It's taken us a while, and a not inconsiderable amount of head-scratching, but we've finally come up with a design for the Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator (LOHAN) launch platform.

 [1]Those of you who've been following LOHAN will recall the invitation to our beloved readers to present their best ballocket launch concepts, which attracted some top-notch ideas [2] on the best way to carry our Vulture 2 vehicle aloft.

We took all these suggestions on board, and found further inspiration here [3], following a tip-off from a reader who reckoned a triangular truss suspended between two balloons offered the best solution.

We were inclined to agree, and in the best garden shed boffinry tradition, set about putting together a model of a LOHAN flying truss. Cue some 6mm balsa wood dowels, and the Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS [4]) jig methodology deployed on the construction [5] of our Guinness World Record [6] Vulture 1 aircraft:

Here's one face of the truss progressing nicely. We used Super Glue to speed up the build, but reinforced the joints after assembly with PVA wood glue...

A sheet of balsa provides a platform for mounting test equipment...

...as you can see here on one finished face of the truss (two metres long, in case you were wondering):

---

Then it was just a matter of forming the triangular section...

...and sticking in the diagonal braces...

...before applying a coat of high-vis paint and handing the structure to apprentice boffin Katarina for the official roll-out photo:

We're just waiting on a bottle of helium and some balloons, and once they turn up we'll see if the thing flies with a camera attached.

Note that our cunning plan involves using the truss "upside down", but we're pretty sure it's strong enough in this configuration, which has the clear advantage of offering a substantial level launch platform and plenty of horizontal area to mount other kit, as you can see in our new LOHAN mission summary (click on image for a bigger version):

 [7]

So, next up is a test flight for our model structure, and if it does the job we'll get to building a full-size version from carbon fibre tubes. Expect dramatic video footage of the fantastical LOHAN flying truss in due course...®

Further LOHAN resources:

• New to LOHAN? Try this mission summary [8] for enlightenment.
• You can find full LOHAN coverage right here [9].
• All the LOHAN and Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) vids live on YouTube [10].
• For our SPB photo archive, proceed directly to Flickr [11].
• We sometimes indulge in light tweeting, as you can see here [12].

Links

1. http://regmedia.co.uk/2011/07/25/lohan_logo_big.png
2. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/09/lohan_launch_concepts/
3. http://www.jpaerospace.com/Tandem/tandem.html
4. http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/paris/
5. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/16/vulture_1/
6. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/17/paris_guiness/
7. http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/02/15/lohan_mission_summary.jpg
8. http://regmedia.co.uk/2012/02/15/lohan_mission_summary.jpg
9. http://www.theregister.co.uk/Wrap/lohan/
10. http://www.youtube.com/user/RegisterParis
11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/registerparis/
12. https://twitter.com/#!/regspb