A photo of the full-scale Zenith Star space-based laser experiment at the Martin-Mariette Titan plant near Denver, circa 1987.
Jan 052014
Dec 302013
McDonnell-Douglas concept art of their briefly studied Advanced Technology Bomber design.
Everything I have on this, including some very reliable diagrams, is in US Bomber Projects #05. If you’d like to download the full-rez version of this (3000 pixels wide), it is available HERE. To access it, you’ll need the username and password given in the “USBP05 extra content” section on the first page of USBP #05.
Dec 272013
Issue number 5 of US Bomber Projects is now available (for background, see HERE). This issue includes:
- McDonnell-Douglas ATB: The little know third competitor for the B-2
- McDonnell-Douglas/Boeing DF-9: A Mach 10 global-range strike/space launch system from the 1990’s
- Boeing Model 701-273-5: A supersonic bomber with an extreme inverse-taper wing
- Fairchild N-9: An early 1950’s nuclear powered concept
- Martin Model 223-5: A predecessor to the B-48 with canards
- Rockwell D645-5: A subsonic 1978 flying wing bomber designed to use a laser for defense against fighters and missiles
- North American 464L: NAA’s X-15 derived orbital spaceplane concept for the Dyna Soar program
- Boeing Model 464-17: 1946 four-turboprop strategic bomber, a step toward the B-52
USBP#05 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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Dec 272013
Be sure to check out the Complete Catalog for all the drawings and documents.
Saturn I Summary
A 44 page NASA brochure (from somewhen around 1965) describing all the Saturn I vehicles that were launched. Includes diagrams showing the different configurations and provides mission data and highlights.
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The Retro-Glide Booster Concept
A 20-page collection of information on the Martin-Marietta “Retro-Glide Booster,” an early Shuttle idea for using a winged and recoverable derivative of the Saturn V first stage. A 1971 NASA Space Shuttle History Project document.
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NB-36H Aircraft Descriptive Data
30 pages of Lockheed data on the Convair NB-36H (the B-36 equipped with a nuclear reactor for test purposes). This comes from the Lockheed “Competitive Data Group,” which was Lockheed’s collection of intelligence data on *other* companies designs and proposals. This report, largely hand-written, provides a program history as well as weight and dimensional data, with a number of sketches showing the general arrangement and internal layout.
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Handbook on Guided Missiles
212 pages of a 1946 War Department report on German and Japanese rocket powered missiles and aircraft. This rarely-seen classic (scanned from a photocopy) provides a vast pile of information, including a great many diagrams.
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Saturn Foldout
A NASA-Marshall publicity brochure on the Saturn V, dating to the mid-late 1960’s. Prints out full-size to 34 1/4 inches by 9 1/2 inches
Dec 262013
From the glory days of aerospace illustration, the B2707-200 supersonic transport. The full-rez illustration is a thing to behold!
Dec 172013
A photo of a bit of NASA concept art, found on eBay. Dating from 1968, this shows an astronaut doing some geology (“seleneology?”) with a six-wheeled rover and a remarkably slim space suit.
Dec 162013
LLNL artwork depicting the hit-to-kill terminal stage of the Brilliant Pebbles, sans the booster drop-stages. It does not seem to have a go-forward thruster; that would seem to have been provided by the boosters. What it does have is a fair amount of divert capability provided by the thrusters mounted at what should be the center of gravity.
While dimensions are unknown with any certainty, this would be a fairly small system. The kill vehicle – which in this case is somewhat difficult to distinguish from the propulsion system – had a mass goal of only 2.5 kilograms (according to THIS), while the booster was to mass about 100 kilograms. THIS source said the vehicles were about one meter long.
Dec 142013
Here is the Brilliant Pebbles anti-missile vehicle just after cocoon (“life jacket” here) separation. The kill vehicle is shown as a multi-stage vehicle with four drop-tanks; this capability usually isn’t shown. However, it would certainly allow for blisteringly fast interception speeds.
Dec 142013
For those of you following along with my email-listing updates regarding the Boeing 2707 eBay listing and how to get in on it… it has now closed. The package of proposal books, art & diagram showed up today, and now the process of scanning begins.
For those of y’all reading this going “WTF?” and wondering why you don’t know what I’m yapping about and why you’re not on the list to receive a gigabyte or so of SST stuff… probably has something to do with you not being on the emailing list.
Dec 112013
Lawrence Livermore National Lab artwork of the Brilliant Pebbles anti-missile satellite within its protective “cocoon.” Compare to artwork HERE. Dimensions remain elusive.
