NASA rendering of the Space Launch System Block 2 concept.
Dec 082012
Dec 072012
NASA rendering of the Block 1 Space Launch System concept.
Dec 062012
A chart from a NASA briefing from May of this year giving a quick look at three planned configurations of the Space Launch System which some/many in NASA hope to get built and flown in the coming years.
When transitioning from the Block 1 to Block 1A configurations, the plan is to replace the Shuttle-derived five segment solid rocket boosters with all-new advanced boosters, either liquid or solid. But history has shown that if what you’ve got *now* more or less works, replacing it with an expensive new rocket is a somewhat politically dubious prospect.
Dec 042012
A relatively recent wind tunnel Schlieren photo of the Space Launch System configuration, kicked over at a rather terrifying angle of attack (which would almost certainly tear a real one to bits).
Nov 272012
Some images posted on the San Diego Air & Space Museum Flickr account are a bit of a mystery. They are *probably* all General Dynamics/Convair images, though that ‘s not certain.
First: Some sort of bus-borne interceptors? Space-based anti-satellite systems?
Second: Some sorta…. somethings. Space based weapons seems likely, but which is the business end? Are these nuclear-pumped X-Ray lasers in that picosecond before they’re blown to bits, shooting at something off to the lower left, with the upper-right satellite being the radar guidance system for the squadron? Are they more conventional interceptors with a single small and rather unusual thruster in a mysteriously long tail, aimed at the upper-right satellite? Phased plasma rifles in the 40-watt range?
Third: Probably a supersonic bomber (perhaps a B-70 competitor). But maybe an aerospaceplane.
Nov 262012
A 1968 PR video of what flight in 1975 would look like. In virtually every aspect, Braniff got it wrong. *Real* wrong. In fact, most of what they promised 44 years ago is still futuristic today… or, more probably, ain’t-never-gonna-happen. For instance: the fashions. Helmets? Where did that get that dress, it’s awful, and those shoes and that coat, jeeeeez!
[youtube KZcCpH-G3os]
Much of it looks like bad sci-fi from the 1930’s through the 1950’s, with robotic everythings, space-consuming extendable and self-moving furniture and pedestals, lots of plexiglass and yards of legroom. And while a few minor details have come about, they have done so in ways far less cheesy that shown here. The video phone, the option to watch one of *three* movies, etc.
This film displays one of my pet peeves with much of sci-fi these days: set a very few years in the future, displaying *massive* cultural, social and technological change. Movies like “Demolition Man” and “Strange Days” were explicitly set just a few years down the line, but showed technologies that were decades away.
Nov 252012
A pretty simplistic schematic diagram of a possible Nova launch vehicle, circa 1961, very similar to the “Chemical Nova.”
Nov 212012
A photo of a NASA Nova design, in rather crude display model form.
Nov 202012
A relatively well-known and very early design for a Nova vehicle. It is interesting in that it has only a slightly more powerful first stage and seemingly smaller and heavier upper stages than the Saturn V, yet was designed to put a very heavy lander directly onto the lunar surface.
Nov 192012
The D190 designation was the catch-all for a wide range of tilt-duct vehicles Bell designed in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The D190B was a rescue version, intended to go after downed pilots and the like. Other versions were similar, but designed to mate up with a C-130 in flight; the C-130 would transport the D190 to the vicinity of a rescue and would transport it home again, greatly increasing range and lift capability of the D-190. Another version was designed to similarly mate up with flying command posts and Air Force One, to transfer supplies and personnel.
