New(ish) Team:Delta V Factory

[Delta_V]

[rick m]

[Jay]

Pigs in spaaaaaace!

[pauldear]

There's already a bonus prize if you recover any part of the satellite... I'm prepared to add an equally large bonus if you recover _and eat_ any part of the system.

Re. flashpaper (from a while back) - I don't know if this is of any help, but nitrocellulose paper is available from biology lab suppliers. (It's used because it binds DNA... long story). I don't know how heavily nitrosulated (??) it is, but it does go whoomph when lit (another long story). But there may be other cheaper sources, or the DIY option mentioned above.

Bonus points to Rick for mentioning Pykrete, by the way!

Speaking of strange materials, has anyone here come across "Starlite"? If not, Google it (try "Starlite heat resistant plastic"). It was invented by (and I swear I'm not making this up) a former hairdresser, and is incredibly heat resistant. There are videos of it being tested on the UK TV program "Tomorrow's World". The guy who invented it never revealed the recipe, and is inconveniently dead, but I always thought it was an amazing material.

Cheers,
Paul

[SANEAlex]

[Jay]

[rick m]

Starlite, that's the stuff I've been trying to remember for years since seeing him do a blowtorch demo on a science show. As a volunteer firefighter, I always thought he had a problem by not revealing what it was. Besides the space application, it could have been so beneficial to so many other people and still make him a pile of money if that's what he was after.

Jay, that marshmallow will expand huge in the vacuum of space forming a great ablative shield during re-entry.

Rick

[Jay]

Unfortunately, “overly secretive inventor syndrome” has been an all too common affliction going all the way back to the guild system. On the other hand, the internet is transforming the process of bringing inventions safely and profitably to market, so perhaps stories like that of Maurice Ward and StarLite will become a thing of the past.

StarLite seems to be a composite or amalgam such as linoleum rather than a new polymer. Ward was clearly adept at experimenting with recipes for complex mixtures. Alex is probably on the right track, although I think he has underestimated the scope of the “inconveniently dead” hairdresser’s expertise. Gleaning Ward’s own descriptions of his process and trial and error with the same sort of substances available to him at the time would probably lead a careful experimenter to a recipe for a reasonable facsimile of StarLite. Maurice Ward might not have been formally trained, but he appears to have been nothing if not meticulous, so patience would have to be the primary ingredient. The potential rewards could make a prolonged investigation worthwhile though.

Rick, kudos from me too for bringing up Pykrete. I’ve been a fan of Geoffrey Pyke’s namesake since I first read about it as a kid. There’s got to be something you can do with a substance so simple and yet astonishing.

Paul, can they actually send a packet of a low-grade explosive such as flashpaper through the mail? “On time delivery, or else!” I’m pretty sure anyone reading this also has a “whoomph” story or two. Eyebrows? Who needs eyebrows?

Jay

[SANEAlex]

[Jay]