14 DAY TRIAL // Have you ever flown a rocket? Probably not? Have you ever launched a miniature one though? Again, probably not, though the odds aren't as bad as for the other thing. If you think you can get your wish fulfilled by watching others do it though, now's your chance.
Rocket science isn't the easiest thing to grasp, and while making a miniature missile isn't as hard as constructing an actual space shuttle, it can still be pretty challenging.
You have to take into account a lot of things, like gravity, wind shear, air currents, aerodynamic shapes, fuel and battery power, etc.
Still, if you have the knowledge, patience and maybe a friend or two to help, it's possible to make your own functional rocket. Or in this case mini rocket.
There's something particularly special about the rocket revealed by a British team of amateur designers though, or at least unusual: the rocket was 3D printed.
The 3D printed rocket project
Bearing the name of "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator" or LOHAN for short, the project was sponsored by Exasol, a German data analytics firm of all things.
However, the world's first 3D printed rocket was actually made by a team from Britain, made of mostly amateur enthusiasts.
That doesn't make the rocket any less impressive though. Indeed, it makes it even cooler for us common humans, since it means the achievement isn't totally out of our reach.
Of course, that's as long as you ignore how the team was made of 30 people, and that some of them were accredited scientists, with diplomas like doctorates in aeronautical engineering.
The rocket will be launched later this year
The team needs to raise some money before they launch the rocket into the intended high altitudes of over 20,000 meters / 65,600 feet.
The rocket isn't even supposed to stay there. A helium balloon will carry it all the way up there. Only then will the onboard GPS ignite the engine, which will send the rocket flying into low orbit at 1,000 miles / 1,610 kilometers per hour. Getting the engine to fire at that height was the trickiest part, but the team managed it.
A Kickstarter crowdfunding project will be posted soon enough, meant to help turn the rocket into a marketable product. Since the thing cost £6,000 / $9,700 / €7,638 to print, the target sum will probably be of a hundred thousand or more. The applications of the LOHAN are said to be endless.
