Sign in / up

back to article Rocketeers aim for the Moon with first-stage £600k tin-rattle

A couple of lunar hopefuls have launched an audacious Kickstarter tin-rattle aiming to raise £600,000 towards sending a spacecraft to the Moon. The co-founder of amateur space outfit Copenhagen Suborbitals, Kristian von Bengtson, and "serial entrepreneur" Chris Larmour hope to raise the cash to get their audacious "Moonspike" …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. John Robson Silver badge

    Honesty?

    "Chris added: "I said right at the start of this project, if we take other people's money to do this, it's probably OK if we fail, as long as we genuinely try to do it and show people that we're trying properly along the way and not just coming up with a lot of waffle.""

    Crikey...

    You also need to have said up front that there is a real chance of failure, which you just did I suppose...

    1 0 Reply
    1. DropBear
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      Re: Honesty?

      Seriously?!? Anyone who seriously thinks that a rocket sent to the moon cannot possibly fail in any imaginable way needs to take his medication, stat...

      2 0 Reply
      1. John Robson Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        Re: Honesty?

        Yes - but there is a serious chance they won't even launch (and I don't mean failure at aunch, I mean they won't get to the launchpad....

        1 0 Reply
  2. adnim
    Joke

    IT Angle...

    The Mooon, a cool place for a data center.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: IT Angle...

      Moon is not so cool in sunlit areas... and without air and water can be pretty complex to cool your datacenter...

      0 0 Reply
  3. Little Mouse

    It looks like they're going to need a pilot.

    Where do I sign?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Elmer Phud
      Reply Icon

      Have you got a Playmonaut cosplay outfit?

      8 0 Reply
    2. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Where do I sign?

      (just so that I know where to avoid...)

      0 0 Reply
  4. Elmer Phud

    If El Reg has problems with the Authoritaies and launching a small craft then how long will it take for this to get in the air (and past it)?

    4 0 Reply
    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      I would imagine the Kenyan authorities are much more approachable than the USian ones.

      1 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        AFAIK the San Marco platform was used to launch solid-propellant rockets only, and it's years it has not been in use for launches. Could it support the launch of a liquid-propellant rocket which requires far more support for fuel storage and loading/unloading?

        0 0 Reply
      2. Dodgy Geezer Silver badge
        Reply Icon

        I would imagine that the Kenyan authorities require a lot more money for greasing palms...

        0 0 Reply
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Impressive, but...

    Why make their own rocket instead of piggy backing on a commercial LEO rocket? That way they only need to build the 3rd stage which means a quicker project and it's still (relatively) cheap.

    2 3 Reply
    1. Martin Budden Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Impressive, but...

      Because the whole point is doing it yourself.

      4 0 Reply
      1. JCitizen
        Reply Icon
        Big Brother

        Re: Impressive, but...

        Not if I'm going to give them my money! I might be wrong, but I would think it would be cheaper to simply hitch a ride with one of the Space X launches, and go from there - they could put the last stage on the rescue portion of the vehicle, which is not present on unmanned flights. However, if they actually think they can do it with 600,000 pounds(or dollar equivalent), then it may be cheaper to go their route - but I can't see how. They could make huge money launching satellites for 3rd world countries that can't afford communications launches.

        They are right about a failure - if they actually get one on a launch pad, I'll give them money for the next adventure, because even if it blows up - I will be gob smacked they got that far on the cheap!

        0 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Never gonna happen

    I'll put money on it...

    1 1 Reply
    1. phil dude
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: Never gonna happen

      That's the whole point...

      P.

      1 0 Reply
  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

    Couldn't hurt to ask if they'd be interested in collaborating in such an effort. And CSO have an impressive track record thus far. I'll be very surprised if the moonshot happens without some kind of collaboration with an already extant outfit, but good luck to them anyway!

    1 0 Reply
    1. Schlimnitz
      Reply Icon
      Mushroom

      Re: Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

      There's quite a back story here which our lovely El Reg hacks either omitted or didn't know about.

      KvB left CSO with some acrimony (fed up with his brilliant polymath co-founder's temper tantrums and abuse). He then moved to Mars One, another pie-in-the-sky project, though with a much bigger pie, in a much more distant sky. Not sure whether he ever really believed that was going to happen, or if he just needed the money.

      So if CSO+KvB have been trying for years and not got into orbit yet, how does he think he's going to get to the moon?

      If he did believe in Mars One, is there any sane reason to believe his judgement on this venture?

      I'll be putting my money into popcorn, not Kickstarter.

      UPDATE: having watched the video, 2 out of 7 members of the core team are: Photographer, Visual Artist. (Plus whatever 'Production' is - I suspect more likely to be video production than rocket production).

      'Nuff said.

      3 0 Reply
      1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
        Reply Icon
        Coat

        Re: Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

        "UPDATE: having watched the video, 2 out of 7 members of the core team are: Photographer, Visual Artist. (Plus whatever 'Production' is - I suspect more likely to be video production than rocket production)."

        So another high quality Scandinavian video product then?

        I shall look forward to viewing it.

        Not so much a jacket, more a rain coat.

        0 0 Reply
    2. imanidiot Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

      From what I understand Kristian von Bengtson was co-founder of CSO and didn't exactly leave on friendly terms.

      0 0 Reply
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

      Doh! ignore me - that'll teach me for speed-reading when I'm overtired.. (slaps own wrist, mutters to self) already associated with CSO y'daft biddy! Sigh... Sign me up for the Home for Aged Biddies!

      (heads off to downvote self for previous comment)

      2 0 Reply
    4. phuzz Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Flame

      Re: Why not team up with Copenhagen Sub-Orbitals?

      Sounds like they've managed to put that acrimony behind them, publicly at least:

      From here:

      "We’re thrilled about today’s announcement from Moonspike, a new crowdfunded, professional, space programme, founded by Kristian von Bengtson and Chris Larmour.

      Kristian was one of the founders of Copenhagen Suborbitals in 2008, but left us in March 2014. He’s still a close friend of the house, and lends his advice to us now and then.

      The plan is to fly an unmanned rocket to the moon, where a small penetrator will land and leave a “memory vault” of customer-supplied data in the lunar surface. Initially, 7 people will be employed by the programme in Copenhagen, lead by Kristian as Chief technology officer.

      4 of our members have joined the Moonspike organisation: René Olsen, Steen Andersen, Carsten Brandt and Flemming Nyboe. All will continue their work in Copenhagen Suborbitals as well.

      We are very excited and happy about Moonspike, which will be one spectacular adventure. No doubt, we’ll see mutual support between Moonspike and Copenhagen Suborbitals, since so close bonds exist beween us. It’s also fantastic news for non-governmental space flight globally, and not least for Denmark that now houses a space programme more.

      Go, Moonspike, Go!

      Everybody at Copenhagen Suborbitals"

      0 0 Reply
  8. TonyK

    I honestly don't understand. Why would I want to send my pictures to the moon in a USB stick?

    1 1 Reply
  9. Your alien overlord - fear me

    How much to put the mother-in-law on the rocket?

    3 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      You're an alien overlord, use your own damn rocket!

      14 0 Reply
    2. Mark 85
      Reply Icon

      Two thoughts...

      1) If you have to ask, it's probably more than you can afford.

      2) For a mother-in-law, no price is too high except for the whining from the "other half" about what you did to her mum.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        no price is too high except for the whining from the "other half" about what you did to her mum.

        I can think of a way to stop the whining... another rocket!

        1 0 Reply
        1. Robert Helpmann??
          Reply Icon
          Childcatcher

          "The good news is that your mom made it to the moon. What? No, there is no bad news. None at all."

          2 0 Reply
  10. imanidiot Silver badge

    Whilst I am all for DIY space solutions I do slightly question the need to burn millions to dump a special USB stick on the moon. Whats the ACTAUL value in terms of research and or data?

    2 0 Reply
    1. JetSetJim
      Reply Icon
      Go

      What's the value?

      > Whats the ACTAUL value in terms of research and or data?

      What's the actual value in climbing Everest?

      It's because it's there, and it's an adventure, and it's a bit cool. And as an added bonus it'll probably pee off all those jokers claiming to own the moon.

      1 0 Reply
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well

    1) Orbital test of EmDrive

    2) Testing of equipment that can't be done here on Earth, ie GHECR immunity

    3) Supercharged version of Earth to Sky Calculus

    4) Drop off LOHAN on the way

    5) Lunar torrent server using the 10 GHz band!!!!!!!!

    1 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re. Well

    How much power is there likely to be in the old RTGs the Apollo folks left up there?

    last I checked the locations were well known and $20 worth of thermal imaging should be able to locate them so the probe can deploy an arm with a few thermocouples.

    After 60 odd years the activity should be 1/3 of that when manufactured (assuming 87.6yr half life) so there should be enough to flash a couple of green Osram 200mW diode lasers once an hour.

    1 0 Reply
  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Technical correction.

    The article states: "The current plan is [..] a motor combining hydrogen peroxide and RP-1 [..] refined kerosene) in a hypergolic reaction" (for the space motor).

    Point of order: hypergolic means the propellants spontaneously ignite. Doesn't happen with that combination: you need something to decompose the hydrogen peroxide into (hot) oxygen and steam to get spontaneous ignition. There are lots of different ways to achieve that. Black Arrow used a silver plated nickel gauze catalyst pack for its hydrogen peroxide/RP1 powered engines. It proved reliable: the Gamma engines concerned suffered no failures in launching 22 Black Knight and 4 Black Arrow rockets.

    0 0 Reply
  14. caffeine addict

    Doesn't Kickstarter demand you have a working prototype? Isn't that what killed the laser razor thing?

    0 0 Reply
  15. JCitizen
    Go

    I have a feeling..

    that if they actually got a working rocket even partially built - suddenly some science project or another will want to go on board as well, and the memory project will take second seat to the new one. Of course, this would have to add negligible weight to the launch - but I'm sure there is always something science is curious about on the moon that could include a simple experiment. Can you fuse moon dust into some kind of concrete using an even simpler process not tried by the original moon studies? Just one idea that has useful future plans. A very small lightweight test machine could be added to the memory spike.

    0 0 Reply
  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    16 other efforts missed on the Google Lunar XPrize....

    I keep hoping that someone will succeed at one of these efforts. Given that we have been looking for a "homebrew" lunar project now for about 15 years, I am skeptical of any of them. 16 teams missed the deadline for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, and only a handful might still make it by 2017.

    Still hoping, but I'm realistically skeptical.

    0 0 Reply
  17. rdhood

    I think they can do it, but not for a mere million bucks. I think there is too much specialty stuff that needs to be made, too much engineering and other labor that needs to be paid, yada, yada, yada. The real competition here should, in fact, see who can create the cheapest shot to the moon with some type of working payload. $3 million? $5 million?

    To be clear, I'm all for these guys having a go. at least it will show what a project can do on a limited budget. If it runs out of money....well, that's what it tells us.

    0 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like