Manned Mars Spacecraft

 art, history, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Spacecraft Projects  No Responses »
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.

patreon-200

 

 Posted by at 2:59 am

APR Patreon October 2018 rewards

 aircraft, art, history, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
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.

patreon-200

 Posted by at 3:59 am

B-47C Concept

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, projects  No Responses »
Oct 222018
 

The B-47C was a 1950 Boeing proposal to re-engine the six-engine B-47 with four engines. It is usually depicted as being largely indistinguishable from the standard B-47 except that the inboard engine nacelles only had a single engine. However, in early 1952 the Model 450-155-33 was designed and designated the B-47C that not only had four P&W J-57-P-1 engines but also a very different fuselage. Most obviously, the cockpit was completely redesigned and was now indistinguishable from that of the B-52.

 Posted by at 12:56 pm

New CAD diagram PDFs?

 art, drawings, history, Hmm..., new products, projects  No Responses »
Oct 222018
 

Two and a half years ago I released seven CAD diagrams as 18X24 “posters” in PDF format. There was a little bit of interest, but not enough to move the project to the top of my to-do list and, like many of my projects, it fell by the wayside. Still, it’s always possible that some of the CAD diagrams I’ve created for US Aerospace Projects and other efforts in the years since might be of interest. If so, and you’ve always wanted to see such-and-such a diagram made available, comment below.

Here are the original seven:

 

CAD007

CAD 007: Northrop Low Altitude Penetrator

A 1/72 diagram of a 1979 design for a B-2 alternate configuration

Download for $3

———————————

CAD006

CAD 006

A 1/96 scale diagram of the 1979 Rockwell D645-4a spanloader bomber.

Download for $3

———————————

CAD005

CAD 005

A 1/144 scale diagram of the Manned Spacecraft Center MSC Orbiter 020, a 1972 Space Shuttle concept with a single 260″ solid rocket booster.

Download for $3

———————————

CAD004

CAD 004

A 1/350 scale diagram of the 1971 Boeing Resource Air Carrier (AKA RC-1, AKA “Brute Lifter”) designed as a flying oil tanker for the arctic.

Download for $3

———————————

CAD003

CAD 003

A 1/72 scale diagram of the Martin-Marietta “Zenith Star” experimental space-based laser for the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Download for $3

———————————

CAD002

CAD 002

A 1/24 diagram of the Lockheed “Harvey,” the initial concept for a low radar cross section strike platform that eventually became the F-117.

Download for $3

———————————

CAD001

CAD 001

A 1/32 diagram of the North American Rockwell D-541-4 “Surprise Fighter” from 1973, an early stealth concept designed to sneak up on Soviet AWACS planes.

Download for $3

 Posted by at 12:00 am

Yay, I beat Fox News

 awesomeness, history, Hmm..., projects, spacecraft, US Spacecraft Projects  No Responses »
Oct 162018
 

Just published on the Fox News website is this:

NASA eyes stunning ‘cloud city’ airship concept to explore Venus

This article discusses the NASA “HAVOC” concept for manned exploration of Venus by way of balloons and blimps. That’s cool and all… but readers of US Spacecraft Projects would have known about this six months ago.

 

 Posted by at 1:29 pm

$5 Billion vs $5 Billion

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., Hmm..., news, politics, projects, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 152018
 

Elon Musk pegs SpaceX BFR program at $5B as NASA’s rocket booster nears $5B in cost overruns

Chances are good that the SLS first launch, currently officially slated to slip to June 2020, will probably actually slip to 2021 some time. More good news: it’s fantastically over budget.

In other words, compared to Boeing’s first serious 2014 contract for the SLS Core Stages – $4.2B to complete Core Stages 1 and 2 and launch EM-1 in Nov. 2017 – the company will ultimately end up 215% over-budget ($4.2B to $8.9B) and ~40 months behind schedule (42 months to 80+ months from contract award to completion).

Ye gods.

By the time SLS actually flies, chances are pretty good that BFR will have already gone to orbit, if not the Moon or Mars. The upper stage is slated to fly in some form in 2019; and while I won’t be the slightest bit surprised if BFRs schedule slips, I’d be beyond astonished if it slips anything like SLS’s. For a company like Boeing, the SLS core should have been a snap. The engines are decades old designs, the core tankage is based on the ET, which is decades old; they’re not recovering it, it’s literally nothing special or new. It should have *easily* flown by now.

 Posted by at 3:48 pm

Maintenance Station in Space

 art, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 142018
 

A piece of art from 1962 depicting a Westinghouse Electric Corp. concept for a space station meant to provide servicing for nuclear powered spacecraft. it appears to be more of a space craft than a space station, since it is equipped with a substantial nuclear propulsion system of its own. It’s unclear what the set of rings at the “front” of the space station are meant to do.

 Posted by at 8:43 pm
 Older Entries  Newer Entries