Leveraging Common Technology and Programming for Amateur Spaceflight
summary
Copenhagen Suborbitals aims to put a human above the 100 km Kármán line using low-cost, common tech and iteration. Past flights include 2011 HEAT-1X and NEX rockets; one test shows a 10 cm crack that ejects 600 L fuel spill and destroys an engine, another cuts out at ~1.2 km from LOX pressure/mixture issues plus a parachute state-machine bug. Guidance moves from $20 MEMS to Analog Devices IMU units (~$3–5k), sea launches from ESD 139 sea launches, rebuilt fishing vessels, custom live video using snowX streaming stack. Upcoming NEX-class North Sea launch next summer.
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chapters (16)
- 0:00Amateur spaceflight intro
- 7:36Good enough rocketry
- 12:15Human-rated capsule design
- 18:02Heat 1X failure lessons
- 21:51Systematic testing design
- 24:04Determining which way is up
- 31:12Modern guidance limits
- 35:11NEX 1 launch failure analysis
- 39:27NEX 1 crash recovery
- 42:1780% of rocketry
- 43:41Volunteer space program
- 47:13Public relations and awareness in amateur spaceflight
- 49:03Live stream Baltic Sea
- 51:30Electronics and software
- 52:54Marine logistics
- 53:15Copenhagen Suborbitals timeline
