Re: [amsat-bb] OSCAR on amateur rocket

["Robert Bruninga" <bruninga@xxxxxxxx>]

>... What about flying a small sat into orbit atop an amateur 
>rocket?...an amateur satellite could be built for under $10k 
>and launched on an amateur rocket for very little cost.  
>$25k for the whole project, or am I being naive?

What keeps satellites up is not altitude but speed.  Even the 
recent Multi-million dollar launch to space by a commercial
company arrived in "space" with very little speed.  Hence,
like a rock, it falls back to earth.

Once you get that high, you also have to add 17,500 MPH
in speed over and above getting there to stay there.

Hence, big rockets.  Believe me, if there was a cheaper 
way to get there, someone would have done it and be
rich by now...  Bob  WB4APR
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