Flatpack spacecraft set for launch
A flatpack spacecraft is being developed by a US inventor - and it could be on sale at your local DIY store within four years.
The "Kitten" would be big enough to take three adults to an altitude of 120 miles - half the orbit of the Space Shuttle, but high enough to experience weightlessness.
The vehicle would take off like a conventional plane before blasting into the vacuum at a speed of 2,500mph and gliding back to earth after a few minutes 'space travel'.
Its designer, James Hill, hopes to sell the reusable craft for as little as £325,000 - cheap compared with a £250 million shuttle launch.
Mr Hill, from Oroville, Washington, said: "It should be as reliable as any other kit - a boat, a helicopter or a small private submarine."
Although the laptop-controlled Kitten is built using ready-approved aircraft parts it would face scrutiny from regulators who currently limit the altitude of flights to 18 miles, reports New Scientist magazine.
Well, this would cheer the LUF up no end! It would also be useful for any nasty person who wanted to destroy a country by sending up a small warhead, and bringing it down onto the target. GPS anyone? The most worrying thing is you wouldn't even need a warhead made of anything more dangerous than steel, due to the sheer velocity of impact. Mach 26 is what the Apollo boys came in at. For a 100 kg lump of steel, that would be 3,907,280,000 Joules of energy. That's a big crater.
On a lighter note you can get to China in mere minutes, or out of any dictatorship in seconds. The prospect of crash-landings is a frightening one. Just like personal encryption, the world becomes that bit safer for freedom, however, if you are rich enough. Bit like at the moment, then?
On a realistic note, however, since NASA can't get a spaceplane to work properly, and developing countries like paskistan have spent years trying to develop a ballistic missile capability, is a $500,000 kit going to be realistic for a few years yet?
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