CHUGWATER - The test turned out to be no match for the plume of fire trailing the Titan missile launch depicted on a poster inside the old Cold War silo, but it was deemed successful enough for a Space Age version of a bungy jump.

The partners of Frontier Astronautics, owners of an old Atlas E missile silo situated on the short-grass prairie near Chugwater, organized an open house Wednesday to showcase a vehicle being built on behalf of SpeedUp, a firm headed Bob Steinke, who is a recent California transplant now splitting time between Chugwater and Laramie.

Steinke's goal is to deploy a reusable, vertical takeoff and landing, suborbital rocket that can propel the paying public 30,000 feet into the sky in a matter of minutes and return them safety to Earth. "You can think of it as reverse bungy jumping," he said.

The launches would occur at the Chugwater site. "If somebody wrote me a big check today, I think we could do that in two years," Steinke said.

But first, Steinke needs to raise about $3 million in capital to further develop and perfect his vehicle, and part of Wednesday's rocket test was intended to attract potential investors.

Initially, Steinke figures a ticket to ride would cost about $3,000, but he hopes that figure would come down to a few hundred as the business builds.

"There's no reason we couldn't do 10 flights a day," he said.

But that's for the future. On Wednesday, Steinke was taking an incremental step along the way with the test firing of a vehicle called the "Laramie Rose," which is destined for a contest that could provide SpeedUp with a large chunk of the capital the company needs.

The Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge, to be held this October at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M., offers a $2 million purse. Among of the nine entrants in the NASA-sponsored competition will be the Laramie Rose.

During the competition, vehicles will simulate trips between the moon's surface and lunar orbit in a kind of latter day Wright Brothers demonstration of feasibility. The competition requires a vehicle to take off, hover and land.

The version of the Laramie Rose test-fired Wednesday did not fly. It was securely tethered over a blast pit inside the silo. Even so, with some modifications, this is the unmanned vehicle that will test its mettle against other competitors in New Mexico.

Except for the nozzle at its base, it was difficult to distinguish the hydrogen peroxide-propelled suborbital vehicle on display from an oversized water-heater covered in a golden-hued fiberglass wrap.

But as Mark Marasch of Frontier Astronautics began running through his pre-test checkoff, the countdown began taking on the aspect of a space flight, which was reinforced when earplugs were passed out along with verbal instructions on how to evacuate the silo if the test went wrong.

The actual test was viewed on a television monitor in an adjacent room. There were delays, followed by false starts, then cameras rolled.

Banshee-like screeching signaled ignition, which was replaced by a steady roar, and for about 30 seconds, white smoke belched from the vehicle. Then to applause, the test was over.

"It was perfect," Steinke declared, still a bit giddy. "It was a perfect run."

Business Editor Tom Mast can be reached at tom.mast@casperstartribune.net, or call 307-266-0574.

* Last we knew: Operating from an old missile silo near Chugwater, Frontier Astronautics is experimenting with rocket engines for what may be a new era in aviation history.

* The latest: The company on Wednesday test-fired the engine for a vehicle called the 'Laramie Rose,' which one day might offer suborbital rides to the paying public.

* What's next: The vehicle will compete in a $2 million NASA competition intended to help find a new lunar lander.]]->