hmmm, a fair bit of info, comparatively, but not really open source; not to knock the project, we certainly do need stuff like this to make space more accessible for researchers.

Step 1: go into space
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit
Step 4: Find a way to land safely

This does seem cool though. This would give the hacking community a chance to test their designs in true absolute zero conditions which may increase performance for some designs. Once we’re in space we can build our OWN station and instead of HAD we could have hack-a-space :P

@brian nonprofit is faster, and with less liabilities.

@Alex: Cosmos 1 wasn’t a hobbyist launch system, it used an old Soviet intercontinental ballistic missile launched from a submarine. The fact that it was old and being shoe-horned into a role it wasn’t designed for could, very well, have been the reason for the failure. That said, it, certainly, is possible for rockets to fail. That is why they have multiple full-sized prototype rockets planned for launch before they try a human payload. Is it a risk? Yes, but developing a new aircraft/spacecraft is always a risk no matter who does it.

I hadn’t considered the liability, you are right on that one. As for the speed, when things are reasonably well funded they are faster than if you have to beg or use your own money. I have been on both sides.

@Brian Aday
I don’t think there are many non-research reasons to send small stuff into space, if that’s what you were asking about profit (only example that comes to mind is satellites, which I think would be too big for this?).

@Alan

I don’t see how non-profit is easier. If you’re trying to turn a profit, it’s much easier to attract investors, who normally want a return on their investment.

Pure science/hobby is cool. For profit is evil. Leads to fake science.

Well, if you put a value on the experience of being in space, then it’s just a matter of :

How much would you spend to go into space and how many others would pay the same price?

@googfan – I’ll ride shotgun. I’m a big guy, so if we’re stranded and I die, you’ll at least have plenty of food :)

@Einomies are you serious? The general public does not have access to that kind of technology, thusly we do need to reinvent the wheel until we get access to it. If you want anything bad enough, you don’t take no for an answer.

They say you get no wheel; we’ll make one from scratch :P.

Alan: The point is, what then?

Even if you did have access to the technology, what would you do with it? You think governments are going to allow you to launch off from your back yard? Do you think you’ll be able to build it in the first place?

It’s like building your own cellphone. It makes no sense even if you could.

There are plenty of diffrent sponsors. I don’t think they all care about profit it could bring them in the end. What could Street Surfing possibly profit from going into space.

oh Sparkfun is a sponsor too :P

@Einomies: And yet some folks ARE building their own cell phones. http://www.opencellphone.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

More to the point, of course the individual is not going to build a launch a rocket in their backyard. But when groups of people with skills and interests are given access to information and technology there is ample room for innovation, improvement, and re-direction of these technologies. Basically, the more people working on a problem, the faster/better/cheaper the solution.

So does this mean that HaD readers will have the know-how to go into space in the not too distant future? I vote the trolls form the testing party for these new, untested rockets & shuttles.

As a side note, HaD better buy rights to HackALunarDay.com and HackAStardate.com before someone else gets ‘em.

@ms3fgx: thank you for that comparison, i feel you just closed this debate. personally i find this exciting, though any real hope for accessibility would be a little premature.

im not afraid of dying by blowing up or falling several miles to the ground, i think i would survive it because i have had plenty of opportunities to die, but it just doesnt happen.
i would take the 6 month journey to mars, or the short trip to the moon, but i don’t think i would fare too well without canned, carbonated, caffeinated beverages. send me to mars with a pop-up greenhouse, a shitload of mountain dew & pepsi or something, some seeds..
the co2 released every time i crack one open helps the plants, and if it gets out of containment, i slowly warm mars with my greenhouse gases. the massive amount of dew would weigh too much for space travel..
i would like to colonize mars though. greenhouse necessary, but also necessary.. an extremely high gain directional wifi antenna. lol
let’s hear your ideas on how to network mars.
not thinking data-relay satellites.
something like lasers, but more like a shotgun so you don’t have to aim..

And how do you test the pilots bodys reaction to g-stresses. Ofcause you make a deal with the local amusement park

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=da&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fing.dk%2Fartikel%2F106873-danske-astronauter-traenede-i-tivoli-forlystelse&sl=da&tl=en

“There was a time when people said the same thing about computers, you realize. Big companies and the government had them, what would an individual possibly do with their own computer?”

Yes, and what did the people do with the computers? You even had kit computers with full schematics, but were they useful in any way?

Nothing, and no. All the information was there, the technology was available, but it just wasn’t feasible for the layman to make any use of it. Then some guy in a garage built an Apple, set up a company around it, and all the kit computers quickly faded into obscurity.

The difference has always been that the Open Source movement is working post-hoc. They’re not the pioneers, they reverse-engineer and copy something that exists and something they want. Everyone else is already miles ahead. That’s why by the time they’re done figuring it out, nobody needs the information anymore.

It would be really cool if a non-profit blasted up a dbs satellite so anybody with a dusty old receiver could point and watch unrestricted tv

Copenhagen Suborbitals stuff looks good. I hope they continue to make progress. I’m reminded of another group who’s work I used to follow, the Reaction Research Society in southern California. They’ve published a number of liquid and hybrid designs over the years, but it doesn’t seem that any of their current projects are quite as ambitious as CS: http://www.rrs.org/main/

I’m curious how many terrorist organizations will apply for open source “experimental” rocketry. They too would probably freely disseminate their findings.

It’s not really fair, but I think there are a lot of subjects that necessitate closed control.

I dunno. One of the things that bugs be about the “open source movement” is its claim to newness. Amateur Rocketry (even at the scale that this project has reached (so far)) has involved a lot of sharing of information for a long time (pretty much only the recent contests (like X-prize) have resulted in any secrecy at all.) And shared software pre-dates personal computers… So I don’t know if there is much new here other than attaching a trendy label to a new field.

Not that what they’re doing isn’t good stuff, mind you…

I’m all for Copenhagen Suborbitals and all nongovernmental space initiatives [except terror as Agent420 points out]. But I agree with Brian Aday and others who ask: What’s wrong with profit? It works.

I am very green and environmental and don’t like toxic fuels and hazardous materials. And I am very anti-weapons in space whether wielded by government, military or terrorists. There is enough war on Earth. We don’t need star wars, SDI or interstellar war. Keep space green and peaceful.

I am starting a space company and it will have proprietary intellectual property. Anyone who cares to be on the ground floor before the Wall Street types arrive and buy us out (like Northrup Grummann did with Rutan’s company Scaled Composites) is welcome to contact me:

Box 4436, Rock Hill SC 29732 USA

I’m very serious.