Starship from high altitude

 aircraft, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., news, photography, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jul 282023
 

Starships first not-exactly-successful launch was filmed not only from the ground, but from the NASA WB-57 flying at altitude. Apparently at least five cameras were trained on the launcher; video from two have been released, while three remain classified. i would *assume* that the classified three display some combination of:

1) better tracking

2) Better image quality – better sensor and/or telescope

3) Different spectra… IR and the like

Even with the somewhat dodgy tracking and potato-quality images, these are interesting. You really get a sense of how Starship flopped around the sky at the end there. Which was both sad and incredibly impressive… no other rocket would have survived as long flying *sideways.*

 

 Posted by at 4:16 pm

No, those aren’t Ukrainian missiles in Mexico

 AARRRGH, dumbassery, Hmm..., news, politics, rockets, weapons, youtube  No Responses »
Jun 012023
 

A recent Mexican TV news piece showed a cartel member wandering about with a shoulder-fired AT-4 anti-tank rocket slung over his shoulder. A number of commenters immediately leaped to one or both of two wrong conclusions:

1: It’s a Javelin missile

2: It’s a missile we gave to Ukraine, which they then turned around and sold on the black market.

Number 1 is easy enough to debunk; it’s simply not a Javelin. Number 2 is more troubling: but then there’s a little detail on the launch tube that makes it clear that wherever the cartel got this thing… it’s not something to fret about too much.

 Posted by at 4:19 pm

Virgin Orbit sold off

 AARRRGH, aircraft, Crazy, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 252023
 

Given the vast amount of money spend on Virgin Orbit to develop a rocket that promised to be cheap, the fact that the company failed is no surprise whatsoever (see HERE). But their failure is other companies gains.

No one should be surprised Virgin Orbit failed—it had a terrible business plan

Stratolaunch bought VO’s modified 747 with the intention of using it to launch things. This probably makes a lot more sense than their gigantic ROC carrier aircraft… too much airplane for many missions, and not exactly capable of landing on every runway in the world. Big as the 747 is, there are a *lot* of airports with decades of experience accommodating it.

 

Stratolaunch Expands Fleet with Virgin Orbit’s Modified Boeing 747

And the New Zealand/American company Rocket Lab has purchased a fair chunk of VO’s infrastructure:

 

Rocket Lab Bolsters Neutron Rocket Program with Purchase of Virgin Orbit Long Beach California Assets

Good for them. Instant growth, and, hopefully, continued employment for some VO staff. And if nothing else at least the ChiComs didn’t get it.

 Posted by at 9:06 pm

US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol. 2

 aircraft, awesomeness, books, new products, news, projects, rockets, US Supersonic Bomber Projects Vol 2  No Responses »
May 212023
 

My next book, released for pre-order and to be shipped in a few weeks:

US Supersonic Bomber Projects 2

“The threat posed by the Soviet Union throughout the postwar period coincided with an explosion of innovation and can-do attitude among America’s aircraft manufacturers. Challenging requirements and experimentation resulted in a huge variety of designs for aircraft powered by nuclear reaction, aircraft capable of flying faster than Mach 5, advanced bombers able to land and take-off from the surface of the ocean, VTOL fighters and bombers, and many others. Aerospace engineer Scott Lowther collects some of the most radical and beyond-the-state-of-the-art ‘secret projects’ in this – the second volume of his US projects series.”

 Posted by at 6:31 pm

Stratolaunch drops a Talon

 aircraft, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 132023
 

Stratolaunch Successfully Completes Separation Test of Talon-A Vehicle

Stratolaunch LLC announces it has successfully completed a separation release test of the Talon-A separation test vehicle, TA-0. The flight was the eleventh for the company’s launch platform Roc and the second time the team has conducted flight operations in Vandenberg Space Force Base’s Western Range off California’s central coast.

 Posted by at 11:24 pm

“Journey to the Stars”

 art, awesomeness, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, Patreon, projects, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 062023
 

In 1983 “Science Digest” ran an article that 13-year-old me lost his tiny little mind over. Illustrated by Rick Sternbach, designer of, among other Star Trek vehicles and artifacts, the USS Voyager, it described a series of possible means of interstellar travel. While the physics and engineering of some of them have proven dodgy in the years since (the Bussard ramjet has serious problems with the proposed magnetic fiend, the Enzmann starship has turned out to not be as well thought out as many had assumed, etc.), it remains a tantalizing glimpse of what might be. The article has been scanned in full color and made available to APR Patrons/subscribers at the above-$10 level.

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.



 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:29 am

April 2023 APR Rewards

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, new products, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
May 012023
 

The rewards for April, 2023, have been released. They include:

Document: *Partial* Martin report on the M329 Mach 2 jet seaplane bomber

Document: “Flexible Wing Manned Test Vehicle, Final Program Report,” Ryan, December 1961. report on the development of the “Rogallo Wing” test vehicle.

Document: “10 Jahre TKF/J-90 Vorentwicklung,” conference paper from 1983 from Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm Gmbh describing (in German) the development of advanced fighter jets

Large Format: “NASA’s Space Launch System,” poster with detailed diagrams of the Block 1 and Block 1B SLS

CAD Diagram: B-1B weapons loads. This diagram was created and intended for my “US Supersonic Bomber Projects Volume 1” but had to be cut for space reasons. This includes gravity bombers, cruise missile sand the Vought T-22 “Assault Breaker.”

 

 

If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program. Back issues are available for purchase by patrons and subscribers.



 

 Posted by at 2:13 pm

Starship: RUD

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 202023
 

Well, it got off the pad. That’s good. But at least six of the engines didn’t seem to be burning, and the whole stack started tumbling just before stage sep… and then the stages didn’t sep.

 

 

But it got not just off the pad, but away from the pad, and made it a good way toward first stage burnout before things went sideways. So… a qualified woohoo.

EDIT: Just saw a different launch angle: It clawed its way off the pad at something of an angle. The thrust vector seems to have been off from the beginning; SpaceX is probably lucky they didn’t lose the pad.

Seems relevant:

Six of the 33 engines weren’t running:

 

 

 Posted by at 8:46 am
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