[railsgirls112]

This is similar to a project I've been a part of called Operation Space, the difference being we are students not backed by one single university or organization. We've been monitoring USC's progress for months and they have been a great source of motivation, especially being that they held the previous altitude record at 144,000 ft.

We are actually launching out of the same site in New Mexico in about a week and looking to break the Karman Line and hopefully this new milestone. Link for anyone interested: https://operationspace.org/

[breitling]

Good luck! How expensive would something like this be? Is it something I can casually do with my grown up kids on weekends?

[railsgirls112]

Thank you! I don't have exact figures handy but short answer no, not at this scale at least. Manufacturing, design, materials, safety etc. all easily runs in the tens of thousands of dollars. We are on a much tighter budget, but AFAIK USC has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single launch.

[wallace_f]

The article doesn't really say anything to the parent commenter's question...

This was not possible years ago (the part about students being able to do it, not nation states). What improvements in design and tech occured?

[chasd00]

It has a lot to do with how much of a craftsman you are too. The really good people in the high power rocketry hobby can get above 100k feet on a budget of maybe $3-4k

These rockets are almost always 2 stage designs. The most expensive parts are the motors and electronics. Typically, you'll have redundant flight controllers for the booster and sustainer plus GPS/radio trackers to find them once the rocket eventually lands.

They aren't much different than the typical little hobby shop rockets just bigger and faster. The ones i've seen were maybe 8-10' tall, hand rolled carbon or fiberglass fuselages, and peak at around Mach 3.

[amenghra]

https://youtu.be/sQw_C5KLhFM is fun to watch. There’s more info here https://ddeville.com/derek/Qu8k.html

I don’t think they spent too much money, but they had access to all the right tools as part of their day job.

[deepnotderp]

Yes, in theory, if you happen to be an extremely talented rocket engine designer and architect and have about ~50-100 K lying around, you could in theory build a rocket that could cross the karman line. With modern technology, you could probably clone a V-2 if you were born a genius.

[mysterydip]

Good luck! I'm envious and inspired :)