Project Eros: 62 miles and beyond

[Dylan_Michael]

Hello folks i come here every so often to see how the forum goes...anywho...my dreams of going to space have been realised and will come true. As of March 15th Porject Eros has been in fullswing. My crew and I have made designs and a website to give awareness of our project. Our goal is to reach 62 miles altitude (above sea level) and to come back safely to Earth. Here is our site: www.teameros.5u.com

[igor@af]

That's awesome!!
I think you should give more details about the project on the site though, and include some pics. How much money do you guys need total for the project? and the first group to do this will get $10 million, right? tell us more bout it, cause I want to have as much info as possible, sounds very interesting. Has anyone made any donations yet?

[Dylan_Michael]

Our main designs deal with a lifting body loosely based of the Russian Mik 105-1, the late installment for their shuttle. But b/c the buran was built off the plans for the shuttle, it got scrapped. The engine is a smaller version of the Linear Aerospike Rs220 engine developed between joint partnership of Boeing and Rocketdyne. We will modify to the integrity of our craft, depending on height width and length. We are incorporating the full spike, because ours will be smaller weight will not be a major factor. The frame will be made of welded metal structure, most likely in the base form of a triangle. The skins will be aluminum and be wrapped around the frame. It should not be longer than 30 feet, so its small and aerodynamic.

Our fuel capacitys are 937 LOX and 1337 Liquid Ammonia Hydrate. Those figures are in gallons.

Pictures will be up when I figure out how to work this damned scanner.

[MBTN]

1337?! That is LEET! 1337! w00t!

[Porsche]

That is cool. So you're team is in that race? I like Aerospike engines. Is your rocket going to be sinlge or multistage? Does it take off vertically or horizontally? Is there boosters or a single engine? Where are you getting parts from? How much is your budget? Have you contacted any large coporations for funding?

[Dylan_Michael]

We are officially entering when a model is made and passed our examination. We are looking into a Hydrogen Peroxide rocket, manufactured by www.tecaeromex.com . They put out great numbers, and in our small budget (which is fueled by sponsorships) it will be a cheap alternative to a fossil fuel burning rocket. You get 600x what you put in (gas to reaction) instead of 90 to 10 for a combustion rocket. It works on a chemical reaction with silver, that produces hot gas and steam, which is put through a rocket nozzle. Right now we are set to have it towed out or dropped by a mothership (plane) and then we wil fire the rockets. BTW, the rockets are the safest form of a rocket available, and the chance for an explosion (ie Challenger) drops dramatically b/c there is no combustion. Plus it is considered a "cool" rocket and can be used anywhere b/c oxygen is not needed. We are looking to join forces with TAM who makes the rocket, mainly b/c of the rockets and their composite materials. We plan on making a frame out of aluminum or possibly titanium. That help?

[Porsche]

Nice. What is the mothership? It's kinda like the X-1 thing then right?

[Dylan_Michael]

Like a B-52. A plane that can drop it at a certain altitude.

[Porsche]

How can you arrange that sort of thing? I know they used a modified B-52 to drop the X-15, but that is a rocket that NASA made to exceed speeds of Mach 6. I can see this is VERY expensive.