Possibilities of New Business Growth: ICBMs

 AARRRGH, history, nukes, projects, rockets, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Dec 242020
 

In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in ICBMs. In particular, small ICBMs (“Midgetman”), road-mobile with a single warhead. Sadly, the SICBM did not come to be. Nor did any other ICBM. The current ICBM that the USAF fields is the Minuteman, merely an updated version of the same missile first fielded nearly *sixty* years ago. The Peacekeeper ICBM was deployed the year after Rockwell produced this document… and the Peacekeeper was withdrawn twenty years later with no replacement in sight

 

 Posted by at 12:55 am

Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion

 Hmm..., news, nukes, politics, rockets, science, spacecraft, THIS is why Trump won  No Responses »
Dec 212020
 

I honestly wonder what practical value there is in the White House putting out memos on national strategy at this point, when the Manchurian is soon to be installed into power. Perhaps it’s just a poke in the eye… “go ahead and overturn this and show yourself to be a tool of the ChiComs,” perhaps?

Memorandum on the National Strategy for Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion (Space Policy Directive-6)

Section 1. Policy. The ability to use space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP) systems safely, securely, and sustainably is vital to maintaining and advancing United States dominance and strategic leadership in space. SNPP systems include radioisotope power systems (RPSs) and fission reactors used for power or propulsion in spacecraft, rovers, and other surface elements. …

(a) Develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable to lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) applications, as needed. …

(b) Demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kilowatt-electric (kWe) and higher to support a sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …

(c) Establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable options for NTP to meet future Department of Defense (DoD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission requirements …

(d) Develop advanced RPS capabilities that provide higher fuel efficiency, higher specific energy, and longer operational lifetime than existing RPS capabilities, thus enabling survivable surface elements to support robotic and human exploration of the Moon and Mars and extending robotic exploration of the solar system. …

(a) By the mid-2020s, develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable for lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, NEP, and NTP applications, as needed. …

(b) By the mid- to late-2020s, demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kWe and higher to support sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …

(c) By the late-2020s, establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable NTP options to meet future DoD and NASA mission needs.

 

Even had Trump won re-election I have serious doubts that this memorandum would have changed things much… the anti-nuclear religion is far too powerful. Still, better to have a forward-thinking document like this than not. We are *generations* behind where we should be in the development of space-based nuclear power systems and nuclear thermal rockets.

 Posted by at 1:18 pm

AGM-69A SRAM

 art, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, rockets  No Responses »
Dec 162020
 

A recently donated blueprint of the AGM-69A Short Range Attack Missile:

 

I’ve made available to above-$10 subscribers and patrons both the full resolution scan of the above, as well as a processed clearer B&W version. If you’d be interested in helping to preserve aerospace history such as this, as well as receiving bonus content like this, please consider signing up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.



.

 

 Posted by at 3:06 pm

BREATHE Act

 blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Hmm..., I'm from the government, news, nukes, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 222020
 

Well, this sounds just spectacular:

BLM Co-Founder Calls on Biden to Back a Crazy Progressive ‘Civil Rights’ Bill

The text of the BREATHE Act is available HERE. It calls for some interesting things, including but not limited to:

  • Abolishing the Drug Enforcement Administration
  • Abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement
  • Abolishing funding for drug interdiction efforts
  • Slash the budget of the DoD by 50%
  • Slash the budget of the Department of Energy by 50%
  • Eliminate the Space Force
  • Eliminate all modern fighter jet programs
  • Unilateral nuclear disarmament
  • Withdraw US military forces and assistance from everywhere in the world
  • Prohibit Federal police forces from using “less than lethal” systems, “military grade” weapons, drones or BODY CAMERAS

 

That last one there is interesting. At they same they want to stop Federal police from using “military grade weapons” (which in modern progressive parlance means any semi-automatic weapons) as well as tasers and pepper spray. This will make them *incredibly* vulnerable to criminals armed with little more than ball bats, never mind the automatic weapons that will be available to criminals in abundance. And they want to eliminate body cams, which will show how the federal cops are being set upon by the now-empowered criminals who do not have to worry about actually facing real resistance.

 

The BREATHE Act also repeals:

  • Laws against the material support of terrorism
  • Laws against conspiracy and gang offenses
  • Laws against prostitution

The Act would raise the minimum age to be tried as an adult to *24*

It would end both the death penalty *and* life sentences

End deportation of illegal aliens who also commit violent crimes

Basically end all bars to immigration

And here’s the really good part: within 5 years of the Act, prison population would be reduced 50%, and by 10 years, *all* prisons would be emptied.

There are 126 pages of this gibberish and I could not be bothered to read all of it. So go ahead and imagine how much of it  will be read by those genetic defectives in Congress who will vote for it. Will this pass into law? Almost certainly not. Even as addled as he is, Biden is probably goign to realize that this Act, were it to become law, would result in the prompt destruction of the United States as a going concern. Very few republicans would be stupid enough to vote for it, and a bunch of Democrats would likely realize how nonsensically destructive this BS is. Still: this is the sort of thing that some “mainstream” Democrats such as Pressley and Tlaib are pushing for.

 Posted by at 12:45 pm

Good for Rolls-Royce

 awesomeness, news, nukes, politics, science  No Responses »
Nov 162020
 

And good for Britain if this comes to pass:

Rolls-Royce plans 16 mini-nuclear plants for UK

It seems that of Britains current crop of nuclear powerplants, six will go offline by 2030, and the last by 2035. the new Small Modular Reactors are to cost about £2 billion a pop and produce 440 megawatts of electricity. The consortium led by RR says they can build the first facility in ten years and produce two a year after that.

Unsurprisingly, Greenpeace is opposed. Because of course they are.

 

 Posted by at 10:45 pm

Oh, sure, *they* get a shiny new ICBM…

 Hmm..., news, nukes, politics, weapons, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 102020
 

Well, maybe. The North Koreans are as renowned for their honesty and their transparency as the Harris/Biden team, so it’s entirely possible this thing is made out of cardboard. Still, attention should be paid, and attention should be paid to development of a new American ICBM. The US land-based ICBMs are based on a design pushing *sixty* years old. Design something new… and road-mobile. Build a thousand of the missiles, and five thousand decoys.

 

 

 Posted by at 10:26 pm

Nuke News

 awesomeness, news, nukes, politics, science  No Responses »
Sep 142020
 

First U.S. Small Nuclear Reactor Design Is Approved

That sounds like good news. One issue, however:

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the design of a new kind of reactor, known as a small modular reactor (SMR). The design, from the Portland, Ore.–based company NuScale Power, is intended to speed construction, lower cost and improve safety over traditional nuclear reactors…

Portland? OREGON?!?!

Anyway, it’s a 50 megawatt design, able to be built in clusters to gin up to 600 megawatts. A company exec is quoted as saying they think they can sell up to 1,682 of the reactors by 2042… which sounds like a lot, but it would still only produce around 82% as much energy as the current set of larger reactors. Of course if hundreds of small reactors start coming online producing cheap, safe, reliable and carbon-free electricity, one imagines that larger reactors will also start coming along. Ideally, thorium and breeder reactors will also *finally* enter production. Additionally, a very large number of reactors should require a large number of a new generation of nuclear scientists, engineers and technicians… *exactly* the people you need to develope even more advanced nuclear power systems, including fusion systems. You certainly won’t advance the cause of civilized humanity by hiring THESE idjits.

Looks like the first unit will be sold to power Utah, but will be located in Idaho. I still think that the Great Salt Lake would be a fantastic place for a few hundred of these things.

 Posted by at 8:46 pm

Antique store MIRVs

 awesomeness, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, photography, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 022020
 

A while back I found two 8X10 glossies in an antique store. The owners had no information on the photos; they had come in a box of photos from an estate sale, the rest of the photos being completely unrelated. The store owners thought that the photos showed a test of a beam weapon of some kind. Not unreasonable for people not familiar with actual beam weapons or ballistic missiles. The photos are certainly evocative of death beams zapping targets in the sky. But what they actually show are missile warheads coming *down,* screaming towards the ground at incredible speed. When the photos were taken, I’ve no idea. *Where,* almost certainly somewhere in the South Pacific… most likely Kwajalein Atoll, a common target for ICBMs and SLBMs. *What* missile was tested, I’m also uncertain. One photo shows a single re-entry vehicle; the other shows three. The Minuteman III lobbed three warheads; the Peacekeeper, up to ten; the Trident, up to 14. This *probably* shows a Minuteman III… assuming that is actually a single test.

I’ve uploaded the full resolution scans of these photos to the 2020-09 APR Extras Dropbox folder for Patrons and Subscribers at the $4 level and above.

 Posted by at 12:51 am
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