
Man to launch himself in homemade rocket to prove Earth is flat (not the Onion) - spraak
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/21/this-man-is-about-to-launch-himself-in-his-homemade-rocket-to-prove-the-earth-is-flat/
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asdgkknio
I wonder if he actually believes it's flat. It sounds to me like he might be
just trying to get funding. These kinds of stunts are obviously his passion,
but he repeatedly had trouble funding them. It's very convenient that his
conversion _just happened_ to get him the funding he spent years looking for.
Playing the fool to fund his dream would be a clever marketing trick.

I have no evidence that he's not sincere, but I'm not convinced either.

Setting aside the flat Earth craziness, "amateur astronaut" is about the most
badass hobby on the planet.

~~~
cirgue
Claiming that you believe the earth is flat is definitly not the weirdest lie
that's ever been told in pursuit of funding.

~~~
wallace_f
What would that be?

Anyways if you read the story, it's extremely suspicious how he suddenly
became interested in the flat earth conspiracy in a request for funding. And
if you wanted to prove the earth was flat a balloon, gopro-on-a-rocket,
daylight hours, or just some big sticks with a buddy at a different latitude
would be easier.

~~~
netsharc
I would say "A fool and his money are soon parted. We are here to help." is a
valid business model...

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dalbasal
This should (A) be thought of as an art project and (B) should be no. 1 on HN
right now.

It’s hard to know what to make of flat earth rocketeers, but my instinctive
response is “this world is kind of awesome”.

First (like another poster said perfectly), “amateur astronaut” is a badass
pursuit. 2nd is the possibility that there is a person who (A) can and will
build a rocketship and (B) can’t think of a better way to confirm that the
earth is flat. I kind of _want_ to believe this.

This (and maybe most flat earth stuff) is multi-layered. Maybe (most likely)
this is just a good PR narrative for this guy’s rocket project. Didn’t
RKA/NASA have semi-bogus scientific goals to justify pure engineering
challenges? I think a lot of flat earth stuff is trolls, jokes, devils
advocacy, cyber-age epistemology. If I let my self get ridiculously carried
away, I’d say there are some parts of flat earth world that rhyme with weird
(but at the time important) parts of the enlightenment. I’m thinking des
cartes, maybe Kant, probably others too. In my own narrative, these eventually
culminated in moderate, but very useful philosophy like that of Karl Popper.

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shakna
I find it hard to encourage this kind of pursuit, when he seems to have
difficulty with the danger aspects of this pursuit.

Last time he launched, he had difficulty deploying his chute and nearly died.

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danblick
Would it not be easier to launch a camera of some kind? Or are cameras in on
the conspiracy somehow?

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sorahn
"the glass is curved"

No, I'm not joking.

~~~
eh78ssxv2f
But the retina is curved too, so I am not sure there is even a way to convince
flat-earthers?

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cyberjunkie
What if he falls flat on his face, thus proving the Earth is indeed flat?

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jdlyga
This man is obviously compromised by the government and not a true flat earth
believer (sarcasm)

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oblib
I have never had the urge to launch myself in a homemade rocket and would
strongly recommend others not succumb to it if they get one, but I'm afraid
it's too late for this fellow.

I do wonder if he'll tell his fellow flat earthers he saw the curve in the
surface though.

And also how much he'll be charging for tickets to watch him launch.

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zaarn
I played enough Kerbal Space Program to be confident in my ability to navigate
a rocket to the moon.

I'm also confident I would create a red smear on the launch pad for the first
30 tries then suffocate in space or smear the moon for the next 30.

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rurban
That's a really brave man. He will most likely hit his head on the blue heaven
and loose consciousness up when hitting the top. Maybe he will even hit a
cloud. I hope he is prepared with a parachute.

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bastawhiz
He's only going up to 1800 feet, it sounds like. It seems like a flight on a
jet would be cheaper and more effective.

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imglorp
Or a cessna flight to 12000? Or hang a go-pro from a balloon like scores of
kids on the internet.

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King-Aaron
I have my doubts that his orbiter has the delta-V to make it into orbit. He
needs more boosters and far more struts.

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hug0
The best thing about this is that earth's curvature can be seen on his video
on his website. Aghhh!

[http://madmikehughes.com/](http://madmikehughes.com/)

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ramblerman
why not just pick a direction and start travelling. How does this theory even
work, do they have notions of where (they believe) the edges are?

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tom_mellior
If I understand correctly, the "standard" theory is that the edges are walls
of ice in Antarctica. Rather than the ocean surrounding Antarctica, it is
Antarctica that surrounds the ocean that surrounds all the rest of the land.

As for what is beyond the walls of ice... That's for another rocket to find
out.

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carreau
We all know that beyond the wall of ice is the Night King and the army of the
dead.

~~~
mlnj
But hasn't the wall fallen?

~~~
carreau
Spoilers! Remember the spoiler rules:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8IAhI-B6UU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8IAhI-B6UU)
(apparently you are fine). Winter is here.

