StarMariner.net SPACE

Commercial Space

There is a new era of inovation which appears to passing many people by.

In the mid 1990's enginners and enthusiasts began questioning who has the right to go into space . Prizes where set up to encourage people to be interested in making a commercial space vehicle that could transport humans into space.When Scaled Composites Spaceship one met this challenge, I was glad that I managed to at least get my name into space by sponsoring them through the X-prize.

Here in the U.K. Steve Bennett who was making rockets before any prize was announced ,started his own Launch Vehicle Company called StarChaser in 1992. At first they made small rockets no taller than a man, today starchaser industries are making Launch vehicles large enough to carry people into space.

I became interested and involved in a small way on the starchaser forums and met Steve on one occasion in 2006. He showed me around the factory at Hyde (UK) and I was pleased to see that Starchaser is dedicated to getting the average person, like you or me ,into space. I beleive starchaser will do this.

As of June 2007 things are changing for the supporters club and the forum is currently unavailbale till the Autumn .

To find out more visit the StarChaser.co.uk Website.

About Me

My main qualifications are in electronics, which partly led me to astromomy via the physics route, from how atoms work to the electromagnetic spectrum. I have a vast interest in outer space,
I can be watching an old 1950's Sci-fi movie one minute,my favourite being the day the Earth stood still, and the next minute i'll be working out real world time travel using Lorrentz transforms as part of a distance learning course. I have two certificates in astronomy , one is Planetary atmospheres and the other is the Science of science fiction, I have distinctions in both. I wrote a short story for one of the courses , I recently updated it and added it to my personal page, I'm no Jules Verne so don't expect to read what I think will happen in 100's of years to come. The story led me to the fascination with Nereid, a small moon that orbits neptune , I made calculations that I learnt from both courses and rare books to estimate its gravity and composition for fun. Best of all, I just like to look up at the stars, and thats how my interest in space began.

What ever your interest in space, I think I might have something here that you will find useful and interesting and get you inspired by whats out there and how we could get there, as much as I am.

Things I've seen

About 4 years ago I was driving home from Staffordshire , UK, on my way home Northward, when I saw one of the most spectacular things in my life.
A bright object caught my eye and when I looked to the passenger side of my car I could not believe it, a massive glowing object much bigger than a large aeroplane came from nowhere, it flickered and had a smoke trail behind it, there where no clouds in the sky , it was amazing. It only seemed to travel a few hundred metres then disappeared , but if it was at a high in the atmosphere it must have been travelling several miles in those few seconds. I assume it bounced off the atmosphere and went back out to space. I reported it to N.E.O. Near Earth Observations, but got no reply. I beleive it was just a meteor or possibly a piece of space junk burning up. I tried to make a small animation which shows a reconstruction of what I saw , but for now heres a simulated image, its accurate to what I remember but the location is Hoylake on the Wirral , Not Staffordshire. The body looks like its going toward ground but this was the mid point, its vector is skimming the top of the atmosphere.

There is Space for Everyone

About 7 years ago, I became very interested in Astronomy during some night fishing with some friends and realised how much clearer the sky is at night in the middle of nowhere, in the countryside. I decided then to find some way of getting more involved, and so, I joined Chester Astronomical Society. They met once a month and have guest speakers from around the world. On one occasion an Astronomer from the British Antarctic Survery gave a talk on Sun grazing comets, 4 months before it was televised to the world. One amazing trip we had, was in a little minibus to Powys in Wales ,Cymru, to a private observatory which was also the home of a lovely couple who kindly let us look through there large telescope , I think it was an 18 inches reflector but I can't remember. The sky was a Navy blue colour at night where the milky way and all the stars and constellations where, and looked just as you would see in a book. I was a member of the society for only 2 years but it was a very interesting and inspiring to time. Unfortunatly work commitments meant I couldn't go when I wanted too, but the society is still going and helping keep Britains sky light pollution free, so we can all see the wonders of the universe.
As part of the courses I took at John Moores Unversity I went to a MAD 'merseyside astronomy day' where I watched and listened to guest speakers in the Wirral Spaceports planeterium, talking about colliding galaxies and other amazing things.