‘Dreamer’ will begin spacecraft test flights

August 25, 2008 — Nearly everyone dreams of doing something great someday. Morris Jarvis is no exception. As a child, Jarvis dreamed of blasting into space just like the Apollo astronauts he watched on TV. But after years of researching, building countless models of spaceships and interviewing real astronauts and NASA engineers, Jarvis, an Intel engineer, stopped dreaming and started doing. In 1993, he started building a spacecraft in his garage in suburban Phoenix, even recruiting some of his engineering colleagues to help. That plan was later scrapped due to a lack of capital, but in 2003, Jarvis regrouped and began anew. The result is a prototype of the Hermes Spacecraft, which was on public display for the first time at the Intel Developer Forum Aug. 19-21, according to PR Newswire. Three unmanned tethered test flights will begin in October at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Jarvis will control the spacecraft from a remote cockpit on the ground and numerous sensors and computing systems will gather critical flight data and provide real-time feedback to Jarvis and his flight crew. If those flights go well and if $1.5 million is raised to finish the test work and begin space flights, Hermes will be ready for lift off by 2011. Hermes, named after the Greek God of boundaries and the travelers who cross them, looks similar to NASA’s space shuttle, but is about one-third the size. Intel technology powers most of the spacecraft's data gathering, test and communications systems. "There isn't a geek out there who hasn't dreamed of being an astronaut," Jarvis said. "We're all dreamers. Hermes is built on the premise that anyone who wants to should be able to take a trip into space.” Jarvis plans to offer two types of space travel. Some flights, which will cost about the price of a new car, will be launched via an ultra-high altitude helium research balloon carried up to 21.4 miles above the Earth. Other trips will be launched via rockets, allowing for about 15 minutes of weightlessness, at a cost of $100,000.

The Hermes Spacecraft will begin unmanned tethered test flights in October at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Morris Jarvis first started building what was to become the Hermes in 1993 in his garage. About $1.5 million must be raised before the Hermes spacecraft can become a reality.

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