Anybody near a Fat Man?

 AARRRGH, American Nuclear Explosive Devices, history, Hmm..., nukes, photography  12 Responses »
Oct 112015
 

In all my running around taking photos of nuclear weapons, one shot I have somehow failed to get is a good, clear dead-on front view of the thing (I took several straight on front view shots of the Fat Man at the atomic weapons museum in Albuquerque… and every last one was badly out of focus). I need this for a single, simple reason: working out just where the bolts holding the nose and tail shells are. You’d think they’d be evenly spaced around the circumference, but they’re not.

If anyone happens to be near one of the numerous display units littering the countryside, or happens to have a clear head-on photo that shows the bolts clearly, I’d be greatly appreciative.

These bolts (scribble-circled):

fat man 1

This here is the closest I have to a head-on clear shot, and it’s not nearly head-on nor clear enough to nail down the angular locations of those bolts:

fat man 2

 Posted by at 8:45 am

Conceptual Casaba Howitzer

 awesomeness, drawings, history, Hmm..., My Fiction, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, science, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  20 Responses »
Sep 282015
 

I’ve been pondering the Casaba Howitzer weapon system for a decade now. When I re-issued Aerospace Projects Review V2N2 some years back I published a few images of what I thought it might look like; since then I’ve done some rethinking. As to the weapon itself, and exactly how it worked, and how well it worked… I’ve got no data, and no good idea of how to make it work, so that hasn’t changed. But the control systems for the weapon? Those have evolved in my thinking.

Here’s an overall view of my idea for a Casaba Howitzer preparing to fire:

Casaba

And here’s a layout drawing of the same:

PAX-0004 Casaba 1st gen-Model

Feel free to discuss.

The full-rez version of the layout drawing is available in the second Pax Orionis installment. If interested, check out the Pax Orionis Patreon.

becomeapatron

 Posted by at 7:50 am

At least they have goals

 blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, history, news, nukes, politics, religion, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 252015
 

ISIS is like a pack of savages, capable of little more than cheap thuggery on a large scale. But they seem to have some long term dreams and goals involving nuclear annihilation:

Nuclear TSUNAMI: ISIS wants to wipe hundreds of millions from face of the earth

This is no doubt just the insane dreaming of a bunch of rabid knuckleheads, but it is instructive as to the mindset. Where would ISIS actually get nukes, though? They won’t be stealing them from the Israelies, and the Iranians probably wouldn’t want them to have nukes. The Pakistanis, perhaps. Fortunately, the one source that ISIS *could* have tapped for nukes, the Iraqi nuclear weapons program, was finally and permanently dismantled in 2003.

Imagine a world where the ’03 invasion of Iraq didn’t happen (perhaps Gore won in 2000). So by 2005 or so, the inspection regime ends; the Iraqi nuke program recommences. By 2015 the Iraqis have themselves some nukes… as do the Iranians and the Saudis. Saddam kicks the bucket in 2016; Iraq falls into civil war, with the Saudis pushing in from one side, the Iranians from another, perhaps the Syrians from a third side. A pseudo-ISIS forms, this time armed with Iraqi nukes and Iraqi nerve gas and Iraqi bio weapons. Let the chaos begin!

 Posted by at 2:57 pm

FYI

 awesomeness, Hmm..., nukes, science  7 Responses »
Sep 252015
 

A graphic showing the relative footprints of nuclear, solar and wind facilities for the same approximate power output.

Solar plants could improve substantially in efficiency, perhaps gaining two or three times as much energy per unit area. Wind, though, is probably about as efficient as it is going to get. Nukes could potentially get smaller.

CPdo_D1WIAAJ0yc

 Posted by at 1:21 pm

Pax Orionis: Next installment nearly ready

 books, drawings, My Fiction, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  1 Response »
Sep 182015
 

Just a few minor things (conversion to PDF & EPUB, uploading, stuff like that) and the second Pax Orionis installment will be posted. This will be “The Deadliest Catch, Part Two,” the conclusion to that particular tale. The bonus will include diagrams and data on the first generation Casaba Howitzer weapon (which has evolved substantially from when i first illustrated it for the pages of APR issue V2N2, years ago), derived from the Orion pulse unit, and a short media piece that fits in with the one included last time. I plan on posting this tomorrow (Saturday).

Patrons who are signed up *before* the story is released will automatically get the story as soon as it’s published. If you sign up *after* the story is published, you won’t automatically get it… but you won’t be charged for it, either. However, patrons may purchase “back issues” for the same price, so you can catch up without any trouble. Each tale is only a buck; with the bonus diagrams and technical discussion, only one additional buck.

If interested, check out the Pax Orionis Patron.

becomeapatron

Feel free to tell anyone you think might be interested.

 Posted by at 8:51 am

Pax Orionis: Casaba Howitzer

 APR, history, Hmm..., My Fiction, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, projects, science fiction, spacecraft  8 Responses »
Sep 162015
 

One of the more interesting, but less known, aspect of the Orion program was code named “Casaba Howitzer.” Little is known of this, except that pulse unit technology was somehow adapted to turn the device into a single-shot nuclear directed energy weapon. The propellant was somehow collimated into a tight “beam” that would be able to destroy enemy warheads out in space at some considerable distance. Just what that distance would be, though, remains clouded by Classification.

I created a simple provisional concept for Casaba Howitzer for issue V2N2 of Aerospace Projects Review. Since then… I’ve found out no new info on CH. But I’ve put considerable thought into the thing, and have redesigned my concept. Since the design is all mine, it’s usefulness in a factual history of Orion is minimal, but it’s great for fiction. And so I’m working on a set of diagrams for CH for Pax Orionis, and will include layouts of the “deployed” Casaba Howitzer configuration with the next release. Other diagrams will show the launch configuration as well as internal layouts.

If interested, check out the Pax Orionis Patron.

becomeapatron

 Posted by at 9:51 am

Pax Orionis: back issues and such

 blather, drawings, My Fiction, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Sep 142015
 

The first Pax Orionis yarn was posted for patrons at the PS Patreon just a few days ago. Several people signed up afterwards, which meant that they got left out of the first issue. It’s perhaps something of a flaw or shortfall in the system. But I’ve worked out a simple solution: back issues. If you sign up for the Pax Orionis Patreon campaign, you can now purchase each “back issue.” Two dollars per issue is the current goign rate on the Patreon that nets you the story, the Technical Diagram and another bonus feature; that same price will get you those things in the back issue.

Currently there is only the one back issue available. But if you sign up for the Patreon campaign, you can read everything, right from the start. The stories are available as both PDF and EPUB (you get both versions).

becomeapatron

The first story released was “The Deadliest Catch, Part One,” and the first technical diagram is of the USS Orion, the first nuclear pulse flight test article in the Pax Orionis world.

PAX-0002-Model

—————-

On other Pax Orionis matters, here is the current listing of foreseen technical diagrams:

PAX_diagrams

And here is the current list of chapter titles, in rough chronological (story timeline order:

“The Box”

“Magicians”

“Orion Rises”

“The Blast from Jackass Flats”

“Weapons Test”

“Weapons Test 2”

“Mission to Mars”

“Knock knock”

“Uranium Exploration for Fun and Profit”

“The Burning Desert”

“Down in the Weeds”

“Deadliest Catch”

“Windows over the War”

“Hyperbolic Excess”

“The Hole”

“The Blue Dot”

“Things Blow Up”

“Leviathan”

“Every Man a King, Every Cabin Steerage”

“Sailing the Rocks”

“Over the Ice”

“Into the Deep”

 

 Posted by at 2:26 pm

USBP 16, USSP 03 Now Available

 aircraft, books, drawings, history, new products, news, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, US Spacecraft Projects  7 Responses »
Sep 132015
 

Now available… two new additions to the US Aerospace Projects series.

 

US Bomber Projects #16: The B-52 Evolution Special

Boeing Model 444 A: A late war turboprop heavy bomber
Boeing Model 461: An early postwar turboprop heavy bomber
Boeing Model 462: A large six-turboprop ancestor of the B-52
Boeing Model 462-5: A six-turboprop B-52 ancestor
Boeing Model 464-17: 1946 four-turboprop strategic bomber, a step toward the B-52
Boeing Model 464-18: a reduced-size version of the 464-17 turboprop strategic bomber
Boeing Model 464-25: a modification of the 464-17 turboprop bomber with slightly swept wings, among other changes
Boeing Model 464-27: a slightly-swept turboprop B-52 progenitor
Boeing Model 464-33-0: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-34-3: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-40: The first all-jet-powered design in the quest for the B-52
Boeing Model 464-40: The first all-jet-powered design in the quest for the B-52
Boeing Model 464-046: A six-engined B-52 predecessor
Boeing Model 464-49: The penultimate major design in the development of the B-52
Fairchild M-121:A highly unconventional canard-biplane
Convair B-60: A swept-wing turboprop-powered derivative of the B-36
Douglas Model 1211-J: An elegant turboprop alternative to the B-52
With additional diagrams of the B-47, XB-52 and B-52B

USBP#16 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $6.

—

usbp16ad2 usbp16ad1

US Spacecraft Projects #03

Northrop ST-38 Space Trainer: a rocket-powered T-38 for trips to space
“Have Sting:” A General Electric design for a gigantic orbital railgun
JPL Thousand Astronomical Unit probe: A spacecraft into interstellar space
Integrated Manned Interplanetary Spacecraft: A Boeing concept for a giant spacecraft to Mars and Venus
Convair Inflatable Spacecraft: an early spaceplane concept
One Man Space Station: A 1960 McDonnell concept for a tiny space station
Astroplane: A lightweight aircraft for the exploration of Mars
Reactor-In-Flight Test: A Lockheed nuclear-powered stage for the Saturn V

 

USSP#03 can be purchased for downloading for the low, low price of $5.

—

ussp03ad2 ussp03ad1

 Posted by at 2:08 pm

Pax Orionis: First story up at the Patreon

 art, books, drawings, My Fiction, new products, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, Pax Orionis, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Sep 112015
 

The first story is now available for Pax Orionis patrons. This is available for the low, low price of only a buck. But if you pledge $2 or more, you get not only the story – “The Deadliest Catch, Part One” – but also a Technical Diagram and description of the USS Orion test flight article, and a bonus news article, the first of a number that will tell a tale.

becomeapatron

 Posted by at 11:26 pm
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