Dec 202009
 

Just like the title says. No further information than what you see here… looks like some sort of either science or recon platform. Note the substantial antenna sticking out the back, and the optical sensor looking through a hatch on the top of the vehicle.

Also of note are the disturbingly creepy “virtual reality goggles” worn by the pilot and copilot. To me these look like fiber optic cables running directly to periscopes on the underside. This would make sense as the cockpit layout would preclude any sort of decent forward vision, making landing a challenged. But it’s still pretty creepy lookin’ in a Matrixy sort of way.

Dates from the mid/late ’60’s.

image136.jpg

 Posted by at 10:58 pm

  4 Responses to “Martin art for an operational HL-10”

  1. those goggles are realy disturbingly creepy !

    but good alternative to the orginal HL-10 Cockpit
    who has to be covert with launch and reentry protection covers

    i can see how they got this googel idea
    “hey, Wat happen if the cover keep stuck on cockpit window ?!…”

  2. Why would Martin be working on a HL-10 derivative?
    HL-10 was a Northrop bird, Martin’s was the X-24.
    Is the thing behind the rear instrument panel supposed to be a APU?
    They had better hope the don’t clip a rock on landing with flat skid fronts like that.
    Are the rectangular blocks in the rear bay battery packs?
    Considering one of the crew has something that looks like a radar scope, but there is no radar dish visible in its interior, it’s probably for recon work, with the scope showing what you are passing over, and the camera equipment and film in the box next to the dorsal star tracker.
    Big crew for a recon mission though; you get the impression the two pilots spend most of the mission twiddling their thumbs.
    The fiber optic cables are a neat touch, but God help you if that periscope doesn’t deploy after reentry…because, like the Shuttle, this thing has no ejection seats.

  3. The goggles are probably related to the periscope work do at the time to give pilots visuals withing an airframe that didn’t support direct view windscreens for landings.

    http://www.jstor.org/pss/3950632 and
    http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19690020352_1969020352.pdf

    The more “current” work (mid-’90’s) look at a “chin mounted” system with, IIRC, the optics being operationally housed in the forward landing gear bay so it wouldn’t and a bump to the already hot re-entry shielding.

    http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Education/Educator/OnlineEducation/Careers/sheetmetal.html
    http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?tp=&arnumber=369416&isnumber=8448

    AND, BTW, it’s a straight optical design without using a camera … since if you lost power and are dead-sticking being totally blind for touchdown is considered to be one of those Bad Things.

  4. […] lifting body spaceplane launched by a Titan IIIc to service a small space station. See HERE for another Martin HL-10 […]

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