Tuesday, May 13, 2008

A Rocket Engine for the Masses

PopSci.com covers The Viper, a rocket engine product at Frontier Astronautics. Lunar Lander Challenger Bob Steinke of SpeedUp makes an appearance in the article:

And whereas other space-tourism rockets are being built for one specific ship, the Viper’s design is so versatile, Bendel is building it on spec. “It’s up to the market whether people are going to buy it or not,” says Bob Steinke, president of SpeedUp, a start-up that’s using one of Bendel’s earlier engines to power its Lunar Lander Challenge entry.

There's also a video with Tim Bendel showing off the non-traditional Frontier Astronautics office and a heavy prototype version of the Viper.