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Edited by Michael Behar
Rocket Jockeys
Since our article on the nascent amateur space race appeared three years ago (see Wired 2.11, page 68), rocket buffs across the country have set their sights on the stars, and one group has come out on top. On May 11 - Mother's Day - more than a dozen amateur rocket builders from the Huntsville, Alabama, L5 Society (HAL5) shivered in the cold pre-dawn near the North Carolina coast, as they laid out lines, stabilized fuel temperatures, and readied themselves for a launch that would land them in the record books.
Standing just 7 feet high, HAL5's HALO Space Launch 1 rocket was fashioned in a member's garage from surplus military materials and fire extinguisher casings. This kept costs low: while NASA spends more than US$500 million to put the space shuttle into orbit, HAL5 members knocked on the door to the cosmos with a rocket built for a scant $8,000. The group's "rockoon" is powered by a high-altitude helium balloon that carries the rocket through the densest parts of the atmosphere until the engine is ignited on the final leg.
As Space Launch I floated skyward gaining about 600 feet per minute, a small camera affixed to the balloon's gondola transmitted live color video images to the ground crew back on earth. But at 60,000 feet and almost 90 minutes after launch, a balloon seam suddenly gave out. The ground crew then ignited the rocket's hybrid fuel, concocted from a combustible mixture of nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and ordinary asphalt, which thrust the craft toward space. One-and-a-half minutes later, 36 nautical miles (about 218,000 feet) over the Atlantic Ocean, the rocket petered out, just 14 nautical miles shy of the US-defined space border. But it was the highest amateur launch so far, more than doubling the previous record for an amateur rocket set by a group from Vermont earlier this year.
The rockoon recently caught the attention of NASA, which will provide $15,000 for HAL5's next launch sometime this fall. Vance Houston, NASA's project manager for High Altitude Launch Systems, says the agency supports amateur efforts, seeing them as a way to excite young people about space. But Houston remains skeptical: "This will provide access to space but will not enable people to orbit a payload or satellite around Earth." A useful payload would weigh 100 pounds or more, which no amateur rocket will ever carry, says Houston. Nevertheless, HAL5 member Ron Lajoie thinks it could happen in his lifetime. With the support of NASA, the group plans to launch a rockoon with a 7-pound payload this fall.
Amateur rocketeers put in long hours (HAL5 members spent three years designing, building, and testing Space Launch 1), and many are motivated by the desire to someday live in space. The Huntsville group is a chapter of the National Space Society, whose 25,000 members worldwide advocate "creating a space-faring civilization." Greg Allison, HAL5's program manager, feels limited by our terrestrial grounding and says we must leave this planet to ensure our survival. Lajoie envisions a space tourism industry, perhaps offering honeymoon cruises between the Earth and the moon. "I grew up on Lost in Space, Star Trek, and Apollo missions. I'm an explorer at heart, and I want to go to space," Lajoie says. Amateurs say traditional space programs put satellites in orbit and conduct scientific experiments but often leave out the public. "This is about providing cheap access to space for students, amateurs, or anyone," explains Lajoie. "Our program is a baby step toward that."
Jim Rendon
Crash Test
Israel's transportation ministry, spurred by the skyrocketing death toll on the highways, outlawed the use of cell phones in cars not equipped with the legally prescribed dashboard microphone. But why stop there? When David Cronenberg's latest film, Crash, (see Wired 5.05, page 184) first opened in the Jewish state, Israeli transportation minister Yitzhak Levy petitioned to outlaw the movie. It wasn't the film's graphic sex he objected to, but the fact that Israeli drivers might wish to emulate its driving. The Israeli High Court of Justice refused to bar the premiere. It probably understood that much of Cronenberg's cracked opus was already old hat for Israel's murderously aggressive drivers. So far this year, more than 200 people have died on the roads in Israel compared with the mere half-dozen or so deaths in Crash. Drive safely.
Ion Storm Rising
When we last spoke to Doom designer John Romero in Wired 4.08, he'd just put the finishing touches on id Software's latest creation, Quake, then promptly left the company with plans to start his own gaming venture, Ion Storm. Since then, Romero has leased the top two floors of the Texas Commerce Center in Dallas, partnered with Tom Hall (id cofounder and former designer/producer at 3D Realms) and Todd Porter (a former vice president at 3D Gaming). Ion's key heuristic: "Design is law," says Romero. "That's what makes games successful."
But can Romero's team compete in this saturated market? Its first release comes this November with Daikatana, in which a player travels through time trying to rewrite history. And Romero, the man who helped invent the virtual splatterfest, is sure this is the first of many successful Ion titles.
