Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

ULA Interns Build, Launch Two Rockets

posted by janrinok on Thursday August 18 2016, @04:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

butthurt writes:

Interns working at United Launch Alliance have built and launched two suborbital rockets from a site in Colorado, according to a space.com story. Billed as the "largest sport rocket launched in the world," the Future Heavy was 50 feet (15.24 m) in length and was designed to reach an apogee of 10,000 feet (3 km); the Genesis rocket measured 10 feet (3 m). Several payloads were lofted, including "a kindergarten experiment in solar physics."

additional coverage:

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
ULA Interns Build, Launch Two Rockets | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 13 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @05:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @05:32AM (#389496)

    Mom! I just went on a suborbital flight!!

    Wow? Really! I had no idea! Why didn't you tell me?! How? When? Where!?

    Yeah, I caught a plane from Houston to Austin!

    ...

    Now I get it these are interns and all, but suborbital has a meaning. That meaning being getting into space, but not orbiting the earth. Space is considered to start at about 70 miles above sealevel, or 100 kilometers. Getting 3% of the way there is not a suborbital flight. On the other hand, this is ULA we're talking about so getting 3% of the way there and calling it a victory does sound just about right.

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Funny=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Funny' Modifier   0  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @05:39AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @05:39AM (#389498)

    In all fairness though they did probably break some records.

    Building a 50m rocket to go 10km is a 5:1 meter:km ratio. A geostationary orbital launch gets to 35,786km. At that ratio, a commercial rocket would be 178,930 meters high. And that'd certainly be something to see. Who needs to launch when your rocket is already in space when landed on Earth? Brilliant interns. Why has nobody thought of this before!

    • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday August 18 2016, @06:34AM

      by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday August 18 2016, @06:34AM (#389504)

      Volume increases with the cube of the linear dimension.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:38AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:38AM (#389525)

        As does the proportion of mass to lift! Damnable Tsiolkovsky holding us all back.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @01:13PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @01:13PM (#389570)

          "Delta V" is not as easy as you think.

  • (Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday August 18 2016, @06:47AM

    by butthurt (6141) on Thursday August 18 2016, @06:47AM (#389506) Journal

    Getting 3% of the way there is not a suborbital flight.

    Thanks. That was my mistake.