Starchaser Skybolt

I've been to a meeting today in Bradford and drove home up the A1 this evening,  stopping for a break & a snack at Wetherby Services.

As I came out at about 8.30pm I couldn't believe my eyes. Parked a few yards from my car was this truck carrying a space rocket. I thought maybe it was a model for some sort of exhibition. I only had my phone as a camera (wish I'd had my Olympus!) so this was the best I could do for a photo for today's blip.

When I got home I Googled it. It seems that this is a real prototype space rocket! Here's a short excerpt from the website:

"SKYBOLT is being designed to flight test a Starchaser rocket engine and prove the modular vehicle construction and secondly to achieve real space flight experience. The evolving design will be reusable, a trait that is almost unique compared to other existing sounding rockets. At around 800mm diameter and nearly 12m tall SKYBOLT will deliver a 20kg payload to a target altitude of over 130km (83 miles)."

There's a lot more on the web page here.

Fascinating! - to me anyway :-)

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