Neutral Particle Beam weapon mockup

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Nov 212018

A while back a 1987 press image was posted on ebay showing a McDonnell-Douglas full scale mockup of a Neutral Particle Beam weapon system. This would have been an experimental system, not an operational weapon; details on full-scale NPB weapons are *very* hard to come by, but the smallest NPB weapon system that I’ve seen anything remotely resembling hard data on would have required a non-trivial number of Shuttle-derived heavy lift launch vehicles to put into orbit a piece at a time. Some references – extremely vague ones – have even made mention of dimensions for the full-scale weapons being measured in kilometers.

The purpose of this system would likely have been to simply show that a neutral particle beam could be reliably generated and directed at an orbiting target some decent distance away. While it would likely be very unhealthy to be int he way of such a beam, it’s weapons potential would doubtless have been low… thus the need for vastly scaled-up operational versions.

SpaceX BFR news

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Nov 202018

What is going on with SpaceX and all these Big Falcon Rocket changes?

The design of the BFR has apparently undergone yet another radical change, as-yet undefined. Additionally, the first stage is now called the “Super Heavy” and the upper stage is the “Starship” because Musk claims future versions will indeed go beyond the solar system. Ummm.

On one hand, it’s great that SpaceX is fast on its feet, changing the design as much as needed, as needed. It is of course perfectly normal while devleoping major new designs for there to be a long protracted period of constant design changes, sometimes including radical changes in direction. Take, for example, the long and winding paths Boeing took to the develop the B-52 and B-59 bombers.

On the other hand, it often seems as though these changes of course are driven by personal whim, and every time there’s a redirection there are major delays. This will make even *pretending* to keep to the schedule SpaceX has laid out problematic at best. The upper stage – now “Starship” – is supposed to make test hops in 2019. Hard to do if they’re still designing the thing.

But… SpaceX isn’t NASA. They just might be able to perform.

Lifting body as rescue craft

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Nov 172018

The 1969 movie “Marooned” featured an Apollo crew stranded in orbit and eventually rescued by a lifting body spacecraft,the fictional “XRV.” It has been noted that the vehicle and the basic setup look a *lot* like an illustration from a 1965 issue of Aviation Week depicting a Martin Co. lifting body rescuing the crew of an Apollo spacecraft:

There is clearly something a little strange going on in this artwork: what may seem like an adapter section or a propulsion module behind the lifting body is actually a docked Gemini spacecraft. There is no explanation for this, but I can speculate. The lifting body is meant to serve as a rescue craft, so it would need to have as much internal space as possible. Not just for three rescued Apollo astronauts, but three astronauts potentially in medical distress. So they might need to be laid out on stretchers, not just sitting in seats. Consequently, while they would need a pilot to get them home and “ambulance staff” to get them squared away, there might not be enough room for everyone. So *perhaps* what’s going on here is that the spaceplane is launched empty or with just a pilot, and the Gemini/Adapter has two EMTs in it. They get the rescuees dealt with and sent home, and they come home in the Gemini. This way, three rescuers go up, but only one comes down taking up space in the lifting body. This is non-optimal, of course; better would be to bring everyone home in one large vehicle. But perhaps this was the best that could be done with the intended launch system, presumably a Titan IIIc.

The lifting body is clearly related to the X-23/X-24 geometry that Martin was beginning to study at the time. A mockup that is very similar, though with the central vertical stabilizer that eventually appeared on the X-24, is shown HERE and HERE.

A Golden Age of goofy models

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Nov 122018

A combo of computer aided design and machining with low-cost Chinese labor and an expansion in the market for model kits has in recent years led to the availability of model kits the likes of which would have been simply unthinkable when I was a kid. For example: the P.1000 “Ratte.” The Ratte was one of the goofier ideas to come out of Nazi Germany, a 1000 ton tank that used two U-boat diesel engines to haul around a turret from the Tirpitz-class battleships packing two 38-cm cannon. The idea – beloved of Hitler – was clearly insane and while some doodling on the concept was done, no evidence of serious engineering has come to light. It’s the sort of idea that would not be seriously contemplated either as a weapon of war or as a commercial high production run injection molded kits.

Except…

A few years ago, the Chinese model kit company “Takom” released an injection molded kit of the Ratte in 1/144 scale. Even at that small scale the model was good sized, because the design was just that insane. I was honestly a bit shocked that someone would go to the trouble of releasing a 1/144 scale kit of the Ratte. But now there’s this:

A Ratte in 1/72 scale, in a box big enough to make a dog house out of. The company behind this, Modelcollect (another Chinese company), has a whole range of truly befuddling designs. Not only perfectly understandable models like 1/72 B-52s and B-2s and, at long last, a 1/48 A-12 Avenger II, but also a bunch of WWII German tanks redesigned as walking “mechs.” I dunno. Well, the Japanese go bughouse for model kits of ridiculous giant fighting anthropomorphic robots, so maybe the Chinese like quadrupedal King Tiger tanks. Well, there are two billion Chinese, so it doesn’t take a big market share to still end up with a big market.

US Fighter, Transport, Launcher, Recon & Research Projects

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Nov 072018

Now available… four new issues in the US Aerospace Projects line.

US Fighter Projects #3

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Fighter Projects #03 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #3 includes:

Vought Advanced Interceptor AI-0604R: a dart-winged ejector ramjet-powered concept
Convair Nuclear Powered Interceptor Configuration I: a single0seat interceptor with a nuclear reactor
General Dynamics F-111X-7: A stretched F-111 for bomber escort and interception
Bell Ramjet Fighter: A subsonic small fighter from the end of WWII
Convair XP-92: A post-war delta-winged ramjet powered supersonic interceptor
Rockwell D736-4 Supersonic Penetrator: the wings could sweep back entirely within the fuselage
Lockheed CL-362-2: A high-altitude hypersonic rocketplane
NASA-Langley TBF-1: an unusual supercruiser

USFP #3 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

US Launch Vehicle Projects #5

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Launch Vehicle Projects #5 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #5 includes:

North American Aviation 600K SSTO: an early concept for cheap space launch
Boeing “Windjammer” SSTO: A horizontal takeoff design form the early 70s
JSC Winged Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle: A giant SPS launcher
NASA Nova “Saturn C-8”: an early Apollo booster
Lockheed Reusable Ten-Ton Orbital Carrier: A logistics system from the early 60s
Chrysler Hot Air Balloon S-IB: An unusual approach to booster recovery
MSC Orbiter 042A Titan IIIL6: A shuttle design with a delta-winged orbiter on an enlarged Titan
General Dynamics Model 202: a preliminary design for a Brilliant Pebbles launcher

USLP #5 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

US Recon & Research Projects #3

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Recon & Research Projects #3 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #3 includes:

Lockheed A-2: An early design leading to the SR-71
Boeing NuERA 747: A nuclear powered 747
General Dynamics SX-109 “Pathfinder”: a subscale SSTO demonstrator
Northrop N-165: A giant U-2 alternate
Convair M-125: A high altitude/speed single seat recon plane with toxic fuel
Bell AMST STOL Prototype: A heavily modified C-130
Convair Nuclear AEW: unmanned, nuclear powered VTOL fleet defense recon platform
Boeing Model 818-300: an early 60s battlefield surveillance platform

USRP #3 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

US Transport Projects #8

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Transport Projects #8 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #8 includes:

NACA SST: a 1947 concept
Boeing CX-HLS: Boeings design for what became the C-5
Bell Operational Medium STOL Transport: vectored thrust for short takeoff
Convair Limited War Amphibian: A concept for a single plan to meet both land and sea plane requirements
Bell Hypersonic Transport 1980-1990:A two-stage turboramjet/rocket concept
Lockheed Hybrid Wing Body 757PF-Sized Freighter: a recent design for an advanced transport
Lear Liner Model 40:a small airliner/large executive transport
Boeing Model 759-153A Resource Carrier: A big flying wing natural gas “tanker”

USTP #8 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

Shuttle Program Orientation Course

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Nov 052018

In June 1973 Rockwell put together a short course – presumably or employees new to the STS program – that described the Space Shuttle system as it was then designed. There were a number of clear differences between the STS of the time and the STS as actually built. Differences included a forward extension of the OMS pods, continuing well onto the cargo bay doors. Also, the forward RCS thrusters on the sides of the nose were contained behind sizable doors to protect them during re-entry, a protection that was found to be unnecessary. There were also important differences with the SRBs and ETs.

I have made the full-rez scan of the document available to $10+ APR Patreon patrons. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

Forthcoming… real soon now

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Nov 042018

All the US Aerospace Projects issues I’ve teased over the last few months are now basically done. I’m going through them for the jillionth time looking for the usual collection of minor flubs as well as putting together advertising images. I hope to have them available in the next day or three. At the same time, I will be adjusting the prices of the existing issues. Maybe up, maybe down. Who knows? What has happened to the cost of living in the last five or six years?

I’m also putting together stuff for the next set of issues. I plan on starting a new series of designs for US Spacecraft projects. As a hint, the dimensions won’t be in inches, feet, meters or centimeters. More like kilometers and miles.

Manned Mars Spacecraft

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Nov 022018

This is what a manned mission to Mars dating from the late Apollo era would have looked like: a cluster of hydrogen tanks with a small number of NERVA nuclear rockets. The spacecraft would have been relatively gigantic as it leaves Earth orbit; large enough that it would have been assembled in space from at least six Saturn V launches. When it returns to Earth it would have been little more than the mission module; this would blast past Earth and continue in solar orbit while the astronauts and a few trifling hundreds of pounds of Martian souvenirs would have plowed into Earths atmosphere in a compact entry capsule. The mission module itself is described fully and heavily illustrated in US Spacecraft Projects #3.

I’ve uploaded the full rez versions of these renderings to the 2018-11 APR Extras folder on Dropbox, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

APR Patreon October 2018 rewards

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Oct 282018

I’ve just sent out the rewards for October, 2018, to APR Patrons. This months rewards include:

CAD diagram: 20-meter Orion spacecraft

Diagram: Genealogy of Piper aircraft

Document: “Story of the Uprated Saturn I” NASA-MSFC brochure circa 1966 describing the Saturn Ib, including future possibilities

Document: “Preliminary Design Study of a Three Stage Satellite Ferry Rocket Vehicle,” 1954 Goodyear paper describing the METEOR launch vehicle. First of a number of METEOR documents I have.

Document: “The Rocket Research Aircraft Program 1946-1962,” Edwards AFB booklet describing the various rocket aircraft tested up to the x-15

If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

Open the pod bay doors, Lockheed

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Oct 272018

A one-man “space pod” very similar in concept to the ones in “2001,” but designed by Lockheed in 1964. This *could* perhaps have influenced the film makers and/or their designers.

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