7 ms·

The DIY Danes planning to launch a man into space

139 points by cromulent 13y ago

Imagenuity 13y ago
It'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!
- kalms 13y ago
  They always launch from the Baltic sea, and test the engines in and around Copenhagen.
eksith 13y ago
I 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.
- gnerd 13y ago
  > 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?
  - eksith 13y ago
    Yep. Which is why we took enormous risks and end up losing 3 astronauts in Apollo 1, which wasn't even a proper spaceflight, on our way to beat them to the Moon. Russians lost 4 cosmonauts as well on 2 separate missions. Like I said. Poisoned well.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
jholman 13y ago
This 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/ 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ship_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ship_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9
- jonmrodriguez 13y ago
  http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ 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.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - barking 13y ago
    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.
    - jacquesm 13y ago
      It's actually a very gradual spiraling inward. This is because the momentum imparted initially is slowly dissipated (by impacts & interaction with the gravitational field of the sun), an extremely small factor. The question is whether the sun will go nova before or after we (or our sterilized remains) finally arrive :) That's not the only effect, all of this is counteracted by the decrease in mass of the sun and the tidal interaction between the sun and its planets (which slows down the rotation of the sun), both of these should push the earth outward from the sun. I'm not sure how it all works out (whether it is a net positive or a net negative) but it can't be much or we'd have drifted out of the zone where life is sustainable long ago.
ptrf 13y ago
Copenhagen 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 http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA Also, you may find more information on this page http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/support_us.php 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 http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart-pa-den-anden-made Kristian von Bengtson is blogging on wired.com: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/
bencollier49 13y ago
I immediately thought "Kerbal Space Program". This is extremely cool.
- rhengles 13y ago
  This reminded me of the 2006 film The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton.
  - bencollier49 13y ago
    I hadn't heard of that film at all! Will be watching it at some point in the future, it sounds like fun.
c10n 13y ago
For anyone not following the project, here is a small status of where they are (please note that I'm just lurking - any errors below are mine): Founded in 2008, as an open source and non-profit project. Currently about 40 people involved on a volunteer basis. The support organisation has about 800 paying members. The first major success was the flight of the HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe, a 6 meter 65 cm Ø rocket and launch vehicle, which was test fired over the Baltic sea on 3rd June 2011 and was aborted at an altitude of 2.8 km. The HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe was passively stable and propelled by a Polyurethane fuel with LOX oxidizer. After this, the focus shifted towards liquid propelled rockets (75% alcohol LOX) and currently the TM65 engine has been tested numerous times and is due for a launch next summer. In the most recent version the rocket is fed by a H2O2 driven Turbo pump and can provide around 65 kN of thrust. http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65 In parallel, work has been done on a number of other sub projects - the launch vehicle Tycho Deep Space II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_Deep_Space http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_De...) - the Launch Escape System (LES) - the space suit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU) - active stability system tested on the Sapphire rocket (http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php) which was successfully launched to a height of more than 8 km on June 23, 2013 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overvi...). Also, the plans for the next version of the rocket (the HEAT 1600) which might use either a cluster of TM65s or a single engine. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept-development-the-manifestation-of-dreams-and-ambitions-for-download/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept-... A manned launch is 3–5 years away
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139 points by cromulent 13y ago

It'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!

kalms 13y ago
They always launch from the Baltic sea, and test the engines in and around Copenhagen.

eksith 13y ago

I 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.

gnerd 13y ago
> 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?
- eksith 13y ago
  Yep. Which is why we took enormous risks and end up losing 3 astronauts in Apollo 1, which wasn't even a proper spaceflight, on our way to beat them to the Moon. Russians lost 4 cosmonauts as well on 2 separate missions. Like I said. Poisoned well.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]

jholman 13y ago

This 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/ 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ship_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Ship_One http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9

jonmrodriguez 13y ago
http://what-if.xkcd.com/58/ 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.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- barking 13y ago
  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.
  - jacquesm 13y ago
    It's actually a very gradual spiraling inward. This is because the momentum imparted initially is slowly dissipated (by impacts & interaction with the gravitational field of the sun), an extremely small factor. The question is whether the sun will go nova before or after we (or our sterilized remains) finally arrive :) That's not the only effect, all of this is counteracted by the decrease in mass of the sun and the tidal interaction between the sun and its planets (which slows down the rotation of the sun), both of these should push the earth outward from the sun. I'm not sure how it all works out (whether it is a net positive or a net negative) but it can't be much or we'd have drifted out of the zone where life is sustainable long ago.

ptrf 13y ago

Copenhagen 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 http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA Also, you may find more information on this page http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/support_us.php 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 http://ing.dk/blogs/rumfart-pa-den-anden-made Kristian von Bengtson is blogging on wired.com: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/rocketshop/

bencollier49 13y ago

I immediately thought "Kerbal Space Program". This is extremely cool.

rhengles 13y ago
This reminded me of the 2006 film The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton.
- bencollier49 13y ago
  I hadn't heard of that film at all! Will be watching it at some point in the future, it sounds like fun.

c10n 13y ago

For anyone not following the project, here is a small status of where they are (please note that I'm just lurking - any errors below are mine): Founded in 2008, as an open source and non-profit project. Currently about 40 people involved on a volunteer basis. The support organisation has about 800 paying members. The first major success was the flight of the HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe, a 6 meter 65 cm Ø rocket and launch vehicle, which was test fired over the Baltic sea on 3rd June 2011 and was aborted at an altitude of 2.8 km. The HEAT 1X Tycho Brahe was passively stable and propelled by a Polyurethane fuel with LOX oxidizer. After this, the focus shifted towards liquid propelled rockets (75% alcohol LOX) and currently the TM65 engine has been tested numerous times and is due for a launch next summer. In the most recent version the rocket is fed by a H2O2 driven Turbo pump and can provide around 65 kN of thrust. http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/tm65.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TM65 In parallel, work has been done on a number of other sub projects - the launch vehicle Tycho Deep Space II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_Deep_Space http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_Suborbitals#Tycho_De...) - the Launch Escape System (LES) - the space suit (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcZOsdoCjqU) - active stability system tested on the Sapphire rocket (http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/sapphire.php) which was successfully launched to a height of more than 8 km on June 23, 2013 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUPzFMJIsp2fOQ_ic5a_zXTA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcF5xNrb3HA&feature=c4-overvi...). Also, the plans for the next version of the rocket (the HEAT 1600) which might use either a cluster of TM65s or a single engine. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept-development-the-manifestation-of-dreams-and-ambitions-for-download/ http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/05/heat-1600-concept-... A manned launch is 3–5 years away

deleted 13y ago

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