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Suppose someone wanted to take this hobby farther down the path, and start a rocket company similar to SpaceX. How would one avoid negative attention in doing s

Suppose someone wanted to take this hobby farther down the path, and start a rocket company similar to SpaceX. How would one avoid negative attention in doing so?

ChuckMcM 14y ago
Well there is a pretty large amateur rocketry group in the Bay Area [1] that goes out to the Blackrock desert and launches rockets. Generally such clubs are great resources for understanding the regulations and if pursuing things professionally the requisite licensing. I was related a story about how the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) stopped one team from launching because they had used a solar tracker attached to steerable fins to keep the rocket on track, the story went that once you had it tracking a heat signature with steerable fins it went from being a model rocket to a munition. I can't vouch for accuracy of the story but the teller was someone I respect and is quite an enthusiast so I give it a good chance of being basically true. So generally one considers the various elements of creating a rocket propelled munition and if you got too close to describing how someone could build one, I would not be surprised in the least if that person was approached by the BATF or the FBI asking you to limit what you publish. Or approached by people seeking to build such a device from 'scratch.' Even doing something as simple as hobby robotics I've had folks email me out of the blue on how to create a circuit that would let you activate a switch remotely but was hard to jam. It can conceivably be used for robotics sure, it can also be used for ill. I generally point people to Horowitz and Hill's Art of Electronics and tell them its all in there (which it is, but you have learn it to use it) but perhaps out of a surplus of caution I don't design such things for folks. [1] http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/amateur-rocketeers-reach-for-the-stars/ http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/amateur-rocketeers-reach...

Suppose someone wanted to take this hobby farther down the path, and start a rocket company similar to SpaceX. How would one avoid negative attention in doing so?

ChuckMcM 14y ago

Well there is a pretty large amateur rocketry group in the Bay Area [1] that goes out to the Blackrock desert and launches rockets. Generally such clubs are great resources for understanding the regulations and if pursuing things professionally the requisite licensing. I was related a story about how the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) stopped one team from launching because they had used a solar tracker attached to steerable fins to keep the rocket on track, the story went that once you had it tracking a heat signature with steerable fins it went from being a model rocket to a munition. I can't vouch for accuracy of the story but the teller was someone I respect and is quite an enthusiast so I give it a good chance of being basically true. So generally one considers the various elements of creating a rocket propelled munition and if you got too close to describing how someone could build one, I would not be surprised in the least if that person was approached by the BATF or the FBI asking you to limit what you publish. Or approached by people seeking to build such a device from 'scratch.' Even doing something as simple as hobby robotics I've had folks email me out of the blue on how to create a circuit that would let you activate a switch remotely but was hard to jam. It can conceivably be used for robotics sure, it can also be used for ill. I generally point people to Horowitz and Hill's Art of Electronics and tell them its all in there (which it is, but you have learn it to use it) but perhaps out of a surplus of caution I don't design such things for folks. [1] http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/amateur-rocketeers-reach-for-the-stars/ http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/amateur-rocketeers-reach...