Tuesday, July 13, 2010

NanoSat Centennial Challenge

The cost of getting to orbit is the real barrier to space exploration, settlement, and harnessing of off earth resources. The difficulty of the problem makes it hard for small innovative organizations to have a shot at making a launcher for commercially interesting payloads. Doing a nanosat launcher is not as difficult. The New NanoSat contest looks very good. If I had the resources to offer a significant prize it would look very similar to the NanoSat prize. I'd add some bells and whistles like a bonus for a reusable vehicle and a junior league 100gm category, but all in all it looks almost perfect.

Monday, July 05, 2010

More printed Motor Progress


The printed Motor parts are all here, I have a few things to finish and it will be ready to run.
I made the tubes for the fuel input too short and connecting to them is going to take some creativity. The end cap with o-ring grove, clearance for flow and fingers to push down on the cat pack turned out well:
:
I've sent out the order to get the catalyst retainers water jet cut.
All the bits and pieces should be here by mid month. If I will decide to brave FAR/Mojave in peak summer is a different question. There is a real possibility it won't get tested till mid to late September. Business continues to go reasonably well, this means that I should be able to ramp up my rocketry projects after the first of the year.