A 'nerd' shoots for the stars, and NASA comes knocking

How patronizing: "He goes to school dances (but not clubs) and has never had a girlfriend. Asked if his new science stardom might help land one, he replies: I haven't thought about that."<p>When will society ask the new starlets and Oscar winners how often they help out in the community or go to the library/museum/gallery when there isn't a gala on, or if they have ever written an academic paper which contributes anything to society?

I went to the Kennedy Space Center a while ago to watch the Shuttle launch with my dad who works for a rocket propulsion company.<p>I asked him what he thought about the magnetic launch idea...err "launch loop" as the article says...and surprisingly he said the idea wasn't so far-fetched.<p>One of the main problems with getting things into space is that you have to pass through a zone called "Max Q" I guess, where the pressure is maximized and can literally flatten you. The Shuttle apparently throttles back when approaching this point.<p>So propulsion isn't always the limiting factor. There are many different problems that occur when getting things into space.<p>One interesting side-note. He also thought scraping the Saturn V rocket was a huge mistake. Not only could it carry a massive payload, but it was equipped with numerous abort modes which aren't present on the new launch vehicles. Oh, and it had 100% mission success, which isn't true for the "new" systems they developed.

If you read the PDF linked from that site, you'll see an amazing amount of work for such a young man. Seriously, this guy has put a ton of effort into this, addressing everything from materials, to construction, government, food, cost breakdown, to even a timeline for how long it will take. It may not be feasible and I'm sure there is a lot he hasn't thought of, but this man should be commended for what he's done. I'm impressed!

"filled with detailed drawings done in Google SketchUp, a program he downloaded from the Internet."<p>Is it only me are is that a weird detail to a weird factoid?

The guy went to my high school! That's cool, but not that surpsising since they have an excellent gifted enrichment program. That's also why I went there.<p>In the 12th grade I remember there was a couple people doing cancer research at the hospital and another dude doing some kind of physics research at U of T.<p>Myself, I was using FEA software to test model aicraft structures and skipping exams to attend competitions. Fun times.

There is no language called "Hindu" (page 76) -- ah the ignorance of the "western" world.

Vaguely, but not quite the same level of glory, but I basically dropped out of high school when I was 15, but they gave us a quiz to do in the holidays around that time, with a £25 prize.<p>Me and a friend won the quiz (there was no Web in those days!).<p>I became briefly popular when they announced the quiz results in assembly [a gathering of students and the headteacher], except I was absent (ironically). I got girls asking me to buy everyone a drink.<p>Ah, such glory!<p>I even bought a Spectrum +3 with some of the money.<p>[postscript: The kid in my class who later went to Cambridge came second in the quiz, something I feel proud of, even if it's a hollow victory]