Leonard David writes about the growing interest and activity in high altitude ballooning: Balloon Flights Bring Near-Space Exploration to Masses – Space.com.
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Copenhagen Suborbitals: Hydrogen peroxide production
This video describes a system built by Copenhagen Suborbitals to produce rocket grade hydrogen peroxide:
From the caption:
Hydrogen peroxide in concentrations from 70 – 95 % is a storable, non toxic rocket oxidizer and mono propellant. It has been used with excellent results in both bi propellant and hybrid propellant rocket engines. Rocket grade hydrogen peroxide can be handled safely with the right procedures, materials and proper education of propellant technicians.
However – while cost is low, the availability of rocket grade hydrogen peroxide is very limited. It is close to impossible to obtain, even for established aerospace companies – because its propulsion use is a very small market.
As Copenhagen Suborbitals moves on to build a more power full pumped version of the TM65 LOX / bioethanol rocket engine a source for rocket grade hydrogen peroxide was needed. For reasons of safety, and to prevent the need for cross border road transport, large scale storage, and to have a reliable surply we decided to build our own hydrogen peroxide plant. Its integrated into a 8 foot shipping container and has a capacity of one ton / year. It converts easily avalible 30 % – 35 % commercial grade hydrogen peroxide into rocket grade material at 80 % – 95 %.
STRaND-1 Cubesat operational and now tracked by amateur radio operators
The University of Surrey’s STRaND-1 Cubesat (built with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd) is controlled by a SmartPhone is now being tracked by student and amateur satellite radio operators after its successful launch on Feb.25th:
Training for suborbital spaceflight – needed or not?
Kristian von Bengtson of Copenhagen Suborbitals is skeptical of the need for specialize training for people going on suborbital space flights: Why Training for a Suborbital Spaceflight is Just another Great Story at the Local Chesterfield Club – Wired Science/Wired.com.
I’ll note that there have usually been three reasons given for suborbital spaceflight training such as that provided at NASTAR Center:
- To insure that those with potential health issues, e.g. advanced age and cardiovascular problems, can do the flight safely
- To allow suborbital spaceflight ticket holders to practice the zero-g phase with parabolic flights so they can maximize their enjoyment during the five minutes at the apogee of their flight.
- To include training as part of the whole experience of the spaceflight, which is very expensive at this early stage.
These all seem perfectly reasonable to me and I expect training to remain a part of suborbital adventure spaceflights even if its true that most people would survive a suborbital space flight without it.
Prof. Jim Bell talks about exploring Mars, the Moon, asteroids and more with rovers and landers
Here is a video of a public presentation by Prof. Jim Bell of Arizona State Univ. on planetary and deep space exploration. Lots of great pictures.
In this talk Professor Bell will review some of the recent highlights from Mars surface missions (especially the continuing adventures of the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers), discuss the kinds of up-close contact science measurements that can be done from such robotic vehicles, and talk about how the lessons learned from these missions can influence future Mars, asteroid, and comet rovers and landers.
More at
- VIDEO: Watch Jim Bell’s Public Lecture at CalTech – The Planetary Society
- Exploring Mars, the Moon, Asteroids, and Comets with Rovers and Landers, Professor Jim Bell, Arizona State University – Keck Institute for Space Studies