NASASpaceFlight.com Forum
International Space Flight (ESA, Russia, China and others) => Suborbital Missions => Topic started by: Star One on 09/11/2017 07:45 pm
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Couldn't find an existing thread for this.
The largest rocket to blast off from the British mainland has launched from Northumberland for a test flight, fuelling hopes that it could pave the way for commercial flights into space.
Built and privately funded by the Manchester-based firm Starchaser, the Skybolt 2 successfully fired into the sky from the back of a converted flatbed truck in Otterburn, a village 31 miles north-east of Newcastle in the usually tranquil Northumberland national park.
The 8.2-metre (27ft) carbon-fibre reusable rocket then broke into three pieces and returned to earth. The managing director of Starchaser, Steve Bennett, said: “We’re really pleased with that launch, the rocket went really well, it flew nice and high, exactly as it should do.”
Designed to fly more than 100km (62 miles) to the edge of space, Skybolt 2 is part of a scheme to test and develop space tourism rockets of the future.
Onboard was a science project from Sheffield Hallam University, commercial cargo, a number of video cameras and a stuffed toy dog called Sam – launched on behalf of Morecambe Bay primary school on the Lancashire coast.
Skybolt 2 is sponsored by the University of Chester, where Nick Avis, the pro-vice-chancellor of research and knowledge transfer, congratulated Bennett on his “fantastic milestone”.
The rocket will now tour thousands of schools as part of an educational outreach programme. Bennett is shooting for the stars with his next project: Nova 2 is “a 12-metre rocket big enough to carry a person” and is intended to launch within the next 18 months.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/11/largest-rocket-to-blast-off-from-uk-mainland-paves-way-for-space-tourism
Here's a couple of videos of the launch today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAFQo9KLCYc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-HN5-VzmJ8
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Looks like it went a couple of km up?
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Another Article
http://metro.co.uk/2017/09/11/biggest-rocket-in-britain-is-launched-on-first-stage-of-mission-to-reach-edge-of-space-6918730/
The 27ft ‘reusable’ Skybolt 2 research rocket was fired from the back of a converted flat-bed truck in Northumberland this morning and reached a maximum height of 4,000ft before it was lowered back down to earth by parachute.
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Was it supposed to crash like that?
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Flying someone to space even if suborbital in <2yr, maybe. Get them back alive, definitely not.
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Don't those parachutes usually work better if they're attached to the rocket?
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Couldn't find an existing thread for this.
Built and privately funded by the Manchester-based firm Starchaser, the Skybolt 2 successfully fired into the sky from the back of a converted flatbed truck in Otterburn, a village 31 miles north-east of Newcastle in the usually tranquil Northumberland national park.
Well, it certainly has been a while (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=19315.0). Everyone thought mr Bennet gave up on his quest ..
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Couldn't find an existing thread for this.
Built and privately funded by the Manchester-based firm Starchaser, the Skybolt 2 successfully fired into the sky from the back of a converted flatbed truck in Otterburn, a village 31 miles north-east of Newcastle in the usually tranquil Northumberland national park.
Well, it certainly has been a while (https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=19315.0). Everyone thought mr Bennet gave up on his quest ..
I found that afterwards and didn't know if it would be ok to resurrect such an old thread.
By the way is it completely accurate to say this was the biggest rocket launched from the UK mainland?
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I found that afterwards and didn't know if it would be ok to resurrect such an old thread.
By the way is it completely accurate to say this was the biggest rocket launched from the UK mainland?
Probably not, but i'd add 'Starchaser' as part of thread title here. Partly because Starchaser has some history of various interesting claims going back for quite a bit, and then a few accomplishments like flying massive clusters of Estes motors and claiming these to be the future. Also, setting lawns on fire now and then.
It seemed like after some activities after X-prize theri main business actually was speaking engangement with rocket mockups as a backdrop, so it's interesting to see a new thing fly again.
And on the biggest claim .. UK HPR folks probably have some commentary for this.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/158182467556407/permalink/1651075184933787/