Could i build a rocket from parts i get from a scrap yard, something that will get me into orbit?

Question

My friend has his own machine shop so the parts could be fixed up and made to fit together, i would base it on the old V-2 rockets or the Mercury Redstone rockets only a tad bit larger.

Answer 1

No. That would not be a feasible project. You need a multistage rocket to get into orbit. The whole fuel and ignition system is a bit more sophisticated than a model rocket. Have you ever been to the air and space museum? Look at some of the early rocket sections on display. I think you'll have second thoughts.

Answer 2

Didn't a kid on one of the star wars build a rocket? You been watching too many movies. personally, I thought that was the most unrealistic bit of science fiction I'd ever seen.

The fact is that our most impressive technology is most impressive because it has gone light-years away from backyard industry.

You have not thought this through, have you? You could make a great big firework rocket for instance, but have you given any thought to how you would guide it. When you watch the shuttle take off, what do you think keeps it on the correct trajectory - tiny adjustments to the power output from the various engines, and controlled by computer, and overseen by the controllers in mission control.

It took originally a team of the brightest minds in Germany years to develop the prototypes of the rockets we see today. At the end of WWII, the USA took all those rocket scientists to America, and from there the American space program was born.

I would say you would need $10 m bucks and a team of at least 20 experts to even achieve getting an unmanned rocket into space.

And don't forget the V2 did not carry men. Once you include manned flight, it is a vastly different ballgame.

Hey son, stick to computer games.

Answer 3

Yes. Conceiveably you could build a rocket from parts and materials that you get from a junk yard. However, the fuel to power your rocket will become the major obstacle you face. Rocket fuel is not available at any junk yard, and you will need more than a million pounds of it to launch a rocket into orbit.

Rocket fuel is just a little bit tricky to store also, and liquid oxygen, which is the other part of the fuel mix must be kept at extremely low temperatures until you are ready to load it into your rocket. Both the fuel and liquid oxygen are hazardous to handle and work around...They have this rather inconvenient tendancy to blow up. So, this entire plan might need some further thinking...

Answer 4

Even if you can create something that looks identical to a rocket rockets are very complex and since it is very complex you can't just go to any old machine store and build one!If Somehow you could build a rocket I dought it would even make it close to space.I don't think that your friend could provide a fuel tank with enough fuel to make it and also it is way to hard to build one yes right now you might think it will only take a few hours to build one and since you probably know nothing about rocket science it would take you way longer than the first people who built one which is way over a few hours and what about the blue prints where are you going to find someone smart enough to create some blue prints in only a few hours

Answer 5

Yes but its pricey. You wouldn't want to go back that far in technology. Check out the X-Prize contestants and winner. They had various approaches to the problem and I fully expect that Mr. Rutan will design an orbital system next.
Daryl Greenemeyer (sp) did something similar to put together his own F104 to hunt world's records with. However, the military noticed how he did it and have tightened up their disposal techniques somewhat.
The information is actually available if you know where to look, but since you are asking here, you are just starting to look. Figure on several degrees in Engineering with sub training in computers, a lot of money and a lifetime achieving it. If you're interested, no amateur has yet orbited a satellite on his own. There's a world record that would stand as a first. Just putting a 1 pound satellite up in orbit, any orbit, would cost upwards of $10,000 just for fuel. It would be easier, cheaper and more reliable to get rich and hire the Russians, Chinese or Japanese to do it for you.
If you wish to learn how to do this, I understand MIT has put almost all their courses on line. No degree unless you go, but the information is available. Everybody is born knowing nothing.

Answer 6

Theoretically you could. **** Rutan did it not too long ago. He spent a lot of money and launched from a high flying plane, but he won the X Prize with it.

Your odds of survival are slim, however. You'd be better off flying with Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic company.
(http://www.virgingalactic.com/htmlsite/overview.php)

The reason space flights are so expensive is that the big rocket makers are paid on a "cost plus" basis, which basically means they are able to charge the Government the entire cost of construction, plus an additional percentage for profit.

If your profits increased every time your costs increased, (not quite how economics work in the real world), what incentive would you have to bring your costs down?

Hopefully, private corporations will bring the prices down to something a little more affordable than the current costs of $10,000 per pound.

Answer 7

no longer stable in any respect (the certainty which you're even asking might desire to furnish a rather stable clue as to the prospect). in case you won't be in a position to safeguard worry-loose calculus (which you will might desire to calculate your direction and software the educational gadget) then you definately are thoroughly and fully screwed inspite of how stable you're at development issues. you have additionally the undertaking of finding gas and oxidiser on your rocket and you want an mind-blowing style of it. Hydrogen Peroxide does not particularly have sufficient performance to be a robust rocket gas for orbital launch if used as a monopropellant (nonetheless it does make a respectable if low overall performance oxidiser that would desire to enable a three point rocket to make orbit) which might additionally require a catalyst, normally silver. it is likewise extremely no longer trouble-free to purchase intense purity H2O2, notably if the chemical furnish companies comprehend you want it for a rocket (and you would be paying for many rail highway packing containers of the stuff for a manned launcher alongside with extremely an mind-blowing style of gas). nonetheless getting the propellant is the hassle-free area in comparison to particularly getting the rocket to artwork (seem at actual worldwide rockets and you will observe that the gas for them is extremely affordable in comparison to the value of the rocket). Then there is the desire for a existence help gadget so which you will proceed to exist in area (and it has to artwork, or you die) and a coaching gadget to be certain the rocket is going the place it extremely is going to. Rocket kit needs to be extremely-sturdy, notably once you're doing a manned challenge, and stuff from the scrap backyard in all probability isn't stable sufficient. do no longer situation too lots approximately area launchers being very such as ballistic missiles, it extremely is for people who particularly can build area launchers to situation themselves with, no longer you. you besides might have the undertaking of the thank you to come again down might desire to you someway have the potential to launch your self into orbit besides the certainty that in case you extremely have the potential to get your self in orbit without blowing your self up or crashing right into a packed procuring centre you may desire to in all probability determine that area out your self.

Answer 8

Sure, if you're suicidal. There's a reason that "rocket science" is used as a metaphor for "difficult and complex endeavor". It's not something the average Joe should attempt, and based on what I've read of your Q's and A's, you're pretty average.

Answer 9

Duct tape a chair on top of a barrel of kerosene, drop match, wait for results. Warning - Pregnant women should not attempt such an orbit, the speed is bad for the fetus.

Answer 10

It took NASA millions of man-hours to launch their first manned rocket into space. You think you can duplicate that effort by welding together some scrap metal?