Earthmover cancels rocket launch for lack of authorization

The eccentric American who intended to launch himself into a steamboat of his own construction last weekend had his flight canceled. Mike Hughes was unable to host the event because he did not have a federal license to launch in a public area of ​​the Mojave Desert in California, USA.

Hughes even commented to the press that he had received a "verbal authorization" from the government to launch his rocket more than a year ago. However, it seems that the responsible bodies were not aware of this. "Someone from our local office contacted him after seeing some of these articles about the launch because it was new to them, " Samantha Storms, spokeswoman for the US land management department, told The Washington Post .

We need three days to assemble everything… You know, it's not easy because it's not something that should be easy.

In addition to this difficulty, the motor-home engine that would take the rocket to the California desert in question would have stopped working well the day Hughes intended to start his trip to the launch site.

“I don't see the release happening until about Tuesday, April 28, honestly. We need three days to assemble everything… You know, it's not easy because it's not something that should be easy, ”said the amateur rocket engineer.

Sponsored

Hughes's flight was sponsored in part by the earthmoving community, which helped him raise $ 8, 000 from the $ 20, 000 needed to build the reused metal rocket. Because of this, he intended to take pictures of the Earth - from the highest point of his trip - in order to prove that we live on a disk rather than a sphere (spoiler: it's a sphere).

What is interesting, however, is that he intended to do so with a flight of only 1.6 km, whose best estimates pointed to a maximum altitude of 550 m. It is not known, however, if there would be any reliable way to make the measurement.

The release must now be done in a particular area so that no federal license is required. We don't know if a live YouTube broadcast will still be made, as initially promised.