Is Steve Bennett Getting Serious?

Starchaser once seemed to be something of a gimmick to sell merchendise and
website access, with nothing much to show but a few launches that wouldn't
have raised eyebrows at Black Rock. Lately though, they seem to have
actually been getting serious, especially since the XPrize has become fully
funded. They have a capsule built and drop tested, although I assume the
Nova 2 Capsule is not to be used for an Xprize attempt as it is not big
enough. They seem to have a good deal of support, and perhaps better
engineering then at their inception.

Do suborbital launch attempts in the UK have the same sort of beurocratic
hurdles to face as their counterparts in the USA? This is something I
haven't heard much about. Does Starchaser even intent to launch its X-prize
class vehicles from Brittain?

"Jon G" wrote in message ...
Starchaser once seemed to be something of a gimmick to sell merchendise and
website access, with nothing much to show but a few launches that wouldn't
have raised eyebrows at Black Rock.

But they do in the UK- Starchaser were one of the pioneering rocketry
groups in Britain (and they have the record for the largest rocket
ever launched from these shores)

Lately though, they seem to have
actually been getting serious, especially since the XPrize has become fully
funded.

They were serious long before the prize wasfully funded

They have a capsule built and drop tested, although I assume the
Nova 2 Capsule is not to be used for an Xprize attempt as it is not big
enough. They seem to have a good deal of support, and perhaps better
engineering then at their inception.


yep, its only a single seater. Next goal is to launch it with a pilot
on the Nova rocket (however the altitude they are aiming for has
dropped to 30k feet)

Do suborbital launch attempts in the UK have the same sort of beurocratic
hurdles to face as their counterparts in the USA? This is something I
haven't heard much about.

There isn't any regulations in the UK as we don't have any history of
spaceflight and no eqiv. of the AST (but the gov will prob not allow
launches as they would perceive the risk as too high. As there are
only two suborbital startups in the UK (only one of which seemd to be
making any progress), I doubt here will bother forcing the issue)

Does Starchaser even intent to launch its X-prize
class vehicles from Brittain?

I remember reading a while ago that Starchaser are planning to launch
from Australia or the states.

Andy

But they do in the UK- Starchaser were one of the pioneering rocketry
groups in Britain (and they have the record for the largest "High Power Model
" rocket
ever launched from these shores)

Dave

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dave Griffith
NAR 14156
The R.A.T.T.-works
Monterey Machine Products
1504-A Industrial Park Street
Covina, CA 91722 U.S.A.
http://www.rattworks.com