Too bad boats are almost as expensive as planes.
I still think it would be great to have an offshore rig for launches{as
in abandoned oil rig) If there was just a way we could get a hook on
one. They have to be demolished at great expense. The government has a
lot of rules about how it's done. The oil companies are stuck on doing
it the same way all the time and when I was looking into it in the past
they just don't want to fool with it.
Perhaps though if we start our own oil company we could get one and
then decommission it according to those rules when it gets too old to be
safe anymore. Find a loophole there somewhere?
It usually takes a few years before they can even get around to demoing
one maybe an interim deal could be made with the proper insurance
arrangement?
I just hate knowing they are out there and could be so useful!
We need a friend(s) in the oil business.
Monroe
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [AR] Re: FTS (was Re: $1M prize for a student rocket reaching
100 km)
From: Ben Brockert <wikkit@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, September 15, 2018 10:36 pm
To: arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Sat, Sep 15, 2018 at 9:35 PM Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Indeed, they have already been convinced of it once, although for
well-proven professionally-built hardware in favorable circumstances:
Sea Launch's Zenits had no separate FTS at all. Per standard Russian
practice, they had a triple-redundant guidance system, which in the event
of unresolvable disagreement, shuts down the engines -- it has happened to
a couple of Zenits. No bomb on board, no radio link. And yes, Sea Launch
being a US-registered company, they needed FAA launch licenses. However,
getting this past the FAA was undoubtedly *greatly* eased by the fact that
they were launching from very empty ocean.
Many years ago I was told that they had the easiest licensing process
ever because their Ec was basically zero. I expect FAA efficiencies
have superseded that in the interim, but there's something to be said
for choosing a good launch location. Too bad boats are almost as
expensive as planes.
Remember that there's a not-at-all-tiny firmware codebase inside the GPS
system, which needs to be considered too. (Can high-end non-consumer GPS
systems have firmware bugs? Why yes, actually, they can -- although the
only such bug I have personal experience with was nothing so dire.)
A friend worked a project that led him to see the code running inside
Trimble GPS units and now refuses to consider them for any projects
ever.
If that means it would be getting its position data from the same GPS
system the control system is using, that would worry me. For safety, you
ought to have dissimilar data sources -- ideally, one GPS and one non-GPS
source, but at the very least, two separate GPS receivers from two
different manufacturers.
I don't agree, and the FAA hasn't mandated it.
Ben