Feb 202011
 

In May of 1962, JPL put out a report on a Nova-class space launcher that was designed to use nothing but solid rocket motors. Such things have been designed from time to time… but never as downright butt-ugly as this horrible monstrocity.

No concession to a little thing I like to call “aerodynamics.”

Payload delivered to Earth orbit was to be 500,000 pounds, about twice that of the Saturn V. At the time this report was published the Saturn V and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous were already the chosen routes to the moon, but this design was put forward as a contender for post-Saturn V missions to the moon and beyond.

This design was based on prior JPL design work, and included a modification of the Convair direct-lunar-lander (i.e. the Earth return capsule lands on the lunar surface, nor rendezvous between command and lunar modules). It was compared to another all-solid Nova-class rocket (by the Grand Central Rocket Co.) and an all-liquid design from Rocketdyne.

 Posted by at 10:05 pm
Feb 202011
 

Remember when  reading these that Sarah Palin has made the occasional reference to firearms.

[youtube y0DuqAi6gFQ]

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but if people said these sort of things about obama, wouldn’t the Secret Service kinda take notice? What’s the rules and regs about threatening a sitting governor?

 Posted by at 2:23 pm
Feb 192011
 

A Boeing design from 1973, the 767-642C was meant to represent an advanced “Terminal Area Compatible” jetliner.  Capable of cruising at Mach 0.90 with a range of 3000 nautical miles, the 767-642C was to carry a payload of 40,000 pounds. Four 23,200 pound thrust turbofans were fitted, the outboar pair being *very* far outboard, almost to the wingtips.

This was a followon program to earlier studies of advanced technology transports that used substantial area ruling in order to cruise efficiently at a higher Mach number (well within the transonic, though not supersonic). See HERE and HERE for more on these. While higher cruise speeds would shorten the trip time, they would not help much if the concessions to high speed meant that the plane spent more time in the area of the terminal due to taking longer to load and unload, as well as flight restrictions due to noise and flightpath. So the new designs were designed not with maximum flight speed, but with maximum efficiency near the airport. Quieter engines meant they could fly lower and on better flightpaths; more conventional fuselages meant easier and faster loading and unloading.

Now, if only they could design a plane to make the security checks only take a few seconds, rather than a few hours…

 Posted by at 7:52 pm
Feb 192011
 

So, ok, there’s this movement. “Sovereign citizens” declare themselves to be, essentially, their own country, and their home is their embassy. They are not bound by state and federal laws, and don’t have to pay taxes.

Umm… no.

While on a certain level I sympathize, the concept is fundamentally kinda crazy. Right up front is the fact that if, somehow, you actually were your own separate little nation, you’d have no right to be on the street in front of your house, as that is *American* territory, not yours. You’d be an illegal alien.

And it turns out that if you declare yourself a Sovereign Citizen, sometimes people can take it kinda serious. If you happen to be a cop, those people taking it kinda serious just might be your employers. And by “taking it serious,” I mean “firing your illegal alien ass.”

According to Wiki, there are something like 300,000 “Sovereign Citizens” in the US… one person out of a thousand. As the power of the FedGuv grows unrestrained by rationality, budget considerations or the Constitution, expect this number to only increase as people try any damend thing to get out from under it.

 Posted by at 4:27 pm
Feb 182011
 

Remember how Tea Partiers/Sarah Palin/Glen Beck were giving subtle hints to carry out acts of violence against Democrats… and how everyone was supposed to play nice these days? Gentlemen…. BEHOLD:

http://madison.craigslist.org/rnr/2222232713.html

OFA/SEIU calling to Bloody TeaBaggers (Madison Capital)

Date: 2011-02-18, 6:49PM CST

President Obama has called on all members of SEIU / OFA as per Dave Seman of Organizing for America
to bring the fight to the Tea baggers if they get in your way Bloody them send them back where they belong
we helped do it in Egypt lets make the change here!
To repeat:
bring the fight to the Tea baggers if they get in your way Bloody them
In other words, a  blatant call for violence in case someone who disagrees with you “gets in your way.”
 Posted by at 11:54 pm
Feb 182011
 

From 1975 comes this Piasecki concept for a hybrid heavy lifter, the Model 97-X-0011 “Gargantua.” A Macon-class dirigible (with one center section removed) is mated with four CH-53E helicopters to create a cargo zeppelin “Heli-Stat” capable of lifting 280,000 pounds of payload. In this case, the cargo is shown as a Space Shuttle Orbiter.

It’s a neat idea, but the one heli-stat that c built came to a very quick, very sudden and very permanent end during a test flight in 1986:

[youtube _7jENWKgMPY]

The PA-97 Heli-Stat was brought down due to the structure being shaken apart. It certainly *looked* like a crudely-cludged assemblage… combining the appearance of both a whole lot of mass and a whole lot of frailty.  A lack of precise controls between the wide separated choppers, combined with winds and ground resonance, led to a spectacular self-dis-assembly.

Ground resonance is a hell of a thing, generally to be avoided.

[youtube D2tHA7KmRME]

 Posted by at 1:12 pm
Feb 172011
 

A highly theoretical idea from NASA-Langley, 1976, was to build a freighter aircraft using two 747 fuselages. This would create an aircraft with twice the payload of the 747, but at less than twice the gross weight and less than twice the drag. Range would be improved as would fuel economy. It would of course also be a bit of a problem to land on many runways, and unloading at standard terminals might be a bit trickier.

A new wing center-section would be used to nail the two fuselages together. Four standard turbofans would be attached to the center section; the outboard wings and engines would be stock 747. The outboard wing-mounted landing gear would be deleted and replaced with gear built into the center section.

 Posted by at 11:23 pm