Published:
Hermes Spacecraft Looking to Bring Personal Space Travel to the Masses
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Intel Developer Forum -- Like many
Americans coming of age during the time of the Apollo missions, Morris Jarvis
dreamed of someday blasting off into space. As a child he sat glued to the
television set as man walked on the moon, and he later studied aerospace
engineering in college. Over the years Jarvis built countless models of
spaceships, exhaustively studied the space shuttle program and even
interviewed real astronauts and NASA engineers. But even his friends and
co-workers were a little surprised when in 1993 he stopped dreaming and
started building a space shuttle in his garage in suburbanPhoenix.
Jarvis founded Star Systems Inc. and began working evenings, weekends and
vacations, even recruiting some of his engineering colleagues in his quest.
The result is a prototype of his Hermes Spacecraft, which is on public display
for the first time at the Intel Developer Forum.
Morris and his team are building Hermes out of their own pockets and
figure they need about $1.5 million to finish the test work and begin regular
space flights. The team is undertaking a grassroots fundraising effort to
secure the remaining dollars as well as recruiting other "dreamers" for their
mission.
"There isn't a geek out there who hasn't dreamed of being an astronaut,"
says Jarvis. "We're all dreamers."
Hermes, named for the mythological Greek God of boundaries and the
travelers who cross them, is a technological marvel loaded with some of
Intel's most advanced embedded chips including the Intel(R) EP80579 Integrated
Processor SOC product line and the Intel(R) Atom(TM) processor Z5xx series.
Intel technology powers most of the spacecraft's data gathering, test and
communications systems. Other companies assisting the Hermes team include ADI
Engineering, Dot Hill, GE Fanuc, MicroSun, and National Instruments.
Hermes' first flight will be an unmanned, tethered flight atUtah's
Bonneville Salt Flats in October during which Morris will control the
spacecraft from a remote cockpit on the ground. Numerous sensors and computing
systems will gather critical flight data and provide real-time feedback to
Morris and his flight crew. Once the tethered flights are completed, Hermes
will be equipped with an engine pod so it can be flown like an airplane,
unattached to the ground. In the future, Hermes will be towed to about 113,000
feet above the earth by an ultra-high altitude helium balloon, then flown back
to earth using the remote cockpit. Finally, another test will be undertaken
with an onboard pilot. If all goes well, Morris and his colleagues plan to
build a production version of Hermes and begin offering regular space flights.
"Hermes is built on the premise that anyone who wants to should be able to
take a trip into space," says Jarvis. "We hope to provide trips for about the
price of a new car."
About The Hermes Spacecraft
The Hermes Spacecraft is a commercial venture designed to provide
affordable space travel to enthusiasts and adventure travelers. The company
was founded by engineer and space "dreamer" Morris Jarvis in his garage in
Phoenix, Arizona. The Hermes prototype is scheduled for its first test flight
in the fall of 2008. For more information visit http://www.hermesspace.com.
SOURCE Star Systems Inc.
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Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
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