OSC Next Generation launcher

 news, projects, rockets  16 Responses »
May 252016
 

SpaceX’s successes with the Falcon 9 is forcing the rest of the launch industry to come up with new ideas. Orbital Sciences has released a bit of info on the Next Generation Launcher, which is based on a Space Shuttle booster first stage with a new Blue Origin third stage (which *might* indicate that the third stage is to be recoverable). And like Falcon 9, the NGL is designed with a heavy version… which has not only a pair of solid strap-on boosters, but a different first stage solid rocket.

Can’t say as that really make a whole lot of sense to me. But I guess we’ll see. First, we’ll see if OSC is truly serious about this, and they actually forge ahead.

With luck a clearer version of this chart will be made public.

 Posted by at 8:26 am

Wheels vs Tracks vs Archimedian Screws

 history, models, projects, spacecraft, youtube  4 Responses »
May 172016
 

From back when General Motors was studying spacecraft, here’s an early 1960’s video showing tests of three means of surface propulsion for lunar vehicles:

The Archimedes Screw system was interesting, but it seems to me that there’s virtually no chance that it would be a good idea on the moon. The rough, razor-sharp regolith would seem likely to sandblast those shiny metal screws in little short of no time.

 Posted by at 11:45 pm

Hammerhead ET

 drawings, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Launch Vehicle Projects  5 Responses »
May 172016
 

A 1977 Rockwell concept for how to expand the utility of the Shuttle system: move the payload from the Orbiter and put it in a shroud ahead of the External Tank. This would have allowed for much larger-diameter payloads to be carried. The ET would of course have had to go into orbit with the Orbiter itself. More info and diagrams of this are in US Launch Vehicle Projects issue 1.

uslp 01-07-1

 Posted by at 8:33 pm

Lockheed XFV-1 film

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, models, projects, youtube  3 Responses »
May 142016
 

A 1952 film describing the turboprop tailsitter. The film apparently had no audio, so a wholly unnecessary bit of “film projector noise” was added.

The film shows some interesting stuff, such as animations of the craft in action, and artists impressions of what must have been early alternate designs including a ducted-fan design and one with an odd delta wing with a cutout for the props.

 Posted by at 11:37 pm

Advanced Solid Rocket Motor Concept, 1963

 art, history, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  3 Responses »
May 062016
 

A NASA illustration of an advanced solid rocket motor concept, dated 1963. The most obvious difference between the “present” and “advanced” design was the buried nozzle. By properly shaping the solid propellant grain, the motor would perform normally but with a minimum of unused internal volume; this allowed the motor to be substantially shorter than the conventional design. This would make the associated interstage section equivalently shorter, lighter and cheaper. And by shortening and lightening the interstage, the launch vehicle would be shorter, lighter and stronger, with slightly sturdier structural dynamics.

advanced motor

The advantages of a more compact motor like this are pretty obvious. The disadvantages, maybe less so. The most apparent disadvantage is the *need* for far more advanced materials. That buried rocket nozzle is shown to be quite thin, thinner than the “present” design, yet it would be subjected to horrifying heating rates on *both* sides. There are few materials that could withstand that and retain any sort of structural strength.

Additionally: the desire is shown for thrust vectoring. Numerous options for that are available for the conventional nozzle… but it would be much harder with a buried nozzle. It might be easiest to simply gimbal the entire motor. Stop/restart capability has been achieved with solid rockets, but neither design show here provides for that. It is a non-trivial feature.

The igniter is show to be a small rocket motor suspended within the nozzle, directing it’s exhaust forward into the bore volume of the main motor. Variations on this sort of igniter are quite common for relatively short and stubby upper stage motors such as these.

 Posted by at 11:06 pm

NASA hypersonic model

 aircraft, history, models, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  13 Responses »
May 022016
 

A photo of a NASA wind tunnel model of a hypersonic aircraft configuration. The circa 1960 NASA brochure (promoting the organization to college students) that included this provided no further information, but I’m reasonably sure I’ve seen the wind tunnel test report on this, calling it a reusable booster or reusable launch vehicle. If that’s the case, the upper stages and payload were *probably* going to be carried on the things back.

RLV

 Posted by at 8:58 am

Graphics Design and USBP

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, Hmm..., new products, projects, US Bomber Projects, US Fighter Projects, US Launch Vehicle Projects, US Spacecraft Projects, US Transport Projects, US VTOL Projects  13 Responses »
May 012016
 

I admit that the USBP series looks kinda… bland. It’s text and line drawings; not a whole lot can be done to jazz that up. Especially since I have no head for graphics design whatsoever apart from layout diagrams.

Still, one reader sent me a mockup of a revised cover of USBP #18:

USBP18blue

Things are moved around a little bit, but the obvious change is the addition of color. The suggestion was also made to consider color-coding each title in the USXP series. Just off the top of my head, I came up with:

Bombers: Olive Drab

Spacecraft: Black

Launch Vehicles: Blue on bottom, transitioning to black at the top

Fighters: slightly bluish gray (like the F-15 or F-22)

Transports: ??

VTOL: ??

The USBP#18 cover was re-done to reflect this, thusly:

USBP18green

Thoughts? Is this more appealing?How about color-coding… good idea or not? And if so, what colors?

I tried something vaguely like this once before, with USBP#05.

 Posted by at 9:43 am

$1654/kg to LEO

 awesomeness, Hmm..., projects, reshaping the world, rockets, spacecraft  14 Responses »
May 012016
 

Or $750/lb. SpaceX pricing for the Falcon 9 and Falcon 9 heavy:

http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities

capabilities_services_4.29.16_5

For comparison, the Delta IV Heavy costs $375,000,000 with a LEO payload of 28,790 kg/63,470 lbs, or $13,025/kg or $5920/lb.

SpaceX stands a decent chance of monopolizing the launch market in the US. And while the price does not include a Dragon capsule, the US is currently paying the Russians $70 per astronaut to fly on a Soyuz. That’s more than the price of an entire Falcon 9 launch which, with a Dragon V2 capsule, should carry 7 astronauts.

 

 Posted by at 9:17 am

The Dragons of Mars

 awesomeness, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft  10 Responses »
Apr 272016
 

Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX is planning on using a Falcon 9 Heavy to launch a modified and unmanned Dragon 2 space capsule to Mars. In 2018.

 

 

 

Seems the Dragon 2 has been designed to be an all-round planetary lander, supposedly good for “anywhere in the solar system” (oh, yeah, smart guy? Like, the sun? Jupiter? Detroit?). That’s certainly handy, but they’ll need an ascent vehicle if they want to send (and recover) humans.

 Posted by at 5:02 pm
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