Bell Helicopter “Air Taxi”

 aircraft, Hmm..., news, projects  9 Responses »
Jan 092018
 

Bell Helicopter has just released their concept for the cabin of an “air taxi.” From the looks of it, it is a sci-fi vehicle on par with the flying cars from “Blade Runner,” seemingly relying on anti-grav units for lift and magic for forward propulsion. However, I suspect the idea is that this is just a people-pod that would be either integrated into or picked up by a VTOL aircraft of some kind, probably a supersized quad-, hex- or octo-copter, like a giant Toys R Us drone. Oddly enough, the report makes no mention of that part of it whatsoever. It seems an odd oversight. But then the more dedicated webpage on the concept also seems to leave out that kinda important bit as well, so I guess Bell is sitting on it for the moment.

Bell Helicopter Makes Debut as First Major Helicopter Manufacturer to Exhibit at CES

 

 Posted by at 5:48 pm

Lockheed L-2000 SST art: 1

 aircraft, APR, art, awesomeness, history, projects  2 Responses »
Jan 072018
 

The L-2000 was Lockheed’s entrance into the mid-1960’s FAA contest to design and develop an American supersonic transport. The FAA wanted the US to have an SST substantially better than the Anglo-French Concorde, with up to 250 passengers and a cruise speed of up to Mach 3 (as fast as an SR-71). Interestingly, the Concorde was not expected to be a long0lived design, but rather was simply going to be the *first* SST, a technology demonstrator, a diplomatic endeavor between historic enemies Britain and France, a flying sales brochure for Angle-French industry. And the Tupolev Tu 144 was an attempt to put something, *anything*, into the air first.

In the end, the FAA selected the Boeing 2707 design, ending the L-2000. And after great promise was shown, politics killed the Boeing 2707, ending substantial forward progress in civil aviation. Since then, air flight has gotten cheaper and more efficient, but it has not gotten any faster… and it certainly hasn’t become more comfortable.

This artwork depicts the final or near-final L-2000 concept, a double-delta configuration vaguely like a larger Concorde in shape. The Boeing design started off as a swing-wing configuration but became a fixed, tailed design prior to cancellation.

 

I’ve uploaded the full rez scans to the 2018-01 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to all current APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in this and a great many other “extras” and monthly aerospace history rewards, please sign up for the APR Patreon. Chances are good that $4/month is far cheaper than your espresso/booze budget!

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 Posted by at 7:09 pm

Spaceballs

 art, history, Hmm..., projects, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Jan 052018
 

A Rocketdyne concept for a space station from the late 1950’s. This was a sphere some 60 feet in diameter, with at least three counter-rotating internal centrifuges (think “2001’s” Discovery) to provide between 0.2 and 0.8 of an Earth-normal gravity. This station was to be parked in geosynchronous orbit, 22,400 miles up, and would weigh 250,000 pounds. The crew was to be a rather surprising 50 men. There are enough questions about the design that it can be safely assumed to either not be an entirely serious design, or to have been artistically greatly altered from the engineering concept. It *appears* to be equipped with:

  1. Possibly a small nuclear power source with attached rectangular radiators, held at some distance.
  2. Some sort of small rocket vehicle… possibly a proble launcher, or, since this was the 1950’s, possibly a nuclear weapon launcher
  3. A parabolic reflector, probably a solar mirror for concentrating sunlight and generating power
  4. An optical telescope
  5. A radar or communications dish that is pointed nowhere near towards Earth

 

 Posted by at 2:24 am

Drawbridge orbiter: orbital art

 aircraft, art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  5 Responses »
Jan 022018
 

This piece of art depicts the McDonnell-Douglas “Drawbridge” orbiter in orbit delivering a satellite. Note that the wing are deployed, even though they would be folded up during entry. The geometry of the craft was such that in order to get the cargo bay door open and payloads safely in and out, the wing needed to fold down out of the way.

This points out one of the reasons why you don’t often see a whole lot of “cool” stuff in aerospace… everything has tradeoffs. And needing the wings to constantly go up and down is a bit of a headache. When it comes to spacecraft, mass is a primary priority; the mechanisms needed to deploy the wings weight a lot… never mind the mechanisms needed to retract the wing again. As an example, the real space shuttle orbiter had no landing gear retraction system. And why should it? The landing gear is hardly something the Orbiter would ever need to retract. That could be done by the ground crew without adding weight and complexity to the craft itself.

Note that the Orbiter and the payload here seem to have not NASA markings, but Red Cross markings. I suspect that a number of variants of this piece of art would have been produced with several different markings (NASA and Pan Am being the obvious ones), but why exactly Red Cross? Dunno.

Also note that this might not be an actual “Drawbridge” design, as no extension mechanism for the wing s in evidence. This might be an oversight on the part of the artist; it might be that this was a fixed-wing design. Given the RCS thrusters on the wingtips, this is most likely *not* a Drawbridge.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (11.2 megabyte 6271×4763 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2018-01, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in accessing this and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 2:59 pm

Aldebaran

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, history, Hmm..., models, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, ships, spacecraft  11 Responses »
Dec 312017
 

While poking around one of my old computers I found the partially finished 3D CAD model of the Martin “Aldebaran” I made some years ago for my NPP book. I’ll use the model to create diagrams for the book, in hopes that someday I’ll finish the damn thing, but I’m curious if there might be interest in physical models of the thing. Let me know. I might take a stab at this with Shapeways or some such.

 Posted by at 1:13 pm

December 2017 APR Patreon rewards

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 302017
 

The rewards for APR Patrons have been issued. This month:

CAD Diagram: Marquardt hypersonic burning ramjet booster

Diagram: Convair Class VP Airplane High Performance Flying Boat

Document 1: Apollo Exploration Shelter System

Document 2: Chrysler Work Station Capsule (“work pod” for astronauts)

Document 3: Sikorsky S-97 “Raider” brochure

 

If you are interested in helping to preserve (and get copies of) this sort of thing, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

 

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 Posted by at 11:15 am

Drawbridge orbiter: staging art

 aircraft, art, history, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  7 Responses »
Dec 262017
 

This piece of art depicts the McDonnell-Douglas “Drawbridge” orbiter staging off the manned flyback booster, showing the wings still folded against the sides of the fuselage. The wings served no purpose during ascent; they would only be used after-re-entry. Of course, in the event of a mission abort shortly after launch, the wings would need to deploy fairly quickly. There are no doubt numerous abort scenarios where the orbiter would be left intact after separation from a presumably stricken booster (or after a main engine failure on the orbiter stage), but would nevertheless still be doomed due to inability to get the wings deployed in time.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (5 megabyte 3951×2121 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-12, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in accessing this and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 3:19 pm

Drawbridge orbiter: launch art

 aircraft, art, history, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 222017
 

The early development of the Space Shuttle was filled with bizarre designs, attempts to jam capabilities into existing technologies. One such unconventional concept came from McDonnell-Douglas: a low-cross-range orbiter atop a flyback booster. The orbiter, unlike the Shuttle Orbiter actually built, contained considerable internal propellant; the booster would get it up to high altitude and velocity, but the bulk of the actual delta V would come from the Orbiters own propulsion. The vehicle had small, straight wings that would fold up against the side of the fuselage for launch and for re-entry… but they would have to deploy on-orbit to allow the payload bay doors to open, and they’d deploy again once the craft had entered the atmosphere.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (8 megabyte 5598×4529 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-12, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in accessing this and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

 

 

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 Posted by at 12:24 pm
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