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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 2003)
SciITech 7A Fhursday, The Battalion Page 6A • Thursday, November 13,} ‘Space Odyssey > come true ‘Rocket Guy’ plans on being first private citizen to shoot self into spin w By Kyle Ross THE BATTALION fac WASH launched Seth Freeman • THE BATTALION As a child, Brian Walker spent hours in his back yard gazing at the stars and dreaming of becoming an astro naut. Growing up in the 1960s during Project Mercury, the United States’ first manned space program, he would lie in his bed and explore places only found in a young boy’s imagination. Now, years later. Walker says his dreams have not faded. Walker, now a thriving toy inventor, plans to take a ride some 30 miles upward in a rocket he has built at his home in Bend. Ore. If successful, he would break the altitude record for a private citizen. “I realized at a very young age that 1 would very likely never get selected for the space program, so if 1 was ever going to venture into space I would have to hope that the story portrayed in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ came true, or I would have to build my own rocket,” Walker said. Walker, referring to himself as “Rocket Guy," I said he still gazes at the stars some nights. But it is I not just a back yard he does his gazing in; it is in a | complex he has built that he has named “Rocket I Garden.” The complex consists of a three-story geodesic vehicle assembly building, a rocket scaf fold, the rocket itself and a distiller where he puri fies hydrogen peroxide, his fuel of choice. And what rocket garden is complete without a cen trifuge that gives him practice traveling under the effects of 6 Gs? gig. All of this, built mostly with his own hands I and the money he did not need for food, is a far I cry from NASA and its annual budget. At times, ! it might have seemed like just another dream or m unreachable goal, but Walker said he feels the only « way for space travel is his way. “1 have not been in contact with NASA, I although I have been contacted by a number of I NASA and ex-NASA people over the past several years. As to why I did not go that route, I firmly believe that the move into space needs to be a private, corporate effort if it is ever going to be feasible and actual,” Walker said. He designed the rocket to be catapulted into the air by a ground-based launcher. The motor in the rocket fires at the same time as the launcher shoots the rocket into the air. “This lessens the fuel requirements at liftoff and offers immediate dynamic stability,” Walker said. “Also the rocket is a mono-propellant type, meaning it is a single element. 1 chose to use 90 percent pure hydrogen peroxide.” The hydrogen peroxide is forced by compressed air into the engine housing where it passes over a silver cat alyst pack. The fuel immediately reacts to exposure with the catalyst, silver, causing it to expand 600 times its volume as it turns to 1380 degree Fahrenheit steam. jnscrupul lefraudin; sficiaries Phony expensive op of M agency pa share grev trillion in In mai □odomar heir Med nitted cla lified $ 16 [ban 20 st One of he Los . ivheelcha here. Afh Walker said he feels that using hydrogen peroxides steam, rather than other fuels that cause flames,a greatly decrease any chance of explosion. The premise of Walker’s flight plan is simple:Hi rocket will tly straight up, burning fuel at mately 90 pounds per second. Once the fuel is cot pletely exhausted, the fuel tanks will detach and he »i slow to a stop somewhere at the top of the Eanl atmosphere, just this side of the cold vastness of spa: Once there, he will switch on a small thruster in the! of the rocket, directing him back to Earth. Parade will deploy and float him home. The flight is expect! I to last 15 minutes. Peter McIntyre, professor of physics at Texas Aill said he can relate to Walker and his dreams of beci an astronaut. He said as a child in the late 1950s,he,In was fascinated with the space race. “I built and launched a variety of model rocket McIntyre said. "1 trained lizards as my astronautsli iheroom, whirling them in a home made centrifuge that IW he prose from the parts of a house fan that had lost its blades then launched the lizards that survived their training' Unfortunately for Walker, he does not have Ik he mote resources to build multiple rockets and testthein.li yiedicare the time comes, Walker will be his own lizard, s< thing that has McIntyre concerned. “This sort of mission is certainly doable tor asuil large endeavor w ith open-ended engineering andtecli cal support, but l believe it is very foolish for anii vidual to try to do it,” McIntyre said. “There isva; great risk that he wdll die in the trying, and life is tc precious for that!" Walker said he has heard comments McIntyre's dozens of times, but feels he has taken* siderable measures to ensure safety. He also because of these measures, the road to dreams has not always been an easy one. “Setbacks have come in all different forms, making mistakes and having to redo months of woitu lack of proper funding. There is a very long listofi? jwer IV that happen when undertaking a project of this tude. Just trying to maintain my life is soi impossible.” Walker said. “I did not undertake thfpv ect with the intent of winning a prize. I wanted ti 1 .' about it completely under my own schedule own discretion.” Doing things on his own is nothing new but it seems this quest he has embarked on more than just an endeavor for his own fulfillment. < all, he was not the only child who dreamed a dream those quiet, clear nights. “I used to think about space and dream about : an astronaut when 1 was little. But those are just tea You realize you probably won’t be able to do like that,” said Lance Staudacher, a senior eec - engineering major at A&M, “Hearing about 11 ^ building his own rocket is great. 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