When these guys DIY, they don’t mess around.

I am big into the DIY spirit. I love tinkering, building things myself, and figuring out how things work.  For instance, I was pretty proud a couple months ago when I replaced one of the  brake calipers and drive shafts on my Subaru Outback a couple of months ago.  Then I read about the crazy Danes over at Copenhagen Suborbitals.

This is DIYx10^26.  Copenhagen Suborbitals describe themselves as a “non-profit suborbital space endevaour, with a mission to put a man in space sometime in 2012-2013.  That sounds pretty out-of-this-world, but it gets better.  The mission will be launched from a self-built, floating, launch platform, towed into place by the guys at Copenhagen Suborbitals OWN SUBMARINE.  This is some serious James Bond supervillian stuff!

In less than four days they will be launching the HEAT1X/Tycho Brahe mission, to test out an almost full-scale (640mm diameter) rocket with an attached crew module, complete with a dummy pilot.  The launch will take place southeast of Sweden, and as we speak the catamaran launch platform is hooked up to the submarine Nautilus for towing.

The eventual astronaut-bearing rocket will be larger (about 800mm), have a longer burn, and fly higher (the goal altitude is around 150km), but this will be the first of several flights to ensure that the flight will be safe and have the greatest chance possible of success.

Copenhagen Suborbitals is funded entirely by donations and sponsorships, and as of right now they are sitting at 95.8% of the 50,000 Euros they want to raise to fund this and other missions in 2010, so if you’ve got a couple extra bucks, consider heading over to their donations page and sending some there way.  Really isn’t the idea of DIY spaceflight more exciting than going out to eat this week?  Just in case you’re not sure, I’ll leave you with this photo of the HEAT1X and Tycho Brahe spacecraft mounted for launch and under tow by the submarine Nautilus.