The Moon Express company has released images of their MX-1 lunar lander, which they claim they will launch in 2015. The MX-1 will be based on a standardized vehicle, intended for a number of different orbital missions.
Images here:
Dec 062013
Dec 062013
Working on the tail end.
Dec 052013
Take this for what it’s worth:
PLA dreams of turning moon into Death Star, says expert
An expert from the China National Space Administration’s Lunar Exploration Programme Center… added that the moon is the Earth’s only natural satellite, and it can be transformed into a deadly weapon. Like the Death Star in Star Wars, the moon could hypothetically be used as a military battle station and ballistic missiles could be launched against any military target on Earth.
Various weapons testing sites could also be established on the moon, the source said.
Welcome to Project Horizon V 2.0.
For those unaware, Project Horizon was a 1959 US Army study of a moon base for military purposes. Included in that was the use of the moon as a missile base. The idea is not *entirely* ludicrous: a missile base on the moon would be several days away from a strike launched from Earth. So if Nation A launched a first strike on Nation B and Nation B has a lunar base, then Nation A can expect a rain of ruin from the moon a little later. However, the US decided that Polaris missile subs were cheaper.
Dec 052013
Just a reminder…
After hiatus, I am again offering cyanotype blueprints of various aerospace subjects on paper. These include the V-2, the Saturn Ib and V, the NERVA nuclear rocket, the Super Hustler, and many more.What says “Merry Christmas” better than a gift of a hand-made, awesome-looking large format cyanotype blueprint of a launch vehicle or nuclear bombardment system?
See the complete list here:
http://www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/catalog/cyan.htm
And while I’m not at liberty to go into the specifics, I recently provided a number of these to a certain ongoing major TV series to be used as set dressing/props. The episodes will air sometime early next spring, I believe. They should look marvelous…
Dec 042013
A photo of dubious quality showing Phil Bono of Douglas standing next to a surprisingly large display model of the ICARUS/Ithacus intercontinental transport rocket. The photo was taken at the “Travel ’67 Show” at the Cow Palace convention center in San Fransisco. According to poster art found on eBay, this was held Feb 24 – Mar 5 of 1967. I haven’t been able to find out more about it, though it would seem that it must have been a convention about the future of transport. One can speculate that the facility was filled with representations of supersonic transports, monorails, high-speed trains, sleek cars with ridiculous fins…
More on the ICARUS/Ithacus, along with the related ROMBUS space launch booster, can be found in Aerospace Projects Review issue V2N6.
Dec 042013
Gravity
Domestic Total as of Dec. 2, 2013: $249,835,339
= Worldwide: $615,435,339
Woo!
The popularity of this flick is, I hope, a sign of the possible popularity of *real* spaceflight.
Dec 032013
Wow. Just… wow.
[youtube GOAEIMx39-w]
A followup to All Alone In The Night… one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen:
[youtube FG0fTKAqZ5g]
Dec 012013
China’s 1st Moon Rover Launches On Lunar Journey
That’s interesting. Also interesting was this datapoint:
Chang’e 3 will land on the lunar surface by mid-December, becoming the first spacecraft to touch down on the moon in more than 37 years.
Think on that: 37 years since mankind has bothered to land something on the moon.
Dec 012013
An early 1970’s Lockheed concept for a fully reusable shuttle. Shown here is the orbiter, a minimum-mass, low-cross-range design with a vast fuselage and relatively tiny wings. The system used a reusable flyback booster for the first stage. Far more information is available on this and related concepts in Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N2 and V3N2 Addendum, available HERE.
Dec 012013
Reminder: I’ll be on tomorrow, December 2, at 2 PM Pacific time (3 Mountain, 4 central, etc).