Some recent photos of the Soviet BOR-4 lifting body test vehicle were posted here:
http://ru-cosmos.livejournal.com/1177554.html
And wow, has it seen better days.
Another fine example of aerospace history being left to turn into garbage.
Apr 232014
Apr 232014
Via CBS News, a (rather uncomfortably presented) description of an HL-10-based lifting body spaceplane (known as the “Yellowbird,” not that you’d be able to guess from this black and white video). Not particularly enlightening about the taxi itself, but kinda interesting in the presentation.
[youtube D_OttJ6X0jo]
This taxi was also included in the Martin film “Rendezvous in Space.”
Apr 192014
First test flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Reusable.
[youtube 0UjWqQPWmsY]
Giggitty!
Apr 182014
It has been since the launch of Energia-Buran in 1988 that a new semi-reusable launch vehicle has lifted off. Until today:
The Falcon 9 seems to have made it down to *near* the ocean surface. At this time it’s unclear what happened then… with waves a dozen feet high, chances are poor that the stage successfully “landed.” But consider: would an equivalent NASA vehicle have even been launched on a day like today?
[youtube 65zDaDSvIww]
Apr 172014
Here’s a look at issues 9 and 10 of US Bomber Projects (just noticed that issue 8 isn’t listed on the main USBP page… hopefully that explains the dismal sales. Until I fix up the web page, you can order #8 HERE).
Apr 172014
Some graphics of the Boeing CST-100 commercial space capsule I snaked out of a presentation a while back:
Apr 162014
A diagram showing the thermal radiators planned for one version of the SP-100 space nuclear power reactor.
Apr 162014
A while back I sold limited editions of some 11X17 drawing-package booklets (of the BoMi, BWB, X-20 Dyna Soar and nuclear pulse propelled starship concepts). Based on comments that have come in from a few of the buyers (see: http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=23871), they seem to have been well received. While these particular books are now done, it got me thinking about a few possible future works:
1) “A Guide To American Nuclear Explosive Devices.” Finally, an idea for what to do with the diagrams of the nuclear bombs I’ve created (see HERE). The book would feature full-page scale diagrams of every American nuclear bomb (including RV’s) that I can reliably create. The following page would contain all the particulars know for the bomb… weight, yield, dates in service, that sort of thing. Plus, a standard illustration/graph/chart showing the damage effects for ground bursts and air bursts, probably at a common altitude.
2) “A Guide to the Strategic Defense Initiative.” This would would be more like sci-fi. By assuming the trope of an alternate history, I can present diagrams of things that I cannot, in reality, present *reliably* *accurate* diagrams of. Things such as the Brilliant Pebbles, the Saggitar orbital railgun, the Zenith Star test laser, the larger planned operational space-based laser, the larger still “Phaser” phased array laser, neutral particle beam weapons, etc. have the problem of only being known from concept art and diagrams of disappointing quality, so my own diagrams would be highly speculative. But in a fictional setting… shrug. Also included would be SDI launch systems such as the ZSLS, the McD “Barbarian,” Shuttle-C and the General Dynamics (“Millenium Express”), McDonnell Douglas (“Delta Clipper”) and Rockwell (“Platypus”) SSTO concepts from 1991. These last three I can at least present quite reliable diagrams of.
These would each be some ways down the line. I *really* need to finish up the Space Station V book first; the nukes books needs one to two research trips, and the SDI book needs a whole lot of drafting, including 3D modeling.
Apr 162014
So there I was, watching an episode of the FX series “The Americans,” when what comes on-screen but a diagram of the Brilliant Pebbles space-based anti-missile interceptor:
For those unaware, “The Americans” is a spy drama set in 1981, with a pair of Soviet spies pretending to be an American married couple trying to dig up information on the Strategic Defense Initiative. In one episode, a report comes into their hands in the form of microfilm; one page is shown as if viewed through a little microscope, showing the BP interceptor and “life jacket.” Above is a photo I took of the image, direct from a TV screen. I don’t recall having seen this particular diagram before; if anyone knows the source, I’d be interested.
“The Americans” has a number of anachronisms. First, SDI was not proposed by Reagan until 1983. Second, Brilliant Pebbles wasn’t designed until 1986. Third, the “Illegals” program the show is based on apparently didn’t begin until the 1990’s, *after* the fall of the Soviet Union. Still, it’s interesting to see such things on-screen. I have provided a few such historical tidbits to a few productions, though so far nothing I’ve provided has been shown even half as clear as this (still to come: two large format SST diagrams that may appear in a pilot episode). Much earlier in the season there was a briefly-glimpsed “stolen document” on space-based nuclear pumped X-Ray lasers which caused me to perk up and wonder where they got it… until I noticed that the illustration on the cover of the report was of Skylab. It was something cooked up by the art department, it seems. Good enough for TV work, I suppose, seeing as how it was on screen for maybe one second, and, let’s face it, most people wouldn’t recognize a diagram of Skylab if they had an hour to examine it.
Apr 122014
Sadly… not NASA.
Putin eyes up cosmonaut uniform as his deputy premier sets out plans to colonise space and declares ‘We are coming to the Moon FOREVER’
Accordign to the Daily Mail (yeah, I know…) Putin has a 26-year plan for lunar bases and manned missions to Mars and asteroids. Whether they’ll have the money for it after they get done gobbling up Ukraine and Poland and Finland and Chicago and anywhere else that has “ethnic Russians” is a whole other question.