Sep 162009
A 1960 Boeing concept (most likely part of SR-183, kinda shown HERE) for manned lunar landing spacecraft based on Dyna Soar aerodynamics.
Compared the the Saturn V/Apollo spacecraft, the booster seems massively undersized. The Dyna Soar-derived spaceplane would land on the lunar surface and take off again for the trip to Earth… and the Dyna Soar was not a lightly constructed vehicle. As shown, the top half of the entire launch vehicle is lunar landing payload.
My guess is that this model was not built to reflect a fully-fleshed-out detailed engineering design, but might have instead been a “sketch” of a general concept. Evidence of that viewpoint will be posted soon.
8 Responses to “Dyna Soar to the Moon”
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that looks like Phillip Bono Booster for his Mars projekt
the seven identical Lox/LH2 plug nuzzle boosters.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_VRIPUQofXu8/SStdUK1APAI/AAAAAAAAEd4/6tH4Mveb1Zk/s1600/bonomars2.gif
By the Way
Martin proposed also use Dyna Soar-derived spaceplane for moon mission
on ther Arcturus (build from Titan 1 first stage tanks)
…Reminds me a lot of Chelomei’s “Uragan” UR proposals. As ugly as it looks, I still wish we’d have built and launched these monstrosities.
That reminds me of a 1959 plastic model kit called the XSL-01 Manned Space Ship
http://www.ninfinger.org/models/kitplans/revellh1800.html
except instead of a Dyna Soar, it had a Moonship
http://www.ninfinger.org/models/kitplans/revellh1825.html
…On a side note, the narrow attach point *does* beg structural explanation, doesn’t it?
Would this size out well using exotic propellents (Flox/hydrogen)?
As to landing the Dyna-soar lunarly, Kraft Ehricke has a thought I’d consider applicable: smoothing an area of regolith and friction-braking to a halt. Do this in advance robotically, couldn’t you dispense with a braking stage? Not that I’d want to be the first guy to reenter at 25,000 mph a craft whose underside had been battered by lunar rock…
That would make a great kit
>That would make a great kit
Perhaps, but unlikely a “profitable” one. Additionally, dimensions seem lacking.
[…] slightly later Boeing concept for using a Dyna Soar-like spaceplane as a lunar lander/Earth return vehicle. This one was likely designed to a higher degree of fidelity. I base this on […]