Late in October, a group of amateur rocket makers launched Qu8K (pronounced Quake - after the video game) in an attempt to exceed 100,000 feet in altitude. The group's calculations showed they reached 120,000 feet, over 22 miles. This qualifies them for the $5000 Carmack 100kft micro prize, although since they had some troubles with their GPS locking during the flight, it's not clear they have applied.
Much more information at their web page, including a cool video that should be watched at full screen in HD mode.
There probably wasn't an equivalent rocket on Earth until the 1930s; today, a determined group can build one in their shop.
That makes what we built in High School physics club look pretty puny.
ReplyDeletePretty neat stuff, thanks for posting the link.
Absolutely! My Jr. High and High school rockets were the little Estes models, and a friend recently did some high-power rocketry that I watched, but this is in a league of its own.
ReplyDeleteI must have missed the geeky part. I didn't see anything geeky here. Nary a uP anywhere to be seen
ReplyDelete:)
I love my work, but more often than not it's payloads, not propulsion.
Q
Q - professionally, I've only worked on payloads, not propulsion, but that was long ago. Still, you don't need a uP to be geeky; that's just one subset.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they used some processors to design the beauty and there may have been a few in its payload, if you insist. ;-D