On Thu, 02 Oct 2003 21:39:48 -0500, John Carmack
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>It was clear from the first workshop that the regulatory requirements
>>would be more of a challenge than the rocketry ones.
>
>God, I hate that cop-out.
>
>Several amateurs have gotten regulatory clearance for 100+ km flights --
>Ky, HARC, and interorbital at least. None have managed the rocketry
>challenges yet.
No, I agree with Michael. The rocketry challenges were of the sort
the CATS Prize competitors felt they could meet. The regulatory
requirements were nebulous and difficult unto impossibility without a
$10,000 6DOF and the knowledge of how to use it. Now it may be that
the competitors were out of their league both technically and
regulatorially, but only the regulatory difficulty was really apparent
at the time.
And I've heard Ky's screed about the hassles of getting a waiver -
more than once - and I think he has more trouble with the paperwork
than with the rocket. (My advice to CSXT is to forget the amateur
exemption and just get a damn launch license. Or at least a waiver on
the burn time. Trying to get up to Mach 4 in 15 seconds - yikes!
That's God's own power density, and I'm not surprised the vehicle
failed. Going to 30 or even 60 seconds would make life a lot easier
on everyone.)
-R
--
"SEAL training is just like Ranger training, except
it's three weeks longer. It takes that long to teach
them how to balance the balls on their noses."
-- Doug Jones
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