A Grumman alternate Space Shuttle concept with a low cross range orbiter and a trio of 156-inch diameter solid propellant rockets for the first and second stages. The orbiter itself was stuffed with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks; even so, the high density of the solid rockets meant that the vehicle as a whole was remarkably compact.
This 1969-era NASA painting depicts a space station that does not seem to make much sense. For starters: it would seem to be a single-launch station, but how would it fold up for launch? If the two arms were to fold “down,” the large pressure vessels would try to pass through each other. And it has what appear to be Apollo capsules at the ends of the arms. If this is so, it would not only mean that separating one capsule would throw the space station far off balance, it also means that an incoming capsule would be incapable of docking unless the station stopped rotating.
Incoming is what appears to be a Big Gemini logistics craft, presumably to dock at the central hub. The WHOOSH lines, though, seem to indicate that closing velocity is pretty high.
A1969-vintage artists impression of a single-launch space station with “arms” that would unfold. The whole structure would rotate, providing “artificial gravity” for the crew via centrifugal force.
I am working on making cyanotype prints using vellum instead of the heavyweight watercolor paper used to date. This is historically appropriate, as well as being far lighter and rollable (ship in a tube rather than flat). Early test runs are encouraging, though the failure rate is higher than for watercolor paper. I’m going to make vellum-type available alongside the watercolor-paper-type. They will be more expensive, due to higher cost and more effort required. They will probably be special-order items. So if there are any of the current cyanotype prints you’d especially like to see as vellum cyanotypes, let me know via email.
Related: I’ve finally found a company that says they can make large-format transparencies, which I can used to make large-format vellum cyanotypes. I hope to have a set of large format transparencies (including both the Saturn Ib and Saturn V) sometime next week.
If it all works out, and things are at least encouraging, then I’ll also be able to make vellum blueprints to order, easily up to 18X24, likely to 24X36, and 14X72 or so (two different “frames” on hand). So if you have diagrams you’d like in velum cyanotype format, let me know…
NASA artwork from 1962 depicting a single-launch space station. Launched by a Saturn V, this space station would be folded up, then would unfold once on orbit to form something of a torus. Rotation would then supply a measure of artificial gravity. With a design like this, much of the inner volume would not be very efficiently used… as the straight cylindrical segments diverge further from a circular centerline for a hypothetical truly circular torus, the more the inner surface of the segment would seem to slope “uphill.” Thus the interior would probably be stepped so that the floor would be “flat” from the acceleration vector point of view, to keep everything from rolling or sliding “downhill.” In this case the central hub appears to be rotationally decoupled.
Image is related to this radial-arm concept, and was scanned at the NASA HQ history archive.
Another basic concept from Grumman for an alternate shuttle concept. This one featured a pressure fed booster composed of three identical hydrogen/oxygen stages in parallel for the first stage, and two strap-on pressure-fed stages along the sides of the orbiter.
Bell has announced a tilt rotor to take the place of the Black Hawk. It is smaller than the v-22, and featured fixed wingtip engines: the proprotors tilt, but the engines do not. This leaves a clearer line of sight out the side during hover, both for ingress and egress, as well as door gunners.
An attack version is also contemplated.
FORT WORTH, TX (April 10, 2013) – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), revealed today the Bell V-280 ValorTM, its offering for the Joint Multi Role/Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Technology Demonstrator (JMR/TD), at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) Annual Professional Forum and Exposition in Fort Worth.
Please enjoy this Bell PR video featuring decent computer graphics and some rather painful acting:
[youtube 1O3Onyas984]
The official Bell V-280 website, with more images and such.
Another Bell BAT mockup photo.
A photo of the Bell Helicopter BAT (Bell Advanced Tiltrotor) mockup built in the late 1980s. This was an early competitor in the Light Helicopter eXperimental (LHX) program, eventually won by what would become the RAH-66 Comanche. While the BAT met the early requirements of the program, it was too unconventional.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida claims that NASA is going to park a 500-ton, 25-foot asteroid into lunar orbit in 2019, with asteroids to visit in 2021.
I wonder if this notion is based on THIS.