

Copenhagen Suborbitals open-source private spacerocket will launch in an hour - mixmax
http://raketvenner.dk/launch/

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noonespecial
Every fact you learn about these guys is more audacious and awesome than the
last. Not just a rocket, one carrying a life size dummy. Not land, sea on a
floating platform they made themselves. Boat? Nope. Giant hand-made submarine.
It's the kind of mad, mad, science I dreamed of as a kid.

The story seems like it should end with "they don't always drink beer, but
when they do..."

~~~
cph1
Here's a picture of the rocket and the submarine:
[http://i2-images2.tv2net.dk/s/49/20942149-29ce372936dd69adf1...](http://i2-images2.tv2net.dk/s/49/20942149-29ce372936dd69adf1db85431752feb8.jpeg)

The picture was taken in September last year when the first (failed) attempt
to launch the rocket was made.

Here's a picture of the succesful launch today:
<http://www.bornholmstidende.dk/nonsec/NPIX/2011/6/Launch.jpg>

Video: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGmymAWI4E>

~~~
cph1
Btw., they only used their homemade submarine to tow the rocket platform at
the first launch attempt (last September).

This time around they decided to enable the rocket platform to sail on its
own: <http://politiken.tv/nyheder/videnskab/article1298751.ece>

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mixmax
Please donate, or become a member of the support organization (it,s 20 dollars
a month) if you think this is a cool project.

this is a private noncommercial opensource project, and the whole thing is
built on donations and people working in their freetime.

~~~
shii
Yep, all started by cool guys from Something Awful:
[http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=327...](http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3271649)

~~~
jarin
I totally forgot they were goons. These guys could quite possibly be the first
goons in history who actually finished a project.

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NickPollard
Liftoff!

First attempt the auto-sequence didn't start properly, but on a retry they've
achieved liftoff. The screams from the mission control feed gave me
goosebumps.

~~~
fbnt
Yes, that was exciting. Parachutes seems to have failed though the payload
looks fine. Anyway, great achievement, congratulations!

~~~
NickPollard
Yeah, that's unfortunate. Looking at the feed now, it seems that the capsule
has 'landed' intact in the sea. It remains to be seen exactly what condition
it is in when recovered.

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mixmax
There has been successful liftoff and supersonic flight at 16.36 local time.

Congratulations to copenhagen suborbitals.

~~~
arethuza
Thanks for submitting this - it was awesome!

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arethuza
Found this video of one of the Copenhagen Suborbitals guys giving a talk at
TEDxCopenhagen:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua9oGxNNGd0>

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bane
I love the notion of "I'd rather work with a guy who says 'I don't know
anything about it, but let's figure it out'".

That message is amazing, and I've found that has been a huge differentiator
between people who are stellar performers vs. people who are mediocre or poor.

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bane
Inspiring, they've actually _done_ something, on a shoestring, basically
hobbyists, that most _national governments_ haven't been able to achieve.

~~~
jodrellblank
I don't think governments haven't been able to achieve it, they haven't wanted
to.

If a hobbyist group built a skyscraper in two months on a shoestring budget
and it collapsed after a year, it would be a success.

If a national government funded a skyscraper, spent two months on it, and it
collapsed after a year, they'd be a laughing stock.

For a volunteer/hobbyist/amateur/donation group, this is enormously
progressive and successful; for a national space agency, it wouldn't be.

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blhack
Does anybody have a capture of the liftoff for those of us that missed it? :(

~~~
cph1
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGmymAWI4E>

~~~
blhack
Chilling. Thank you :)

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cph1
Video of the lift-off: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGmymAWI4E>

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armored
Adam from Mythbusters gives it thumbs up:
<http://ekstrabladet.dk/flash/filmogtv/tv/article1414320.ece> (Danish language
article)

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tdoggette
They're messing with the payload now, which appears to contain a dummy. Is
this the platform they're going to send a man to space with?

~~~
sschueller
And there appears to be a point-n-shoot camera mounted to its head.

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yxhuvud
A different stream at <http://sputnik.tv2.dk/live/?top#event-820>

~~~
sschueller
What's with the floating platform? The footage looks like it's from a Bond
movie.

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arethuza
You mean the floating platform attached to a _submarine_?

<http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/>

I hope someone has told the Russians:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident>

~~~
mixmax
Last year they ran into some problems when they called the danish navy and
asked 'is it ok with you guys if we tow our 115000 horsepower rocket through
danish territorial waters using the largest homebuilt submarine ever built?'

unsurprisingly, the initial answer was that it was not ok. They got it solved
though.

~~~
_delirium
There seems to have been some negotiation this year also, due to a conflict
with a NATO training exercise. In the end they ended up getting permission for
a five-day window, according to this Danish article (Google Translate link):
[http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&h...](http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpolitiken.dk%2Findland%2FECE1298975%2Fhele-
verden-foelger-dansk-rumeventyr%2F)

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guan
Photo: <http://www.bornholmstidende.dk/?Id=27155>

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Sukotto
I just missed it. Is there a replay posted someplace? The linked page is just
to the live stream.

aside: why don't any of the "live" video companies offer complete
rewind/replay? Why can't I go to the page linked in the OP and watch the whole
thing, even though it is no longer "live"?

~~~
sorbus
One of the comments says that it's on youtube. There are a few there, but I'm
not sure if one is official - none of them really look like it.

That does seem like a feature that would make a lot of sense for live videos
to have. Could be that there are patents preventing them, or something like
that, because it would make live videos far more valuable.

~~~
cph1
I'm not sure there's an official video. The Danish TV station TV 2 filmed the
whole thing from their news helicopter, and that is the footage you see on the
YouTube link I posted and on
[http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40453154:dansk-
rumrak...](http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40453154:dansk-rumraket-
sendt-i-luften.html) (there's a short commercial before the video that can be
closed).

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stephenson
The flight in danish news:
[http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40453154:dansk-
rumrak...](http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-40453154:dansk-rumraket-
sendt-i-luften.html?forside)

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kevinherron
What is the open source part of this? The sketch books on the website? Or is
there some software somewhere as well?

~~~
MikeKusold
I think that a lot of it hasn't been released yet: "We intend to share all our
techninal information as much as possible, within the laws of EU-export
control. " <http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/mission.php>

~~~
mixmax
That's correct.

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chrisjsmith
Thanks for the reminder - super-duper appreciated :)

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chrisjsmith
That was AWESOME. There is no other word!

~~~
chrisjsmith
Replying to my own comment... even the day after this is still just as awesome
:)

