Broadcast 657 (Special Edition)

Eric Knight, CEO of UP Aerospace, Inc., was the guest for this special Space show program. We began the interview talking with Eric about his amateur experiences and his having launched an amateur rocket to space prior to starting UP Aerospace. Eric stated it was very hard to do, outlined some of the many sacrifices that were made to be able to have a successful amateur launch to space. I asked about the total cost for doing this and he could not estimate it given all the volunteer labor and other contributions that went into the project to become part of the total development costs. We talked about the earlier UP Aerospace launch, the redesign of the tail fins to correct the problem that caused the first launch to be unsuccessful. Listeners asked Eric many technical questions about the launch, rocket flight in general, the rocket engine and fuel used for their rocket. We also talked about the flight profile, the types of payloads and their respective sizes that could be on the rocket and how the payload size impacts the altitude of the rocket. In response to a listener question about a New Mexico press story, both Eric and I talked extensively about the need for quality space journalism and the downside of sloppy reporting. Don't miss this discussion. Also in response to a listener question, Eric explained how UP Aerospace launches school payloads and experiments from grade school up. He explained and discussed some of the programs in place to financially support these student activities so that UP Aerospace can fly the mission at no cost to the students or their school. This is most innovative and its outstanding! Don't miss hearing what Eric has to say about this as it should be available to a broad base of school and students across the country. Toward the end of the program, ITAR came up and he confessed one of his strategies in dealing with it regarding Canada: He does not take a laptop with him when he needs to go to Canada to talk with his partner. You will want to hear what he has to say about this strategy and ITAR. We also talked reentry with him, we talked about AST and the regulatory environment and again, don't miss this discussion. To learn more about UP Aerospace, visit their website at www.upaerospace.com. To send Eric Knight a follow up question or comment, please put "Space Show" in the subject line and send it to information@upaerospace.com.