At Mach 30 we believe everyone who wants to visit space should be able to do so–without raising millions of dollars first. In other words, we want humanity to become a spacefaring society.

Spacefaring – adj.

Pursuing a life in space: spacefaring peoples of the world; spacefaring nations. Fit for travel in space: spacefaring vessels.

We also believe that while government agencies like NASA and private companies like Space X may have similar end goals, their current paths will not lead toward regular space access in our lifetime.

Therefore, Mach 30 is organized as a non-profit organization (501(c)3 public charity) dedicated to the advancement of humanity into a spacefaring civilization. We believe the best path to that goal is through sustainable leadership, open source hardware, and the use of mature technology.

Why Sustainable leadership, open design, and mature technology?

Sustainable + Open + Mature → Spacefaring

Get Involved

Sound Cool? If so there are lots of ways you can join us. You could. . .

Build Your own Shepard Test Stand

The Shepard Test Stand is a test stand for Estes rocket motors. It is named after Alan Shepard, America’s first astronaut, as it is our first test stand. We anticipate using an Arduino board to provide the physical interface between the data collecting computer and the required sensors. This project is the first in a series of projects to develop the required skills for the practice of safe rocket engine operation, and to develop the capability to measure and record data about a rocket engine’s performance. The use of Estes class motors provides a relatively safe environment to learn in before moving to higher powered motors and engines. The ultimate vision is to develop test stands for full scale liquid rocket engines for use in orbital launch systems. Click here to learn more.

Take photos of (near) Space

We are working with Far Horizons, a program of Adler Planetarium in Chicago, IL, USA. to document and share their High Altitude Balloon (HAB) platform which affords researchers of all ages access to “near space” with a maximum altitude of approximately 100,000 feet (30480 meters). Our hope is this documentation will facilitate the experiments of other people with an interest in HAB use and research. Click here to learn more.

Hangout with us on Tuesday Nights

Almost everything that happens at Mach 30 starts (and sometimes finishes) in our Tuesday night hangouts The good news is you have an open invitation to join us! Contact us if you’d like an invitation. Then on be at your computer at 8:30 PM Eastern and wait for your invitation!

Explore the Website

Now that you’ve got the basics, please explore the rest of our site! We’ve gone out of our way to make as much of our work publicly available as possible, so with a little digging, you’ll be a Mach 30 expert in no time!

Looking for a good place to start?