A 1976 film from Rockwell International describing the Space Shuttle concept, design and current construction status. A lot of art, and footage of the full-scale mockup. And a lot of claims about the Shuttle that just didn’t come to pass.
[youtube OpR23HHRlLI]
A fighter design from ~1990 could take off in under 600 feet, land vertically, carry two AMRAAMs, two ASRAAMs and one 20mm gun and 500 rounds. Used a remote augmented lift system for VTOL thrust, weighed about 28,000 pounds.
Slowing plugging away on the greatly revised X-20 Dyna Soar article. Shown below is what it currently looks like… something of a mess. There are still a great many more illustrations I want to add, including a bucket of my own CAD diagrams, but how many will end up here is uncertain. It’s already pushing 100 pages when you include the CAD diagrams; probably too big. Perhaps a later stand-alone version will have everything plus the kitchen sink…
And the CAD diagrams:
A mid-1960’s concept from General Electric showing a Manned orbital Laboratory-type space lab with two docked Gemini capsules and one nuclear reactor for power. Derived from the SNAP-10a system, this powerplant featured a small reactor at the apex of the cone; the cone itself is the radiator for the system. The SNAP-10a was not a spectacularly efficient system… it produced around 30 kilowatts of thermal energy, of which only 500 were converted to electricity. The system shown below would have been a larger, more powerful and hopefully more efficient system.
The small compact and busy-looking item on the far left of the image would have been the reactor itself. Between that and the structural truss work connected to the large radiator was a thick radiation shield, composed of something like tungsten. Even with this massive chunk in the way, the reactor was still segregated far away from the crew.
Much of the Strategic Defense Initiative, begun three decades ago, remains murky at best. One little-reported area of study was the launch infrastructure that would be needed to put the vast array of stuff into orbit. Apart from the Delta Clipper, you’d be forgiven for thinking that space launch was nearly forgotten.
However, some study was put into it, as the page below from a 1988 government report shows. Read through it: the SDI needs for space launch would have been *vast.* The total amount of payload delivered to orbit would have ranged from, at the low end, one million kilograms, up to 80 million for the long-range forecast systems.
Because Nobody Demanded It, here is a to-scale representation of the DC-1 SSTO with the MOL, the Zenith Star laser testbed and the operational SBL.
This is, of course, in support of my proposed book on the Strategic Defense Initiative. It would include:
Launch systems: Delta Clipper; Millenium Express; Platypus; Zenith Star Launch System; Barbarian; Shuttle-C; NASP
Space-Based weapons: Zenith Star; operational Space Based Laser; Neutral Particle Beam; Saggitar Railgun; X-Ray Laser; Brilliant Pebbles; Space Cruiser
Terrestrial systems: F-15-ASAT; HEDI; ERINT; land-mobile MX; air-mobile MX; Midgetman/HML; Airborne Laser
I *know* I’ve missed a few. Feel free to fill in the blanks.
I’m working on a CAD model of the “DC-1” SSTO follow-on to the DC-X, based on some pretty good diagrams I scored a while back from NASA. But I have a question for anyone who might know what I’m talking about: what was the deal with the cockpit being 45 degrees off-kilter? Re-entry would seem to have been a bit of a nightmare, as would what would pass for the glide afterwards.
Was the crew expected to just suck it up? Would the cockpit have been rotated internally by 45 degrees so that even though it was kinda off to the side, it would have been “right side up?” Would the diagrams simply be wrong, and the cockpit would have actually been at the “top” of the vehicle during entry?
Turns out the HL-20 mockup built many years ago not only survived, it’s on display at the Wings Over The Rockies aviation museum near Denver. It seems to be in generally good shape, though it appears to be missing its landing gear doors. Sadly, while you can seen up into it, you’re not allowed to go crawling around in it. Would’ve liked to have seen the cockpit. Well, one day someone will send a camera equipped quadcopter in there, I suppose…
This is pretty much the final version of the 1/48 MOL model. If you get this kit – and I recommend that you do, cuz it’ll be awesome – I suggest bonding the “feet” to a walnut or oak board. That should make it good and sturdy. It should be lightweight yet fairly strong due to some simple internal bracing. A new type of locating pin/feature/thingies will be used this time… if successful and popular, I expect to use ’em more.
Coming soon: a 1/48 Dyna Soar/Adapter/Transtage to go alongside this.
Recent NASA artwork depicting the Orion space capsule and ESA service module atop a Delta IV derived upper stage.
