Book ideas

 blather, books, drawings, history, Hmm..., My Fiction, new products, nukes, projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, weapons  3 Responses »
Apr 162014
 

A while back I sold limited editions of some 11X17 drawing-package booklets (of the BoMi, BWB, X-20 Dyna Soar and nuclear pulse propelled starship concepts). Based on comments that have come in from a few of the buyers (see: http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=23871), they seem to have been well received. While these particular books are now done, it got me thinking about a few possible future works:

1) “A Guide To American Nuclear Explosive Devices.” Finally, an idea for what to do with the diagrams of the nuclear bombs I’ve created (see HERE). The book would feature full-page scale diagrams of every American nuclear bomb (including RV’s) that I can reliably create. The following page would contain all the particulars know for the bomb… weight, yield, dates in service, that sort of thing. Plus, a standard illustration/graph/chart showing the damage effects for ground bursts and air bursts, probably at a common altitude.

2) “A Guide to the Strategic Defense Initiative.” This would would be more like sci-fi. By assuming the trope of an alternate history, I can present diagrams of things that I cannot, in reality, present *reliably* *accurate* diagrams of. Things such as the Brilliant Pebbles, the Saggitar orbital railgun, the Zenith Star test laser, the larger planned operational space-based laser, the larger still “Phaser” phased array laser, neutral particle beam weapons, etc. have the problem of only being known from concept art and diagrams of disappointing quality, so my own diagrams would be highly speculative. But in a fictional setting… shrug. Also included would be SDI launch systems such as the ZSLS, the McD “Barbarian,” Shuttle-C and the General Dynamics (“Millenium Express”), McDonnell Douglas (“Delta Clipper”) and Rockwell (“Platypus”) SSTO concepts from 1991. These last three I can at least present quite reliable diagrams of.

These would each be some ways down the line. I *really* need to finish up the Space Station V book first; the nukes books needs one to two research trips, and the SDI book needs a whole lot of drafting, including 3D modeling.

 Posted by at 9:46 pm

MX Missile Basing Video

 humor, nukes, rockets, weapons, youtube  1 Response »
Mar 292014
 

A 1980 USAF video describing the MX missile basing scheme as it was then planned. A 25 square mile facility would be built in the southwest. A large number of shelter/launchers would be built, connected by roads. But only a few of the shelters would actually have an MX. Instead, they would each have an MX mass simulator. A very large truck would regularly trundle along from shelter to shelter, transporting either the missile or the simulator. Thus, the Soviets would not know which shelter contained a simulator, and which contained an ICBM.

[youtube 3DaQQ4ia5TA]

Interesting how much effort was made on making the MX environmentally “green,” considering its role.

 Posted by at 10:12 am

A 20-year history of BMD

 history, nukes, rockets, ಠ_ಠ  7 Responses »
Mar 282014
 

A 1976 AT&T film  on the history of ballistic missile defense. A number of interesting missile launches are shown, including Nike-Zeus, Spartan and Sprint. Interestingly, *failed* launches are also shown, including one serious *d’oh* Sprint failure at about 22:40. Footage at 25:40 shows the effects of a nuclear blast on missile control system radar antennae and such (by use of big piles of high explosives).

[youtube ARx2-wRn9-Y]

 Posted by at 9:49 am

Desert Rock BLAMMO

 awesomeness, blather, history, nukes  3 Responses »
Mar 222014
 

Desert Rock IV was a series of atomic tests in Nevada in 1952 using relatively low-yield weapons (31 kilotons) and lots of soldiers in disturbingly close proximity. Here’s a silent bit of film:

Some time back (well, about a year and a half ago) I took a number of the frames and stitched them together (and painted in the gaps) to show the whole mushroom cloud.

desert rock iv a

desert rock iv c

Not perfect but… what’reya gonna do.

Along with some rather remarkable photos and films of soldiers looking up at a mushroom cloud looming over them, this series of tests also produced some of the most amazing photos ever taken. One such is shown below. This shows a nuclear explosion a few millionths of a second old… the fireball is big enough to have consumed the “cab” the bomb was put in at the top of a steel tower, but the fireball has not yet reached the ground. The spikes below the fireball are known as “rope tricks.” The light emitted by the surface of the fireball at this stage was intense enough to cause the towers steel guy wires stabilizing the tower to simply explode. The mottling of the surface of the fireball is due to the mass distribution of the bomb components, the cab and other surroundings around the point of explosion. You can just make out the tower directly below the fireball.

Tumbler_Snapper_rope_tricks

I posted a video on this a while back.

 Posted by at 7:47 pm

’80’s Nostalgia

 blather, Crazy, history, news, nukes, ಠ_ಠ  14 Responses »
Mar 172014
 

You kids will never know the comfort of parachute pants. But what you just might get to know is the fun of living in a world where the Russians regularly threaten to vaporize you in your sleep.

Russia can turn US to radioactive ash – Kremlin-backed journalist

I missed that. Nice, clear unambiguous existential threats from those who could credibly pull it off, not the pissant yappings of incompetent amateurs like we’ve had for the last 15 years or so.

 Posted by at 9:14 am

ORCA

 drawings, history, Hmm..., nukes, projects, rockets, secrets  10 Responses »
Mar 152014
 

A General Dynamics/Astronautics film from 1962 describing the ORCA Weapon System. This was a seafloor deployment concept for solid-rocket ICBMs similar to the Polaris; the missile would be installed within a sealed watertight canister and lowered to the seafloor. There is would sit until called for by a sonar device. Upon receipt of a proper coded audio signal, ballast tanks  would be filled with air and the canister would shoot to the surface. Upon breaching, the “nose” of the canister would jettison and the missile would launch out and, presumably, fly to the target.

[youtube YyJjfCpfnI4]

While the idea had some merit, including low cost compared to a Minuteman or a ballistic missile sub, it also had some pretty unfortunate problems. Not least of which is that the US Navy would basically just be dropping nuclear missiles on the seafloor. The canisters would probably have been fairly easily detectable via active sonar, so they would have to have been watched in some fashion to make sure nobody came along and simply strolled off with one. And the security would help to point out where they were. The Soviets and SPECTRE would be forever tripping over each other searching for these things (though that raises the notion of the US Navy making a show of lowering hundreds of these capsules… each of which turns out to actually be a miniature sub that wanders back to base. The Soviets would tear their hair out looking for missiles that don’t exist)

So, obviously, these were never fielded. But as the film shows, the concept was built and apparently successfully tested. In contrast to today where such a concept would get years worth of Powerpoints, here… they just went ahead and built a 1/4 scale functional model of the thing including a sizable “model rocket” that successfully launches from the canister upon breaching.

orca 3

orca 2

Shown here is a diagram of a 47,000 pound missile in a 108-foot-long capsule. There is considerable resemblance between this idea and the concept, almost 20 years prior, of V-2 rockets in capsules towed behind U-Boats for use against the US.

orca 1

The rather artsy style of having three guys in business suits posing on the seashore seems a bit odd.

 Posted by at 6:16 pm

Nuclear Pulse Starships, X-20, BoMi, BWB…

 aircraft, APR, art, awesomeness, books, drawings, history, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, sales & specials, spacecraft  10 Responses »
Mar 132014
 

UPDATE: And so, the aloted time period ends, as does availability of these items. Huzzah.

I am making available, for a limited time, four bound volumes of large format diagrams. These are 11X17 line-drawing CAD diagrams produced by yours truly, bound in red pressboard report covers (why? because that’s classy, that’s why).

I had not planned on releasing these, but I had also not taken into account the fact that the IRS will very soon be demanding a sizable income tax check from me. Ooops. So, my sudden financial panic is your opportunity to get a limited edition item. They will be available until some time on Thursday, March 20. At which point they will be gone forever. Each one will be hand inscribed with the number of the edition (“#1 of 5” or “#4 of 7,” whatever the case may be), with the numbering done via order in which orders are received. Also with my hand-enscribbled initials. (Because who knows, I might be famous someday.)

What I have:

1) BoMi: the complete set of diagrams created for the “Bomber Missile” articles for Aerospace Projects Review issues V2N3 and V2N4, a total of about 45 pages. Includes the MX 2276 from 1955, up through the SR-126 studies from 1957, Brass Bell, Convairs RoBo, Super Hustler, FISH; and Boeing Model 728 studies, among others. $45

BoMi booklet 2014-03

Img_3762 Img_3763 Img_3764 Img_3765 Img_3760 Img_3761

2) BWB: The complete set of diagrams created for the V1N3 APR article on Blended Wing Body aircraft, 29 pages. Contains many jetliner concepts, along with such oddities as the Lockheed CL-1201,a giant nuclear powered VTOL assault transport concept. $40

BWB booklet 2014-03 Img_3759

3) Model 2050E X-20 Dyna Soar: the diagrams from the not-yet released issue V3N4 APR article. These are the diagrams in their current state; some may change before I’m done with them. And some will not appear in the article. Includes not only the X-20, but also several proposed launch vehicles (including, I’m reasonably proud to say, the first publicly available accurate and detailed diagrams of the X-20 atop the Titan IIIc), layouts of test and operational versions of the DS with transstage, several small space stations designed expressly for DS servicing, and several high-energy transstage concepts. Also includes really quite good diagrams of the ASSET test vehicle and the X-37B spaceplane. 24 pages, $35

x-20 booklet 2014-03 Img_3766 Img_3767 Img_3768 Img_3769 Img_3770

4) Nuclear Pulse Propulsion Starships: diagrams from my hopefully-forthcoming book on nuclear pulse propulsion. I really had not planned on releasing any of the diagrams prior to publication of the book, but what the heck: here are 14 pages showing several versions of the Enzmann Starship, the Dyson Starship, the BIS Daedalus, the Martin/Bond Worldships and the US Naval Academy “Longshot.” $30

nppstarships booklet 2014-03Img_3771 Img_3772 Img_3773 Img_3774 Img_3775

 

Several of the X-20 and NPP diagrams have been formatted specifically for this release, and will not be otherwise released. And of course if I get mashed by a Mack truck or flattened by a meteorite, these diagram sets will be the only versions of these diagrams ever released. So, you know, there’s that…

Please note that since these are physical objects, postage is sadly required. There’s only two options for that… US and non-US. You only need to buy *one* “postage,” no matter how many of the diagram sets you buy.

————

 

 Posted by at 6:31 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries