A NASA-Langley presentation from 1973 on Shuttle carrier aircraft concepts included this “low technology” design, similar to the Conroy “Virtus.”
Apr 072020
Apr 052020
Once again Patreon seems to be becoming unstable. So I’ve got an alternate: The APR Monthly Historical Documents Program
For some years I have been operating the “Aerospace Projects Review Patreon” which provides monthly rewards in the form of high resolution scans of vintage aerospace diagrams, art and documents. This has worked pretty well, but it seems that perhaps some people might prefer to sign on more directly. Fortunately, PayPal provides the option not only for one-time purchases but also monthly subscriptions. By subscribing using the drop-down menu below, you will receive the same benefits as APR Patrons, but without going through Patreon itself.
Apr 012020
A page from a 1962 North American presentation on the X-15, showing a preliminary design 0f an underslung rocket-boosted scramjet test vehicle. It was expected to get to a blisteringly fast 17,000 feet per second (about Mach 15), but it doubtless would not have much of a burn time. The ABLX-259 rocket booster was a solid rocket used as the “Antares II” third stage of the Scout space launcher. Note that the X-15 had an extended nozzle.
Mar 272020
The X-34 was the first aerospace project I worked on after graduation. Sadly, one week after I was hired to work on the X-34 the whole program was cancelled. “Welcome to aerospace, kid. Here’s your layoff… last one in, first one out.” Feh. Anyway, Orbital Sc iences proposed two vehicles:
1: The X-34A was a small-ish vehicle carried under the same Lockheed L-1011 jetliner that OSC used to launch the Pegasus. The X-34 needed greater volume than the Pegasus, but since there was limited clearance under the L-1011, the X-34A had a wide lifting body-like fuselage.
2: The X-34B was a larger, better optimized vehicle to be launched from atop a Shuttle-carrying 747.
Both the A and B models had payload bays that would contain an upper stage and an orbital payload. Neither was built (apart from a full scale mockup of the A); after the program was cancelled it came back as the X-34C. the C model *was* built, but it never flew.
Mar 222020
A 1965 Ryan concept for a VTOL aircraft capable of high speed. Both the main wing and the vertical stabilizers were in fact stoppable rotors with three stubby blades. Some designs utilizing this system were capable of supersonic flight.
Mar 202020
The design below dates from late 1964 or so. it could be used to fly 100 passengers or 20 tons of cargo. Length was to be 100 feet with a 120-foot rotor diameter and a 90,000 pound weight. it certainly looks a *lot* like the S-64 Skycrane.
Mar 192020
United Tech was mostly interested in solid propellant boosters for the Dyna Soar program… specifically, boosters to strap to the side of the Titan II. Initially conical in shape, those early concept boosters would turn into the UA-1205 boosters fitted to the Titan IIIC booster. But UTC also studied liquid propellant boosters for the Dyna Soar, including the Saturn derived design shown below which featured a Saturn S-II stage for the first stage, an S-IV (*not* an S-IVb) for the second stage and an S-V stage (a modified Centaur) for the third. The design of the Dyan Soar is purely notional; United Tech seemingly did no design work on that and simply sketched in a spaceplane roughly along the lines of the design Boeing had.
Mar 182020
In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in a space station with a singular purpose… to serve as a command post in the event of a nuclear war. Its position would let it confirm Soviet ICBM launches and direct space based weapons in their response. Presumably this means that there would need to be several such orbital command posts. The brief description suggests that the command post would be in “high orbit,” perhaps geosynchronous; to have global coverage, at least two and preferably three or more such posts would be needed. The lower the orbit, the more would be needed to see the whole planet.
Mar 182020
Given the craziness going on, I decided that what the world clearly needs is something consistent. Like, say, me posting one piece of aerospace diagram or art every day for a month or so. So I’m going to do that. But in order to keep people from getting too complacent, I’m posting some of them on this blog, some on the other blog. Why? Because why not, that’s why. I’m slapping the posts together now and scheduling them to show up one at a time, one a day. Given the pandemic… who knows, this little project might well outlive *me.*
So, check back in (on this blog or the other) on a daily basis. Might be something interesting.
Mar 132020
NASA’s SLS Moon rocket is 2 years behind and billions over budget, internal report finds
Rocket surgery is hard. But for frak’s sake, it’s not *that* hard. NASA oversaw the development of the rough equivalent of the SLS in the form of the Saturn V fifty-five friggen’ years ago, on a shorter timescale and I believe at lower cost… and that was starting with prit near *nothing.* SpaceX has spent far less and achieved far more, and despite a lot of setbacks lately, I still wouldn’t put it past SpaceX to get an SLS-beater into the air before SLS.
I wonder what SpaceX could do with two billion dollars and two years. Hell, I wonder what *I* could do with that.
Hmm.
Who would I talk to about getting estimates for a mild steel circular plate twenty meters or so in diameter?