Miloch
January 24th 18, 03:10 PM
more at
https://gizmodo.com/rebuffed-flat-earth-rocketeer-says-he-will-actually-lau-1822364177
When last we heard of “Mad Mike” Hughes, the 61-year-old limo driver and
stuntman who planned on launching a $20,000 steam-fueled rocket with “RESEARCH
FLAT EARTH” painted on the side some 1,800 feet into the air at 500 miles per
hour, the gosh darn government had intervened to tell him he couldn’t conduct
any such launch on public lands.
But Hughes has not been deterred, and in a number of posts on his Facebook page
he claims to have a real launch planned for February 3rd. This one will be a
vertical rather than horizontal launch, which Hughes believes will prevent him
from crossing over into public property and thus getting in trouble with the
government.
“That way we got enough buffer that when it lands, it will not be on [Bureau of
Land Management] property,” Hughes said in a video last week.
It’s still not entirely clear what Hughes intends to prove with the launch
because, as LiveScience noted, observing the curvature of the Earth requires one
rise some 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) above the ground. Hughes’ rocket will not
be capable of attaining anywhere near that height, which is good because videos
of his parachutes are far from reassuring.
However, our guy is not a huge fan of the scientific disciplines anyhow, as he
told the Associated Press in a prior interview:
"I don’t believe in science. I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and
how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and
thrust. But that’s not science, that’s just a formula. There’s no difference
between science and science fiction.
We’ve all been let down on this Flat-Earth-rocket stuff before, but Hughes seems
pretty insistent that this time there will actually be a launch.
*
https://gizmodo.com/rebuffed-flat-earth-rocketeer-says-he-will-actually-lau-1822364177
When last we heard of “Mad Mike” Hughes, the 61-year-old limo driver and
stuntman who planned on launching a $20,000 steam-fueled rocket with “RESEARCH
FLAT EARTH” painted on the side some 1,800 feet into the air at 500 miles per
hour, the gosh darn government had intervened to tell him he couldn’t conduct
any such launch on public lands.
But Hughes has not been deterred, and in a number of posts on his Facebook page
he claims to have a real launch planned for February 3rd. This one will be a
vertical rather than horizontal launch, which Hughes believes will prevent him
from crossing over into public property and thus getting in trouble with the
government.
“That way we got enough buffer that when it lands, it will not be on [Bureau of
Land Management] property,” Hughes said in a video last week.
It’s still not entirely clear what Hughes intends to prove with the launch
because, as LiveScience noted, observing the curvature of the Earth requires one
rise some 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) above the ground. Hughes’ rocket will not
be capable of attaining anywhere near that height, which is good because videos
of his parachutes are far from reassuring.
However, our guy is not a huge fan of the scientific disciplines anyhow, as he
told the Associated Press in a prior interview:
"I don’t believe in science. I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and
how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and
thrust. But that’s not science, that’s just a formula. There’s no difference
between science and science fiction.
We’ve all been let down on this Flat-Earth-rocket stuff before, but Hughes seems
pretty insistent that this time there will actually be a launch.
*