Starts at about 2:06:58.
This would have been a *fantastic* test… in about 1984. Splice it into “Wonder Woman 1984,” and it would have fit right in. But nearly 40 years later, it just looks like an antique. It’s like firing up an F-104 Starfighter: impressive in its way, but no longer top of the line.
A piece of concept art depicting the AMROC Industrial Launch Vehicle 1, circa 1987. AMROC specialized in hybrid launch vehicles, and the privately funded and developed ILV was no different. What the vehicle looks like is a liquid propellant core vehicle with a bunch of solid rocket strap-on boosters… but what it actually is is a core made up of liquid oxygen tanks, surrounded by clusters of solid fuel motors. The motors were fed LOX from the core, firings together to create a sort of plug nozzle using the aft end of the propellant tank to react against (though it appears the bulk of the expansion took place within individual nozzles). When the first stage motors burned out, the whole thing fell off as a single stage. The vehicle had four stages; stages 2,3 and 4 were made of different solid motors around a common liquid tank core. The whole stack was 82 feet long. It was supposed to have been able to deliver 1800 kilograms to a 200 km orbit from KSC, or 1350 kg to 200 km polar orbit from Vandenberg; a little over 1400 kg to a 1000 km KSC orbit or about 1050 kg to a 1000 km polar orbit. First launch attempt was to be in the latter half of 1988… that didn’t happen.
Snerk. NASA actually thinks there will be Artemis moon missions.
NASA is targeting a two-hour test window that opens at 5 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 16, for the hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Live coverage will begin at 4:20 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website, followed by a post-test briefing approximately two hours after the test concludes.
I communicated with Dennis Jenkins today. “Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013” had one single printing, there will be no more… and that one printing is finally nearly sold out. It is still available at the original retail price of $170. But once it’s sold out, the secondary market will be the only place to get it and the price will skyrocket… it’s already $228 to $448 on abebooks, a single $364 copy on ebay. Hell it might even be a good investment for resale. This three-volume set is a remarkable work and is worth every penny. Make sure to get a copy before the Green New Deal kicks in and it becomes difficult to ship things!
Just released, the December 2020 rewards for APR Patrons and Subscribers. Included this month:
Diagram: a large format diagram of a Lockheed cruise missile. The designation of the missile is not given, but this looks like a SCAD design.
Document 1: Consolidated Class VB Carrier Based Bomber, from 1946
Document2: “Economic Aspects of a Reusable Single Stage To Orbit Vehicle,” a paper by Phil Bono on the ROOST launch vehicle from 1963
Document 3: “Shuttle Derived Vehicles,” a NASA-MSFC briefing to General Abrahamson from 1984
CAD Diagram: XSM-64A Navaho, the configuration that would have been built as an operational vehicle had the program gone forward
If this sort of thing is of interest, sign up either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in clustering the External Tank from the Space Shuttle in Earth orbit. There the tanks could be filled with propellant to serve as orbital “gas stations,” or rebuilt into space habitats or other structures, or simple reprocessed for the raw structural materials. In order to do this the Shuttle would have to shed a noticeable fraction of total payload. Something not given a whole lot of thought was what to do about the insulating foam applied to the tanks; ultraviolet sunlight, thermal cycling and a harsh vacuum would cause the foam to break down ans turn each orbiting tank into a little comet, the nucleus of a cloud of foam bits.
Still, it would have been nice if the tanks had been used rather than simply dumped into the Indian Ocean.
In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in long-term “storage sheds” for satellites. These would provide physical protection for the satellites against radiation, micrometeoroids, lasers and the like; the satellites within would be kept in reserve for the day when other satellites are disabled, such as by enemy action. Presumably these cocoons would provide communications and power as well.
So, picking up after a *slight* delay…
In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in an orbital radar system that looks back at Earth. Such a system would have both civilian and defense applications… air traffic control and spotting sea ice were possibilities for the civilian sector, and spotting cruise missiles, fighters, bombers and surface vessels for the military. In reality a system like this would probably be far more interesting to the military.
I honestly wonder what practical value there is in the White House putting out memos on national strategy at this point, when the Manchurian is soon to be installed into power. Perhaps it’s just a poke in the eye… “go ahead and overturn this and show yourself to be a tool of the ChiComs,” perhaps?
Section 1. Policy. The ability to use space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP) systems safely, securely, and sustainably is vital to maintaining and advancing United States dominance and strategic leadership in space. SNPP systems include radioisotope power systems (RPSs) and fission reactors used for power or propulsion in spacecraft, rovers, and other surface elements. …
(a) Develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable to lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) applications, as needed. …
(b) Demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kilowatt-electric (kWe) and higher to support a sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …
(c) Establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable options for NTP to meet future Department of Defense (DoD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission requirements …
(d) Develop advanced RPS capabilities that provide higher fuel efficiency, higher specific energy, and longer operational lifetime than existing RPS capabilities, thus enabling survivable surface elements to support robotic and human exploration of the Moon and Mars and extending robotic exploration of the solar system. …
(a) By the mid-2020s, develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable for lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, NEP, and NTP applications, as needed. …
(b) By the mid- to late-2020s, demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kWe and higher to support sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …
(c) By the late-2020s, establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable NTP options to meet future DoD and NASA mission needs.
Even had Trump won re-election I have serious doubts that this memorandum would have changed things much… the anti-nuclear religion is far too powerful. Still, better to have a forward-thinking document like this than not. We are *generations* behind where we should be in the development of space-based nuclear power systems and nuclear thermal rockets.
