STAR Systems - Hermes Spacecraft

Hey guys so I figured some forum members here might be interested in this Kickstarter project. A group of engineers are going to build a 10" diameter hybrid rocket motor to create what their investors call "buzz". I donated to this project and if you feel like space should accessible for everyone, these guys are the ones to do it.

www.kickstarter.com...

If you can donate, please do, and if not at least tell someone about this who might be interested.

I looked at their ideas, and if the 10" actually functions as designed I think this project could actually succeed. Funding is the main problem with any private space ventures. NASA contractors had lots of money and lots of time to design, test, and build the systems we have seen in the past, and granted that much of what we now know about rockets and spaceflight was only possible because of NASA, they still have the upper-hand when it comes to being funded.

And that's a shame, because if design teams like this had only a fraction of the funding available to these larger corporations, since NASA doesn't do all of their own building, we would have personal space travel by now. But that's just the way it is I suppose. These guys only have 5 days left to raise a little over $12,000, and since they've only raised a little under 8k so far, I'm not so sure they can do it. I hope they can, but it just isn't looking too great. Actually, I do not know how long it took them to raise the funds they have so far, so maybe they aren't as doomed as I am making out, lol.

I've never heard of this Kickstarter program, but it seems that those who offer money are not "investors" but more like "donors"...If this is the case, then they have done good to raise the money they have. I just don't see why they haven't sought out angel investors from the start, since their business plan includes this step at a later date. That way they don't have to stop and start based on funding. Just put the whole thing off until funding becomes available, and use that downtime to refine the designs, do more calculations, and polish everything on both the technical and business ends.

That's just my two cents, and I by no means think that I am 100% correct, so if you disagree with me, you may be right, lol. I know that there are people out there with tons more experience than I have, so it stands to reason that they can correct my mistaken ideas, or expand on any of the ones I got correct.

I really and truly do hope they are successful. What they are doing is exactly the thing I've always wanted to do. The Hermes spacecraft looks pretty cool too. However why does the title mention travel to other star systems? This rocket uses liquid(chemical) propulsion. It would take generations to reach the next star system with that technology. I'm still rooting for them though

reply to post by lostbook


STAR Systems is the name of the company.

Start Systems is the name....? Ok, that explains a lot. Thanks. I still wish they were into more cutting edge propulsion systems like Vasmir or something like that We need to get away from chemical methods for propulsion.

reply to post by lostbook


That would require a lot more funding. If this company is successful in their venture they can do some R&D into other propulsion systems. You can't take a leap when you are just trying to start a company like this.

Looks like they may actually reach their goal. I guess it would take a miracle.