Mortons has announced my “Book 3,” They list it as available September 30… but I would expect it to come out a bit later than that. Well before Christmas, though.
This is Volume 1. I’m hard at work on Volume 2. A Volume 3 is *possible,* though uncertain just yet. Volume 1 covers the evolution of and derivative designs from the “official” bomber programs… B-58, B-59, B-68, B-70. B-1, A-5 and F-111. This covers, where possible, designs that competed for the contract. As with all my works, this is heavily illustrated with line diagrams, as accurate as I can make them.
This will eventually also be available through Amazon. THIS appears to be a placeholder for the listing. When released, it should be available directly through Mortons first, but for US buyers Amazon will have lower shipping cost.
I’m all in favor of megaprojects. Hell, some years ago I made a pretty good stab at a book on the subject… half history of such projects, half illustrated manual of such projects, and half manifesto calling for mankind to plow ahead with such projects. Things like solar power satellites, O’Neill habitats, supra-mundane terraforming, orbital rings, terraformed asteroids (inside and out), Dyson swarms, all that. If mankind is going to make it long-term, we are going to have to do such things, and do rather a lot of them. We will eventually tear apart whole solar systems to rebuild them better. And to get from Here to There, we are going to have to do a lot of intermediate projects… and a lot of them will fail. I suspect that a fair proportion of the early space habitats will turn into disasters; early Mars colonies will be death traps; solar power satellites will fold up like origami. It’s sad, but it’s likely inevitable. It’s not like the history of Europeans colonizing the world was a history of unalloyed success from the get-go; there are whole colonies that just up and friggen’ vanished. But humans learn from such things and do better the next time… and soon enough, the same people who vanished like a fart in the wind at Roanoke have built New York City.
That said: not all megaprojects sound like good ideas. Some that seem like they are probably technically feasible sound like logistic or sociological nightmares. Such is the case with The Line, a whackadoo concept for a skyscraper taller than the Empire State Building… and hundreds of kilometers long. Worse, they want to build the thing in the desert. Worst, they want to build it in *Arabia.* No matter how bad your idea is, building it in a backwards theocratic superstitious cesspit will make your idea even worse.
Roscosmos showed a model of the new orbital station. At present, RKK Energia continues to work on the draft design of the station.#Roscosmospic.twitter.com/YaBMBLqrSR
Turns out that these two lithographs are, at least based on stains on the X-23 matting, the same two lithographs sold just a few months ago. I’m dubious of turning around two lithographs that sold for $384 together for a grand or more each. The seller has a *lot* of high-value items… celebrity autographs and such, so he’s presumably doing well, but normally a lithograph like this would sell for well under $100.
Shrug.
Anyway, the art depicts an HL-10 coming in for a landing. The configuration includes a raised cockpit and reaction control thrusters at the tail; the white paint seems burned off along the underside. This would indicate an orbital craft after re-entry. Given the lack of an apparent hatch in the rear, this would not seem to be an operational orbital HL-10 (depicted hereabouts many times in the past) but instead a slightly smaller test vehicle, probably with a single pilot, possible lobbed on a once-around flight.
Currently on ebay is a lithograph of the Martin X-23 PRIME (Precision Reentry Including Maneuvering reEntry) subscale lifting body, a mid-1960’s program to build small test vehicles for the full-scale X-24A lifting body. This depiction shows it without the “bump” on the forward fuselage simulating the contours of the cockpit canopy. The seller is rather optimistic with a $1875 Buy-It-Now price, although he will consider offers.
Another copy of the same lithograph, along with a lithograph of an orbital HL-10, sold a few months ago for less than $400. That was too rich for my blood for two lithographs, never mind nearly two grand for one. Shrug. But at least the listing provides a fairly decent photo of the art. I *believe* I’ve only seen it reproduced in B&W.
It has been a number of years since I’ve added much to the Air & Space Documents & Diagrams catalog (https://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/catalog/drawndoc.htm). On the other hand, ever since 2014 I have been sending about three documents and one large format diagram per month to Patrons and subscribers… so that’s a *lot* of stuff! But sometime in the near future I will finally add new items to the Catalog: Air *and* Space, Drawings *and* Documents. Included will be a wide variety of things… but for those interested in space, there will be two sets of SSTO design documents.
I have of late been dealing with a number of things… most relevant of which is finishing up the text of my third book. I hope to have it done in a matter of days. That will be when I’ll really get going on releasing the new Drawings & Documents. Patrons and Subscribers will be notified first… and will have the opportunity to get them at a discount. So if this is of interest, keep an eye on the APR blog, the catalog page linked above, or sign up for the APR Patreon/Monthly Historical Documents Program (https://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/monthly.htm). Patrons/subscribers can also get any or all of the “back issues” of monthly collections back to 2014.
Thanks!
PS: Covid does not help the writing process. Just a little heads up for those curious.
Someone has been trying to sell a lithograph on ebay for a *long* time without apparent success… probably because they want $650 for it. Move that decimal place to the left, and I would stand a decent chance of buying it… but for $650, it has to be the *original* art. No way for a *small* lithograph.
It’s not from the 1960’s, but the 1980’s. It depicts a General Dynamics “Midgetman” Small ICBM concept launching from a mobile launcher; a concept the Soviets (and Chinese, and Norks) ran with, but the US never really got behind. The launcher seems very likely to be the artists fantasy; these vehicles were designed to withstand a reasonably nearby nuclear strike, and one of the ways they did that was by not having a huge single piece canopy.
Shortly after WWII the US Air Force funded studies on long range missiles, wit the intent of incorporating what had been learned from the Germans. One design, the 1947-vintage North American Aviation model 704, was derived (through numerous steps) from the German A-4 (V-2), but made longer range by way of adding wings and two ramjet engines. This would eventually evolve into the “Navaho” intercontinental cruise missile; an impressive but ultimately doomed system that used a large liquid rocket booster to shove a large Mach 3+ ramjet aircraft into the sky. In the end, ICBM were easier and cheaper.
The full rez scan of the diagram has been made available to APR Patrons/Subscribers at above the $10 level.
Article concerns a theoretical weapon the Chinese have written a paper about. A torpedo that can be launched from a normal tube, equipped with a reactor of rather inefficient performance but adequate to drive it across the ocean to San Francisco at 30 knots. There it would drop the reactor which would supposedly safely deactivate and sink into the sand; the torpedo would then guide itself to the target under conventional power.
On the one hand: archives are filled with design studies that went nowhere. One the other hand, it would be unwise to assume that the Chinese *aren’t* developing this. And given their recent history of aggression and technical incompetence, I’d fully expect a large fraction of the reactors to melt down en route, some to deactivate then reactivate, some of the torpedoes to wander off and blow up Easter Island or Fiji, or just bob around in the ocean until rammed by a fishing vessel or a deafened whale. Still, it’s interesting to note that the Commies are threatening San Francisco. Gotta wonder how the commies of San Fran and Berkeley would react to the sudden appearance of a radioactive tsunami a few meters high washing into town. I imagine the radiation wards will be filled with plaintive cries of “Trump’s fault!” and “white privilege!”
They’ve introduced a new design. Whether this one will come anywhere near getting built is anyone’s guess; the history of such things does not bode well.
Boom Supersonic's NEW Overture design. Here's the breakdown
– Four engine design – Quieter operations – Contoured fuselage – Gull wings – Carbon composite structure – Net zero carbon
