I have been plugging away on USSP#2, pretty much to the exclusion of all else, for a little while now. Shown below is the current status of the diagrams. USSP#2 has substantially more diagrams than the usual US Aerospace Projects publication. The empty spots are for two further spaceplanes. I really wish I was a faster draftsman, but there it is.
Generally I release these sort of things two at a time, but this might be released on its own.
This is one of the more unlikely-looking launch vehicle designs I’ve seen… a 1961 Saturn I first stage with an S-IV second stage and a nuclear upper stage. In and of itself that’s not that unusual… but the upper stage is *really* long and thin and appears to be devoid of a recognizable payload. The result, if it managed to survive launch and bending forces, is that at burnout it would be accelerating *really* hard.
However, the great probability here is that this was not an actual serious engineering study for a launch vehicle, but instead a notional concept, useful for studying the whichness of the why regarding the use of automated systems for nuclear rocket preparation an launch.
As soon as I branched beyond just Bombers in the “US Aerospace Projects” publications, a series on launch vehicles became both inevitable and mandatory. I haven’t yet put any together, however. I’ve been thinking about how to format them. The series on Spacecraft, of which a grand total of a single issue has been released, is very eclectic, with everything from work pods to space stations to starships; I asked the “up-ship emailing list” if that worked, and the result is that the *next* issue will be focused on a single type of spacecraft, and the one after that eclectic, rinse and repeat.
For Launchers, though, I’m considering following a pattern for each issue. As with Bombers, Transports, Spacecraft and so on, each issue will cover eight vehicles. I’m considering:
1) Designs leading up to the development of the Saturn I and V
2) Designs derived *from* the Saturn I and V
3) Heavy lifters… Nova, Post-Saturn and beyond
4) Aerospaceplanes of various types (airbreathing and non, just so’s they’re launch vehicles not payload)
5) early Space Shuttle designs
6) Shuttle derived vehicles
7) & 8) Misc
Here’s the thing: early Shuttle might often be *two* designs… the Booster and the Orbiter.
Comments? Complaints? Suggestions? Large bags of cash?
A scan of a piece of art from 1961 depicting a Long Beach-class guided missile cruiser launching a Polaris ballistic missile. Note that the caption says that this *will* happen; as it turned out, not only was the Long Beach never equipped with Polarises, it was also the only ship in its class. The US Navy decided that putting strategic nuclear ballistic missiles on easily-spotted and tracked surface ships was less desirable than putting them on far stealthier submarines.
A nice writeup of some of my Orion drafting & scribbling here:
Some of my Orion diagrams:
I suppose I really do need to finish that book some day. Having the publisher vanish on me kinda sucked the joy out of it, though. You’d think I’d be used to that sort of thing by now… I guess that there just might not be a maximum level of disappointment. You can always be more disappointed.
An illustration from the 1980’s, publicized fairly widely by Lockheed to illustrate their thinking for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (which led to the F-22). This almost certainly did *not* represent actual design work on Lockheeds part, but instead pure artistry. This particular version of the artwork depicts a rather apocalyptic color scheme; other versions were rather cheerier.
There was a delay getting the December rewards out, and a further delay in putting this notification together that the rewards are available… so it might be only a short-ish time before these are gone, replaced by the *January* rewards. So if these look of interest… act fast!
PDF Document: “Design Study for an Air Force Model F-82E Airplane Modified to a Ground Attack Aircraft with Allison XT-38 Turbo Prop Engine,” a North American Aviation report from 1948. This was not for a simple engine swap-out… the cockpits were moved forward and the engines located behind them, driving the props with long shafts.
PDF Document: “SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System,” a 1973 US Army description document of what would become the Patriot missile system.
Large Format Diagram: a large-format full-color (w/bonus grayscale versions) diagram of the X-20 Dyna Soar. Very detailed and clear. Looks great on a wall (believe me on that!)
CAD Diagram: Boeing Model 853-21 “Quiet Bird” a 1961 design study for a low radar cross section (i.e. stealthy) research aircraft.
If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.
In the early/mid 1970s the US aerospace industry studied alternate fuels for aircraft. This included liquid hydrogen… a pain to work with, but it makes a great fuel and can be processed easily out of natural gas, less easily out of coal, and with a whole lot of electricity out of water. But it is extremely cold and extremely low density. Thus when Lockheed (apparently half-heartedly) looked at an LH2 version of the C-141, it looked like this:
Under normal conditions, wingtip fuel tanks that vast would snap the wings right off, but LH2 is so light and fluffy that this aircraft would weigh *less* than a fully fueled standard C-141.
The latest releases in the “US Aerospace Projects” line (see the full library HERE):
US Bomber Projects #12 contents:
USBP #12 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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New: American Nuclear Explosive Devices #01
This is a prototype issue for what may become a series but which I hope to turn into a Real Book. The plan is to eventually document via accurate and detailed diagrams every nuclear explosive device produced by the US (obviously some are a little lean on declassified data). This includes bombs, Re-Entry Vehicles, a few actual “physics packages” and some stand-alone test devices. ANED01 contains information and diagrams of the first three atom bombs worked on by the US: the Thin Man and Little Boy air-droppable bombs and the Trinity “Gadget” test device. The American Nuclear Explosive Devices webpage is HERE.
ANED01 is formatted for 11X17, so the diagrams are good and large.
ANED #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:
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A NASA propaganda film from the very early 1970’s looking ahead to 1985, using the very latest in computer animation technology to depict a space shuttle in orbit.
[youtube 98pthkn9A6M]
This film was excerpted and used in an interview of sorts with Maxime Faget circa December 1972, and was posted and discussed around four years ago HERE.
