If anyone out there is wondering what’s happened to their Andy Warhol-allotted 15 minutes of fame, then perhaps they should blame Peter Barrett – who seems to have more than his fair share. Peter might well argue with you, though – he reckons the real stars are the rockets he builds and fires hundreds of feet into the air for the benefit of the TV cameras.
Peter’s just been on the box in the second series of the BBC’s Technogames – billed as “the ultimate robotic sporting event.” The show features an Olympic-style contest for all sorts of robots in a range of categories.
Peter’s also had his rockets filmed as demonstration material for a forthcoming scientific series called ‘Blue Sky’, an episode of which will be devoted to rockets and space.
It’s not just rockets though – speed demon Peter also runs rocket-powered dragsters and boats – high speed models that can be raced across land and water.
Peter was on Technogames this time round as part of his team – Club HART. Hornchurch Airfield Rocket Team, as they are more formally known, is largely an organization for children with an interest in rockets – and rockets on the cheap at that. Contrary to what you might think, rockets can actually be launched for as little as £1 per flight, with starter kits available for around £15. Smaller rockets are black powder powered – “like fireworks but without the bang” – but many of the higher power rockets use the same fuel as space shuttle boosters – ammonium perchlorate. In much smaller quantities of course, or the local residents association might be forced to step in.
But far from being a nuisance to the residents of Hornchurch, Peter spends most of his free time encouraging local youngsters to pursue their interest in rockets – not only through Club HART but also by going into junior and secondary schools and showing pupils how they can launch a rocket in as little as two hours. That’s applied science and maths of a kind that really gets them interested.
“Not many people realise how accessible and fun rocket flying can be,” Peter enthuses. “It’s not just plastic tubes flying off into the distance. And you can use all sorts of stuff to build rockets – washing up bottles or kitchen roll tubes for example. I’ve even built one out of a baguette – we used crackers as fins and a tomato as a nose cone. It flew to about three hundred feet!”
If you’d like to find out more, the Club HART website (www.hartrockets.co.uk) has details of forthcoming events, and Peter can be contacted by email at pete@hartrockets.co.uk.