This article was taken from the April 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Popular idiom treats rocket scientists as locked in an eternal battle with brain surgeons over who has the tougher job. In reality, any of us could construct a rocket in our garden that is capable of reaching orbit -- at a price. Richard Osborne, vice chair of the UK Rocketry Association, explains how.
The engine
It will have to be capable of pushing the craft to 34,200kph (textbooks claim 27,720kph, but that fails to take gravity and drag into account). "Unlike a car, a rocket doesn't have to convert chemical energy into mechanical energy," says Osborne. "All you're doing is igniting your fuel, and then kicking it straight out the back. The parts can be made on a lathe and a milling machine at home."
The airframe
"The body of a rocket is just an aero-dynamic shield," he says.
Aluminium or carbon fibre can work. "A crucial decision to make is how many stages you want. You can divide the velocity needed for orbit by how many you have. Three stages means each stage's engine has to take it to 3,000 or so metres per second each -- rather than 9,500 -- which is obviously much more attainable."
The avionics
Getting a payload into orbit is one thing -- the trick is getting it into the orbit you want. "Sites such as spark-fun.com sell off-the-shelf nav units which follow a course for you and adjust for things such as deviations in trajectory caused by losing stages," says Osborne. "They're incredibly difficult to code, though. In the UK, only a few non-professionals can do it."
The launch
The best places to launch in the UK are Northern Ireland or the Outer Hebrides. Going over the Atlantic, there's no danger of your rocket destroying someone's house. Since the Crown indemnifies all launches, there's a lot of red tape: "You'll have to clear it with the UK Space Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority. Building your rocket is the easy bit."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
