"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
andrewpreece wrote:

"Ian Stirling" wrote in message
...
Andrew Chesters wrote:
Grunff wrote:
Ian Stirling wrote:

What sort of requirements are there on getting an account?


This varies a lot depending on who you talk to. There is supposed to
be
a minimum annual spend, but I've never had this enforced. I buy 2-3
loads a year.

Thanks.
How much is a dewar?

New a 25l dewar is about ?300, but you can get second hand ones for
around ?100.


Hydrogen peroxide vacuum distillation to make HTP for rockets is
annoying,
and I was wondering if O2 might be more usable.

Liquid O2 is a lot less readily available, but you can still get it
if
you try.

snip
I was initially considering a launch from around John-o-groats (sp?)
over
the pole.

That'll cost you in orbital velocity: you won't pick up anything from
the
earth's rotation in that direction. I assume you've done the
calculations
:-). I've been down to the ESA launch site at Kourou, French Guiana, and
it's there for a good reason, unobstructed launch path east over the
atlantic and only 5 degrees north. You'd better talk to the folks in the
Orkneys, they're due north of John O'Groats!

Not quite due north.
I'm budgeting for a very, very large contingancy delta-v, around a
kilometer a second, just in case.
Part of the design is to be able to cope with unexpected stage
underperformance, or the flame going out.

Fuel is cheap.

Fascinating: I thought at first you were making it up! AFAIK noone has done
anything like this, the X-prize contestants aren't anywhere near orbital
velocity and the performance needed in terms of fuel goes up as the square
of the velocity, and you reckon you've a km/sec delta-v as contingency! I am
all admiration Sir! I've seen other rocket groups' websites ( one group is
called MARS ) but none are quite as ambitious. The amount of human effort
needed to achieve the kind of performance you specify is considerable. Any
chance of a technical overview or is it all under wraps?

Andy.