Mach 30 is a 501c3 non-profit “dedicated to the advancement of humanity into a space-faring civilization…through sustainable leadership, open source hardware, and the use of mature technology.”
They’re starting small, with a test stand for Estes rocket motors. Their budget is fixed at $200, not including “consumables.” Their timeline is 3 months, assuming sufficient volunteer effort. Like this, only closer to the size of a microwave.
25,000 lb thrust LOX/propane motor run on available Horizontal test stand.
Mach 30 has an “open design pledge” rather than a traditional license: “In order to promote open sharing of the design of its hardware projects, Mach 30 will license all material related to hardware projects it creates under open licenses, asking only for attribution in return, without limits on the making, using, or selling of that hardware.” Basically, they seem to be treating the software as a solved problem, taken care of with the existing Apache License 2.0, but open hardware licenses aren’t as well developed, so Mach 30 is simply releasing them into the public domain.
Hey there and thanks for posting about the Shepherd Test Stand project from Mach 30! I’m glad to see that others are interested in the open source hardware (OSHW) realm as well. We started this project using the Open Design Engine (open design tool for OSHW project management – https://opendesignengine.net/). If you or your readers would like to talk more about our plans, please drop us a line!