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Thunderstar aims to be first in space

Barbara Canning
30/12/2003

TAMESIDE'S space race team have revealed their latest plans for stellar success.

Plans for a new 89ft tall rocket have been revealed by the Starchaser team as they gear up to launch themselves into space and win the international $10m X-prize.

Project leader Steve Bennett said: "Following the recent success of our Churchill Mk2 engine firings we have now decided to build a rocket according to our new design.

"This rocket has been gradually developed over the last six months when things have just kind of come together and now we are just finishing off the finer points of the design."

Once the rocket is completed it will be capable of firing three people to an altitude of 100km or more. And if they are the first privately-funded project to succeed in this they will win the $10m X-prize - which can then be invested in the advancement of space tourism.

Steve said the new Thunderstar rocket is actually based on their original Operation Thunderbird design, which was mapped out at the start of the Starchaser project in 1996. But after a lot of in-depth research the Hyde-based team has now modified it to make the rocket slimmer and more economic.

"The Thunderbird design was a bit too powerful and expensive for what we need at this stage, so we made it slightly smaller and a bit thinner and renamed it Thunderstar," said Steve, of Dukinfield.

The team is now in the process of raising sponsorship for the rocket's construction - which includes three fuel chambers and the new Churchill Mk3 engine with a 15 tonne thrust.

For more information on Starchaser log on to www.starchaser.co.uk