Led by Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen, Copenhagen Suborbitals is currently testing a series of booster rockets that will eventually launch a man into space in a small pressurised capsule called the Tycho Brahe-1.
The first of the outfit’s so-called liquid-oxygen powered Hybrid Exo Atmospheric Transporter, or HEAT, boosters will be launched off the coast of Denmark between 30 August and 13 September from a barge in the Baltic Sea. The booster will burn for about 60 seconds, enabling engineers to validate and test its performance.
Eventually, the engineers plan to use a similar booster to launch the Tycho Brahe-1 capsule into a suborbital trajectory.
During the first phase of the flight, the booster will separate from the capsule, after which the capsule will travel through a zero-g parabola, before re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. Then, a drogue parachute, followed by main parachutes, will be deployed to carry the capsule and its occupant safely back to earth.
The capsule itself only has enough space for one astronaut who must stand upright during the course of the flight, looking out through a polymer Plexiglas dome. Because of the tight space constraints, the astronaut cannot move around inside it either − he will only be able to move his arms to operate the control systems.
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Nanogenerator consumes CO2 to generate electricity
Whoopee, they've solved how to keep a light on but not a lot else.