Ron Paul Rocket message boards

[Rhys]

hey, i just set up a message board on the ronpaulrocket.com site so we can discuss the plans. i think it's about to be in the news. i just talked to a reporter yesterday

[yongrel]

oh. my. fucking. god.

[rp4prez]

is this really serious?

[amy31416]

Naw.

[Rhys]

it is serious now. we're about to be in the MSM and we have scientists and volunteers. it started as a joke but it's looking very possible for very cheap.

[ClockwiseSpark]

Zooooom!

[Athan]

So what's the project about?

[Jeremy]

it's only a "good idea" until you ask for donations here =)

so hopefully you won't do that... we have serious things to fund

[ClockwiseSpark]

it's only a "good idea" until you ask for donations here =)

so hopefully you won't do that... we have serious things to fund




http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f337/darcitamaria/SeriousCat.jpg

[Rhys]

So what's the project about?

we're sending a satellite into space which will broadcast Ron Paul's book from a satellite. I don't know how long it will stay in space, but we can get it there.

we can get 20 miles high with a balloon developed at Cambridge and chemical or gel fuel to get the rest of the way there. outer space is 50 miles according to NASA

it will bring a lot of news coverage.

it wont only be the first ever ron paul spaceship, but the first non-governmental agency to orbit and first NGA to broadcast from space and I THINK even reaching outer space. all for a target price tag of $10k. imagine that example of free markets being attached to ron paul's name. and imagine, forever in history, the first NGA broadcast from space will be his book.

[IPSecure]

oh. my. fucking. god.

What kind of God?

[Perry]

You people are a bunch of suckers.

[Andrew-Austin]

Rump... I mean blump... I mean bump.

[Rhys]

no one's scamming anything. it was my idea and i haven't asked anyone for money. i will allow people to donate because some want to and we need it, but i'm not asking. some people are interested in the rocket and don't care about ron paul. we have a MIT PhD who's at least helping. I hope she'll be in charge of the satellite. i'm probably going to serious up the website tomorrow before the article. if the article runs, it's in the national media, not my local paper, and will get picked up by the rest of the MSM. that means, we'll have a lot of interest. Even if we fail, it'll be worth the press for the book and effort to science, if nothing else. ron paul is a scientist too!

[Libertarian Ideals]

You might want to edit your grammar on your site.

"hobbiests" should be spelled hobbyists.

Other than that, looks good. You will probably get a lot of flak from kids on the interwebs, hopefully it will go over better offline and in the press, though...

[flames2dust77]

oh. my. fucking. god.

my sentiments exactly.

[Rhys]

You might want to edit your grammar on your site.

"hobbiests" should be spelled hobbyists.

Other than that, looks good. You will probably get a lot of flak from kids on the interwebs, hopefully it will go over better offline and in the press, though...

thx. i'm changing all the text though. taking out the mentos stuff.

it's actually going over way better than i thought it would. i'm not worried about it because it started as a joke. now i'm thinking about all the possibilities that were presented by simply putting up the website. people are emailing me through the form and offering help and advise. no one has emailed anything negative. best part is, I think it can be done. I never worry about failure... i've been succeeding at crazy things since I was a teenager. I've failed plenty too though.

[Paulitical Correctness]

/facepalm

[Rhys]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5398239411617988064&q=space+rocket&ei=QokuSLmfMJKc4gLB1ZHaCQ&hl=en

this is pretty much it here. expect i think ours can go higher

[fatjohn]

we can get 20 miles high with a balloon developed at Cambridge and chemical or gel fuel to get the rest of the way there. outer space is 50 miles according to NASA


Look I don't know you but i can say, and don't take this personally, but your physics are beyond wrong. 50 miles is just a number they picked out where the atmospheric drag resistance is low enough to circumnavigate the world a few times without giving the sattelite any boost. That is if it has the speed to counteract gravity with the centripetal force. To do that the spacecraft has to reach 7800 m/s or 28000 km/hr. A freaking balloon won't help you with that. For god sake look something up before you make the ron paul movement completely ridiculous. As an aero space engineering student i kinda find it insulting that you claim it's so easy that it can be done with just a few thousand bucks and a couple of amateurs working on it.

[SweetMona]

I finally understand how all of this works... When will this launch happen?

You need to do this ASAP right after MSM spread the news or there will be other people trying to stop your projects. I'm excited about this!

[tremendoustie]

I am going to assume this is still parody ... if so, keep the diet coke/mentos thing. You don't want to get so subtle most people won't get it.

If not, **facepalm** (and please stop)

[Rhys]

Look I don't know you but i can say, and don't take this personally, but your physics are beyond wrong. 50 miles is just a number they picked out where the atmospheric drag resistance is low enough to circumnavigate the world a few times without giving the sattelite any boost. That is if it has the speed to counteract gravity with the centripetal force. To do that the spacecraft has to reach 7800 m/s or 28000 km/hr. A freaking balloon won't help you with that. For god sake look something up before you make the ron paul movement completely ridiculous. As an aero space engineering student i kinda find it insulting that you claim it's so easy that it can be done with just a few thousand bucks and a couple of amateurs working on it.

lol the balloon's not going to space, it's just getting us extra alt. we're still using gel or liquid fuel.

I'm insulted you think it's going to be so impossible. it's 2008. This is from one of our team members. (who's MIT PhD, not just some undergrad like you. :p )


The usual way of accounting for the energy needed to get a payload to a certain orbit is called the "Delta V budget" or just DV, where D here is the Greek letter D meaning difference, and V means velocity. Now, velocity isn't energy, but it represents the energy because it the actual energy needed can be though of as momentum = mV (read: m times V) where m is the full mass of the system (payload plus thrusters plus fuel).

So you need to first get a DV estimate, and that will give you a fuel mass estimate, depending upon your engine (thruster) choice.

For a launch system, the DV is :

DV = DV_burnout + DV_gravity + DV_drag

where

DV_burnout is the velocity required for the desired orbit (each orbit has an associated velocity)
DV_gravity and DV_drag are velocity losses due to gravity and drag.

DV_burnoutcan be calculated, it's called the rocket equation and depends on the propellant mass flow rage and the exhaust velocity.
DV_gravity depends on the ascent profile and time of flight.
DV_drag is calculated using voodoo equations or from charts.

Now, if you want to stay in that orbit, a process called station-keeping, you need to budget more DV (and therefore more fuel) to counteract drag.

So, I can give you a good reference book for this, Space Mission Analysis and Design by Wertz and Larson.

want to help design the fins so we can get some descent laminar flow across them at 20-30 miles? Is that possible?

ps, where did you numbers come from? you don't know the mass of the vehicle yet.

[freelance]

Another highly amusing thread!

[PlzPeopleWakeUp]

nt

[pcosmar]

Hey now,
Just looking into things a bit.
Most available rocket engines being less than adequate, I did some searching and came up with this. Your team may want to look into them.
http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/
http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/images/rockets8small.JPG

[berrybunches]

I think its a cool idea. This really beats the blimp in cost and if the press is interested in it it REALLY beats the blimp.

Its really funny too! It is so silly that people will not be laughing at us they will knowingly be laughing with us.

Might as well try. Good for you! (although I am having trouble grasping the fact that this is serious, I hope it is)

[Rhys]

Hey now,
Just looking into things a bit.
Most available rocket engines being less than adequate, I did some searching and came up with this. Your team may want to look into them.
http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/
http://www.nortonsalesinc.com/images/rockets8small.JPG

good find!

[idiom]

This might be a good idea if you go talk to Elon Musk or someone.

Private Spaceflight is really weak at the moment, and bringing Space X or Bigelow Aerospace into the Presidential campaign discussion would be REALLY REALLY beneficial.

Most of them really really dislike NASA. Nasa is the most Socialist part of the US Government.

[IPSecure]

We can get 20 miles high with a balloon developed at Cambridge and chemical or gel fuel to get the rest of the way there. Outer space is 50 miles according to NASA.


Cool Idea!