Traveling to the Edge

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.

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