Constructions
Will you be releasing photos of the construction and testing of PARIS and Vulture 1 before the final launch?
El Reg space bureau firms up PARIS kit list
Our Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) programme is moving briskly along, and we've now put together an initial kit list for both the main payloads and Vulture 1 vehicle. PARIS: Sponsored by Peer 1 First up, after mulling the main payload, and just what we need it to do, we decided that we didn't really want to get …
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Top secret
If the actual construction/testing process is deemed to be a commercial secret, a playmobile reconstruction would do admirably.
Reconstructions
Will there be a Playmobil reconstruction of the construction?
re: Constructions
Good one, there, John.
I, for one, would love to see some of the wind-tunnel test footage.
Can't say your "vehicle rollout" would look too inspiring, though, as I'm sure wherever El Reg is working on this thing isn't exactly your KSC VAB.
This is Made of Awesome
I thought I was reading an actual NASA press release, particularly when it spoke about "kit clapping out."
Yay!
Thought you'd forgotten about it.
"To be honest, the prospect of entrusting the release to some form of electronic device gives us the willies"
Sounds like it would have been perfect for PARIS then.
Release mechanism
Hmmmm - syringes may be susceptible to the somewhat more dramatic temperatures you get up there...
What about an electromechanical release triggered by the needle of an aneroid barometer closing a circuit?
You must be kidding
And your electromechanical device and barometer will be more resistant to extreme cold than a glass syringe how, exactly?
Not kidding...
Both systems can be tested for functionality in a deep freezer or over a bath of liquid nitrogen. I'll wager, however, that a solenoid+battery triggered by a barometerwill provide more consistent results than a system relying on the amount of air in a syringe.
That's because the syringe system depends on friction and pressure, and friction is also dependent on things like moisture (is the glass wet or is there frost on it, etc).
Barometers can be bought ready for outdoor use, something that doesn't factor into syringe manufacture...
Exciting stuffs!
If the PARIS mission succeeds are there plans to go to the moon? If so, may I suggest the name "PARIS: Apollo 69"
Curses
A couple of mates and I were planning our own stab at amateur high-altitude phun this summer, but El Reg talking about it public means we'll probably be beaten to it by hordes of over-enthusiastic IT people flinging vast quantities of disposable income at it. I'd just like to warn anyone else thinking of having a go that it's REALLY REALLY HARD, and very expensive (apart from anything else you've no more than a one -in-two chance of recovering the payload, going on past launch stats, which means your custom flight computer, GPS, cellphone, shortwave transmitter (if you're going for the whole packet-radio live telemetry route), not to mention an expensive digital camera... plus all the blood sweat and tears you've put into it. So please don't bother trying. Not til next year, anyway...
PS Oh yeah and you need to give the CAA a month's heads-up to get a NOTAM out. Pilots tend to frown on aircraft drifting randomly through their flight paths, especially if they're not carrying a radar reflector and the first they know about it is a windscreen full of amateur geekery.
Grenade because _this is war_!
Pyros
Explosive Bolts (a.k.a. pyros). The only way to release anything in space. If you don't use this opportunity to play with them, what are you saving your fingers for?
cool!
I still want the batteries hanging below the wings with wee cones and fins and wires. Struts as well obviously? Hope it works:)
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