Publications Topics:

Books

ASP Conference Series

Monograph Publications

IAU Publications

Books of Note

Purchase through the AstroShop

Journals

Publications of the ASP (PASP)

Magazines

Mercury Magazine

Archive

Guidelines for Authors

Order Mercury Issues

Mercury Advertising Rates

Newletters

The Universe in the Classroom

ASP E-mail Newsletters

Special Features

Astronomy Beat

Contact Us

Mercury, July/August 2004 Table of Contents

Courtesy of P. Verhage

by Paul Verhage

A number of people have secretly harbored notions of running their very own space programs and conducting experiments in the vacuum of outer space. But most of us with such a dream have been grounded by the thought of massive expense. Or just the fear of being, well, "out there."

It is possible, however, to put together a "poor person’s space program" in your own home, with easily obtained materials and a meager (read "non-NASA") budget. An amateur near-space program (ANSP) is the home-garage version of a national space program. In an ANSP you launch functioning models of spacecraft into a space-like environment for 1/1000th the cost of launching a spacecraft into space. Here you can be a spacecraft engineer. Here you can perform experiments in an absolutely lethal environment. Here is a high-tech hobby unlike any other hobby you know.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from a feature article and would like to receive our bi-monthly Mercury magazine, we invite you to join the ASP and receive 6 issues a year.