As far as I know, the kick-motors used on the Phase-3 birds were NOT cardboard tubes packed with homemade gunpowder. They were commercial grade motors obtained from the commercial aerospace industry. If I am wrong about this, and someone can jump in with facts, I'd be glad to hear.
On 09/21/2013 05:48 AM, Gordon JC Pearce wrote:
On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 11:23:29PM +0600, R Oler wrote:
While anything is possible I will be very surprised (pleasntly) if there is another amateur radio satellite with a liquid propulsion system that is managed by any amateur group that gets a ride into any sort of HEO transfer orbit.Ion engines might be different but after AO-40 and its propulsion issues the days of amateurs playing with rocket engines on commercial flights I suspect is over.
This is something I've often wondered about. "Oh hi, commercial rocket company, can we stick our homebrewed rocket into your billion dollar vehicle?"
When people with more oil than weapons stuff some mix of chemicals into a tube and crimp the end shut it's called an Improvised Explosive Device. We're supposed to somehow convince someone to let us tack our semitested bomb onto their flight? I doubt they're going to go for it...