannot get together and accomplish a lot
for manned rocketry. Remember what the Germans accomplished
before World War Two. If you know someone who is interested
tell them about this home page.
If you have a manned rocket project of any kind
we would love to hear about it. If you are building
a powerful safe rocket motor or engine let us know."
- EMRAA
statement of purpose
"Friends of Amateur Rocketry is a licensed non-profit
organization dedicated to further innovation in the
field of experimental rocketry. F.A.R. conducts launches
once a month at the F.A.R. Rocket Test Facility (RTF)
in the Mojave desert. We currently hold a High Explosive
Manufactures Permit (HEMP) and use it to manufacture
and store High Power Experimental Rocket Engines at
our desert site. Most of our volunteer employees hold
a minimum of a "California Pyrotechnic Operator --
Rocket's third class" license, as well as all of them
being employee possessors. F.A.R. encourages rocketry
of all levels, from small estes rockets to large liquid
propellent rockets. If interested in bringing out
your rocket, or just coming out to watch one of F.A.R.'s
periodic launches, please see our calendar
of events."
Ozark
Propulsion Labs
This program is "run by an avid amateur / experimental
rocketeer, Darren Wright. He has designed and sucessfully
flown the largest motor east of the Misissippi, a 54,000ns
'P' motor. He will also be building the motors for the
second heaviest amateur rocket attempt, the Maryland
/ Delaware Rocketry Association (MDRA) group project,
the Liberty Project. He also runs propellant classes
to introduce rocketeers to the science of propellant
deisgn and manufacturing."
The OPL also works with the JAMSTAR
program at the Florida Institute of Technology mentioned
below.
Reaction Research
Society
RRS, founded in 1947, is "...oldest continuously
operating amateur experimental rocket group in the United
States." RRS carries out a full range of rocketry
research including "...designing, building, and
testing solid, hybrid, and liquid fueled rockets."
SPACESHOT
2000, launched in Sept.29,2000, reached 3,205mph
(Mach 4.9)and 40k ft before the vehicle broke up.
It had been expected to reach 60miles in altitude.
Rocket
Mavericks
This organization was formed in 2007 to carry out advanced
amateur rocketry and spacecraft (e.g. cubesat) projects.
The founders
include Stanford smallsat guru Bob Twiggs and Rocketman
Ky Michaelson, leader of the CSXT
group that launched an amateur rocket to over 120km
in 2004.
They describe the group as follows:
Mavericks is where the most independent, and
most experienced high power rocketeers and civilian
space explorers collaborate, compete and fly experimental
projects that push beyond the hobby, to the next level
of professional civilian rocketry and space exploration.
Mavericks goes beyond sponsoring experimental launch
services, and focuses on the complete needs of the civilian
space explorer...
Paragon Foundation
This organization seeks to use advanced rocketry for
educational purposes for students and the general public.
Located in Denver Colorado, the group welcomes volunteers.
The Dragoon II sounding rocket project suceeding on
June 7, 2004 in reaching 120,000ft (36.6km) altitude.
Their ultimate goal is 350,000 ft. (107km).
The affiliate Paragon
Labs company builds rockets and does aerospace consulting
work.
Project
R.U.S.H. Rocket Guy Brian
Walker plans to blast off on a hydrogen peroxide rocket
in 2003. Walker is a successful toy
inventor who is now building his own rocket that
he intends to ride to an altitude of 30 miles. He plans
to test the rocket in an unmanned mode in the spring
of 2003. After 3 successful unmanned tests, he will
take the rocket for a ride himself.
Sugar
Shot to Space
This team will attempt to launch an amateur rocket to
100km using a sugar based solid propellant rather than
a higher power ammonium perchlorate composite (which
the CSXT team used for its GoFast rocket.)
Cal
Poly Space Systems
This AIAA student chapter consists primarily of students
at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis
Obispo. It has made progress on a number of technology
demonstrator projects, some of which were sponsored
by NASA and Starcraft
Boosters, Inc.
An earlier project involved scale flight models of
Buzz Aldrin's StarBooster
design. They launched a 10ft model, for example, which
then glided back under ground control until near to
the ground it popped a parachute for a safe landing.
See the media
section for pictures and videos of their StarBooster
model tests.
The Aerospace
Engineering department at Cal State University at
Long Beach is collaborating with Garvey
Spacecraft Corporation to develop reusable (or,
at least, refurbishable) rockets and supporting technology,
while also training students for careers in rocketry.
The collabortion focuses, in particular, on the Kimbo
series of rockets, which are aimed at developing
low cost reusable technologies. The series began when
John Garvey of Garvey
Spacecraft Corporation sought to continue the progress
made by the DC-X project but on an even lower budget.
The group also works with the Reaction
Rocket Society and uses the Society's facilities
for engine tests and rocket flights.
Kimbo
VI / Prospector 1 completed a successful flight
in June 2001. The vehicle rode to 8000ft on a 1000 lbf-thrust
engine developed by CSULB.
All components of the rocket were recovered undamaged.
The Prospector
2 flew in 2002 and was recovered undamage. It will
be refurbrished for a second flight. In fact, they say
the vehicle could have "could have been flown the
same day".
The program receives support from a the California
Space Authority as a new program called the California
Launch Vehicle Education Initiative (CALVEIN):
Cornell
ASTRO
This project, which currently involves about 35 students
along with faculty support, plans
"to build a reusable, autonomous, rocket powered
vehicle that can lift off under its own power, hover
at a low altitude to display its stability, and land
safely without damage. After the completed testing
of the first generation ALV [Autonomous Launch Vehicle],
a new ALV will be designed and fabricated each year,
building upon prior versions and improving ALV performance.
ASTRO will build and launch its first functional ALV
by the Spring of 2004."
JAMSTARS
"A group of amateur rocketeers who are donating
their time to assist University and High School Students
in the implementation of Rocketry Projects. The numbers
of involved Amateurs and Students grows every year.
We began with a small project in 2000 with a rocket
using only 360 Pound-seconds of thrust to the 2003 JAMSTAR
booster with 18,000 Pound-seconds of thrust."
JAMSTAR
- JAMSTAR (Joint Aerospace & Meterology Stratosphere
Analysis Rocket) is student project at the Florida
Institute of Technology and in cooperation with Ozark
Propulsion Labs (see above)
and Loki
Research.
The goal is to build a high altitude sounding rockets
to carry scientific payloads such as meterological
experiments. The group has built a P-class motor
- "the largest amateur motor ever built & successfully
fired on the East Coast."
The group launched in April of 2003 a sounding
rocket with a P motor booster and an unpowered second
stage Dart .
SOAR
(Suborbital Amateur Rocket) student rocket project
at the Florida Institute of Technology plans to send
a two-stage solid motor powered rocket to 122km (76miles).
MaCH-SR1 Hybrid
Rocket Launch Vehicle
"MaCH-SR1 hybrid rocket launch vehicle is a student-driven
project that is currently under development at the University
of Colorado in Boulder."
The project's goal is by 2008 to build a sub-orbital
rocket capable of:
Altitude goal of 75 miles (125 kilometers) sub-orbital
space flight
Aeroscience Program
at Fredericksburg High School, Texas
The Aeroscience Department - Fredericksburg HS
offers a 2 year high school course, created by teacher
Brett Williams, that has been widely praised for its
successful rocket building efforts. The U.S. Congress
officially recognized their launch in 1998 as the first
high school rocket to break the sound barrier with a
2 meter rocket that was designed and built by the students.
They have had assistance from the Marshall Spaceflight
Center, which has now started a similar
program with high schools in the Huntsville, Alabama
area.
In August of 2000 their Redbird
9-H, 185kg, 7m solid fueled rocket, reached over
10km in altitude.
In the spring of 2002 they plan to launch the Redbird
10-H, a 1800kg, 4.5m rocket with a hybrid motor,
which may reach 30km altitude and provide 30secs of
microgravity for an onboard experiment.
A program - Fredericksburg Aeronautics Society
- to introduce rocketry to younger kids has also begun.
High School Rocket-Building Course Takes Off
in Texas - Space News - April.2.2001
NASA Student Advanced Rocketry
Programs
NASA
MSFC Student Launch Initiative(SLI) -
Inspired by the success of the Fredericksburg
High School rocketry projects, see above, MSFC began
a program to involve high school students in nearby
Huntsville Alabama in high power rocket projects.
NASA
Student Launch Program - Several student groups
have developed their own sounding rockets as well
as the scientific payloads. The Alaska Student Rocket
Program, for example, has developed two rockets -
TR1 and TR2 and has had two successful launches from
the university owned Poker
Flat Research Range.
CERTA
is a "new, not for profit organization which
promotes math, science and techology education through
hands on experience and participation in experimental
rocketry."
FITSat
III - This project at Florida
Tech involves "the design and construction
of a rocket, deployable vehicles, and a control and
wireless communications system. The rocket will carry
the vehicles in its internal cargo bay and release
them at a predetermined altitude. The vehicles will
collect data, which then will be transmitted to a
ground station for storage and analysis."
ERFSEDS
(Embry-Riddle Future Space Explorers' and Developers'
Society) plans to launch a sounding rocket of its
own design to 122km (76 miles ).
The
MIT Rocket Team - "formed in an effort to
become the first student group to launch a rocket
into space. Begun in 1998, the team has developed
a new type of rocket engine, and is currently in the
process of testing the engine design."
Rockets4Schools.org
- - ths program at "Spaceport Sheboygan has been
Wisconsin's home of Rockets for Schools since its
inception in 1995. May 14-15, 2004."..."Student
teams construct a rocket equipped with a powerful
motor that lifts it into high altitudes."
SOAR
(Suborbital Amateur Rocket) student rocket project
at the Florida Institute of Technology plans to send
a two-stage solid motor powered rocket to 122km (76miles).
These groups fall in the grey area between
advanced amateur and full blown rocket companies. They
make and sell commercial products & services (or plan
to) but they also involve volunteers and students in their
projects and use advanced amateur facilities, such as
the Reaction Research Society's Mojave test site.
Armadillo
Aerospace John
Carmack, co-founder of Id
Software and a key programmer for its games such
as Doom and Quake, has become an amateur rocketry enthusiast.
This site provides status reports on the efforts of
his team of mostly volunteers in developing remotely
controlled vertical takeoff vertical landing (VTVL)
vehicles. The group is now an official X Prize team.
"Our next vehicle vehicle will go several thousand
feet up with the rocket powered rotor."
"The vehicle after that is intended to set
the 3000 meter time-to-climb world record. We hope
to do this by the end of the year."
"The vehicle after that should go to as high
as we can get air-traffic clearance for without getting
a launch license."
"The vehicle after that will push towards 100km
with space for a single person. "
"The vehicle after that will be a three person
version to win the X-Prize."
"No, I really am not all that concerned that
someone else will win it first. All of that is best-case.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are additional vehicles
as we are forced to reconsider our current strategies.
We have built three vehicles with two mutations each
so far, and plan on building many, many more."
The group has "small core staff of about four
people and nearly 50 volunteers" (AP
report). As discussed in the Space
Log section, John Powell, the founder and
head of the company, wants to include both paid and
volunteer workers in their group to carry out a wide
range of commercial, educational, and technology research
projects.
A high altitude balloon platform - Dark Sky Station
- was to have flown from the Oklahoma
Spaceport on March
23, 2002 but was canceled due to high winds.
This group, involving 10 core staff members and another
20 volunteers, is led by Bill Colburn and "started
in 1995 based on the earlier work from 1947 to 1965
of the Rocket Motor Research Society."
They are developing hybrid motor powered rockets with
the initial goal of reaching an altitude of 62 miles
( 100km).
The groups also collaborates with Micro Aerospace Solutions
on a contract from NASA to study Gelled Propellants.
They also have three other contracts from "Stanford
Research Institute for Gas Generators and research on
Thermitic Materials".
Mark Goll runs this advanced rocketry company that
"provides suborbital space launch services, and
continues research in both low cost suborbital and orbital
launch vehicles."
Environmental
Aeroscience (eAc) - "manufactures hybrid
rocket motors for scientific, amateur, and hobby applications,
and conducts R&D for governmental applications. We
manufacture our hobby rocket motors under the Hypertek®
trademark." They also work closely with Cesaroni
Technology on these projects:
SourceForge
: The OpenVTVL Project - Open Source software
for in-flight control of vertical takeoff vertical
landing (VTVL) model aircraft using propellers or
rocket motors in a differential-thrust configuration.
AeroPac -
Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific
N1 project
- 22 ft model of the Soviet N1 moon rocket, including
42 first stage motors. The successful 3
stage launch on July 21, 2001 reached 1650
ft. Site includes lots of historica info on the
N1.
Amateur
Rocket Launch Assist (ARLA) - Glen Olson and friends
are creating a combination pneumatic tube launcher
and ramjet second stage. The tube launcher would provide
the initial speed of ~1300mph (2200kph) at which the
ramjet could fire. The ramjet
stage would then reach up to 20mi ( 32km) and 3600mph
(5900kph) where it would release a rocket third stage.
This Tri-Mode
Launch Assist concept was developed by
Glen Olson.
Stratofox
Aerospace Tracking & Recovery Team - "
team of Amateur Radio operators mostly in or near
Silicon Valley who perform or participate in tracking
and recovery operations for amateur rocketry and high-altitude
balloon ("amateur aerospace") flights."
Rocketry seems to be a growing in popularity
in the Great Britain. Several groups are pursuing advanced
amateur rocket development and going for altitude records
as well as the X-Prize.
AspireSpace
The "British Amateur Space/Rocket Program" works
on several high power and high-altitude rocket projects.
They have worked considerably on hybrid motors.
The Deimos
Project uses hybrid rockets to challenge altitude
records. The Deimos
3 is a 2-stage rocket that is 7meters high. Both
stages are recoverable.
Starchaser
Steve Bennett, a lecturer at Salford University, leads
the Starchaser project that has launched several advanced
rockets. The recent launch of the 11m, 747kg Nova
rocket received considerable media attention sucha as
an article at the BBC.
The project has developed into a commercial company
but still seems to involve students and volunteers.
The group's primary goal was the development of the
Thunderbird rocket for the X-Prize
contest but they did not get a flying vehicle buitl
in time. Another BBC
article describes the Thunderbird project.
Starchaser is now also holding a contest for a ride
on the Thunderbird.
