Dyna Soar Instrument Panel

 aircraft, APR, drawings, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Mar 042015
 

While the overall configuration of the Dyna Soar was set (and is well known) well before the program ended, the pilots instrument panel seemed to be in a constant state of flux. A number of mockup photos and diagrams of generally low resolution and/or poor reproduction quality. But a decade ago what appears to have been a decent-quality instrument panel layout was auctioned off:

858: DynaSoar Blueprints Diagrams Photos

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So… is there any chance that anyone reading along knows the buyer, or has access to this or a similar instrument panel layout diagram?

PS: if you are interested in the final Model 2050E Dyna Soar design, you could not do much better than to check this out.

 Posted by at 11:05 am

USBP13/ USLP01 updates/corrections

 AARRRGH, aircraft, art, books, drawings, Gah., new products, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, US Launch Vehicle Projects  4 Responses »
Mar 042015
 

I happened to notice that the last diagram in US Bomber Projects #13, showing that issues various designs all together at the same scale, was not the actual finalized diagram. So I’ve corrected it. At the same time, I added an equivalent diagram to US Launch Vehicles Projects #01, showing all the boosters to the same scale. If you have previously purchased one or both of these, the info in the email your received with the download instructions will still work if you’d like to download the revised versions.

And if you haven’t purchased these… well, here’s another chance!

 Posted by at 2:00 am

PDF Review: Space Settlements, A Design Study

 awesomeness, books, history, Patreon, projects, reshaping the world, science, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Mar 022015
 

NASA SP-413, “Space Settlements, A Design Study,” was published in 1977 and brought together the results of a 1975 NASA-Ames Research Center effort to do a preliminary study of a giant torus space station for several thousand permanent inhabitants. It is a basic text on the subject of space colonies, but obtaining a copy of the printed book of course requires money (but not much… a quick check at abebooks.com shows them going for about $8) and online versions have typically been either black-and-white scan PDFs of indifferent quality, or versions rendered into painful HTML format. Fortunately, someone (it’s unclear to me who, though it seems a professional job) has scanned in the book and all the illustrations and reformatted the text into an all-new, clean PDF version.

The PDF can be downloaded HERE.

spacesettlements4 spacesettlements3 spacesettlements2 spacesettlements1

Much more aerospace stuff is available via the APR Patreon.

patreon-200

 Posted by at 11:35 pm

US Bomber Projects #13, US Launcher Projects #01

 aircraft, books, drawings, history, new products, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Bomber Projects, US Launch Vehicle Projects  No Responses »
Mar 022015
 

Two new publications in the US Aerospace Projects series are now available.

Now available: US Bomber Projects #13. This issue includes:

  • Ryan Model 162: A VTOL strike/recon plane
  • Boeing Orbital Bomb: a nuclear-tipped re-entry glider
  • Northrop Atomic Wing: an asymetric nuclear powered design
  • Consolidated Vultee High Speed Flying Boat: an early post-war Skate design
  • Martin Model 189: a canard version of the B-26 Marauder
  • Boeing Model 464-046: A six-engined B-52 predecessor
  • Curtis F-87C: a night fighter with bomber abilities
  • Boeing Model 701-247: a supersonic antecedent of the B-59

usbp13ad

usbp13ad1

USBP #13 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

———

 

Also available: US Launch Vehicle Projects #01. The premiere issue of this new series includes:

  • Pre-Saturn Phase III Vehicles: 1958 concpet for clustered Atlas boosters
  • Boeing “Big Onion”: an SSTO to launch SPS
  • Northrop TAV: an in-flight propellant transfer spaceplane
  • Martin Orbit Project: A 1946 concept for a hydrogen fueled SSTO
  • Saturn V derived HLLV for FLO: A brief Saturn V revival in the early 1990s
  • MSC Orbiter 020: An early Shuttle with straight wings and a single SRB
  • Hammerhead ET: a way for the Shuttle to transport outsized payloads
  • Loral Aquarius: A way to make space launch cheap

 

uslp 01ad

uslp01ad1

USLP #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

———

 Posted by at 3:37 am

Enterprise: old school is best school

 art, awesomeness, history, photography, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Feb 262015
 

This is neat… a photographer took some shots of the original Star Trek USS Enterprise filming model (currently removed from its gift-shop dungeon for some much needed restoration and improved displaying) and used those photos to replace Movie Enterprise in various scenes. And… it’s pretty awesome.

http://cargocollective.com/nickacosta/Old-Glory

Mutar_1500

More/bigger/better images at the link.

 Posted by at 5:57 pm

The Spots of Ceres

 awesomeness, Hmm..., photography, science, spacecraft  16 Responses »
Feb 262015
 

Huh:

Bright Spot on Ceres Has Dimmer Companion

PIA19185_hires

Note the two bright “specks” within a single crater. Almost certainly the extremely bright appearance of the specks is due to the overall dim nature of the surroundings… something doesn’t need to be too terribly bright to look *blindingly* bright compared to dark surroundings. I’d bet a nickle that we’re seeing ice at the bottom of the crater.

 Posted by at 11:33 am

Gemini-Titan Display Model

 art, awesomeness, history, models, rockets, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Feb 262015
 

This very, very impressive-looking display model was auctioned off way back in 2008:

gemini-titan

I much prefer this sort of display to even the most detailed computer rendering printed out onto foam core.  Perhaps as 3D printing gets better & cheaper we’ll see a return to this sort of thing. Imagine if you could print off aluminum & plexi large-size models like this for a few bucks worth of raw materials and electricity…

 Posted by at 10:42 am

February 2015 APR Patreon rewards are available

 aircraft, APR, awesomeness, books, drawings, history, new products, news, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  1 Response »
Feb 232015
 

I have made available for APR Patrons the following:

1) “Titan III B-C-D-E Propulsion Handbook,” from Aerojet, explaing and diagramming just about everything you want to know about the Titan III propulsion systems, from the SRMs to the Transstage. I originally got this via ebay.

titanIIIlayout

(This shows just a small portion of the ~300 page handbook)

2) “Aircraft Descriptive Data for Northrop F-89F.” A collection of then-current data on the projected (and unbuilt) F-89F. This was from a collection gathered by Lockheed to keep tabs on their competitors. Has some “Secret” markings on it. I originally got this via ebay.

F-89Flayout

3) Skylab diagram. This very large format illustration was found in the NASA HQ and photographed piecemeal and painstakingly reassembled, using text scanned from another copy of the illustration (with a far smaller diagram, but good text).

skylab

4) An original layout diagram of the XB-70. It took several years to get this diagram into this shape. It seems pretty good to me.

misc-127 XB-70

You can gain access to these by becoming an APR Patron for as little as $1.50 a month. That’s not so very much, is it? Check out the APR Patreon page for more details.

 Posted by at 8:52 pm
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