This is pretty durned spiffy:
In other news… it seems strange that after more than 40 years of being a Star Wars fan, a major Star Wars movie has come out and, rather than seeing it on day one, my response to it so far has been “Eh, I’ll probably get around to it eventually.”
I’ve read the spoilers for “Rise of Skywalker,” and… wow. It sounds terrible.
Ummm…
Rocket Science Are Hard. Perhaps they need to translanguage the issue…
As hinted at here and there, I’ve recently moved from rural Utah to non-rural elsewhere. One of the benefits of the move was that it put me a LOT closer to large format scanning services. Previously getting a large blueprint scanned meant several hours on the road and then a return several days later to pick it up; now the drive is a matter of a few minutes. Consequently, my rather extensive backlog of large format aerospace art and diagrams is finally getting scanned in bulk.
Behold some recent results, mostly involving early Titan III, Saturn and Dyna Soar studies:
Some of these will end up in the monthly “catalogs” for the APR patrons to vote on… and some will end up as “extras” for patrons, particularly for above $10-level patrons. If these sort of images are of interest, or if you are interested in helping to fund the preservation of this sort of thing, please consider becoming a patron, either through the APR Patreon or the Monthly Historical Document Program.
Additionally: if you have large format diagrams that you feel are of aerospace historical interest, let me know. I’m always in the market to buy, rent, borrow such things.
By 1985, the Solar Power Satellite was essentially dead, killed off by the plumetting price of oil. But the technology developed for it was still valid, and Rockwell thought there might be a use for microwave power transmission systems. Their idea here was to use a space-based nuclear reactor – apparently something along the lines of the SP-100 – to generate electricity and then use SPS-derived microwave beaming tech to send that power to distant “customers” such as space stations and satellites. This would permit the customers to basically have nuclear power, but without the risks of having a nearby radiation source. The receiver would be much lighter than a PV array in terms of construction, and vastly more efficient, since all the energy coming in is of a single fixed frequency. A space station could presumably have a power receiver in the form of a mesh “net,” perhaps a single sphere a few meters in diameter at the end of a modest mast, capable of capturing dozens to hundreds of kilowatts of clean electrical power. This would lower the cost and mass of power systems compared to PV arrays… and it would greatly reduce the drag produced by those giant sails.
Another piece of early 70’s NASA artwork depicting the sort of capabilities the Shuttle would soon bring about. But only two of the categories, that of “Large Astronomy Observatories” and Spacelab, came about.
Rockwell suggested in 1985 that manned versions of their ballistic cargo return systems could be used to return astronauts from the space station in the event of an on-orbit disaster. Two concepts are illustrated (“ENCAP” and “SAVER”), one similar to the Douglas “Paracone” from the 1960’s, and a version using a balloon to provide drag. So presumably the cargo return system, illustrated with a lifting body diagram, would actually closely resemble one of these systems.
Sometime around 1973/74, NASA put out a report on future aeronautics and space opportunities. While lean on technical detail, and devoid of diagrams (bah), it did have some vaguely interesting 1970’s-style art. The painting below illustrates some of the “other” things that the forthcoming Space Shuttle could do, like launch solar power satellites, lob nuclear waste into deep space and be used for point-to-point Terrestrial passenger transport. Yeah, about that…
A 1978 NASA artists impression (taken from ebay) depicting a “rescue ball” being used. This short-lived product was basically a space suit in spherical form, one that a Shuttle astronaut in shirt sleeves could enter relatively quickly in the event of an on-orbit disaster. Another Shuttle could send astronauts to collect the encapsulated and helpless astronauts and transfer them to a non-doomed shuttle. It was *kind* of a good idea, but once it was realized that the Shuttle takes *weeks* to prep for launch, the idea of using a Shuttle to rescue another Shuttle fell by the wayside. Instead of the crew of a stricken Shuttle relying on another Shuttle for rescue, official policy became la-la-la-I-can’t-hear-you and orbital rescue equipment became superfluous.
Here’s an article from “Future Life” magazine, May 1979, describing a Rockwell concept for a passenger module for the Shuttle. This could carry 74 passengers, a loadout that seems perhaps excessive until you realize that it was meant to transport the crews who would build the miles-long solar power satellites. If this concept is of interest, be sure to check out US Bomber Projects #06, the Solar Power Satellite Launch Special. There, another concept for a Shuttle “bus” was described and illustrated.
In 1985, Rockwell considered the possibility of making a business of returning commercial cargoes from orbit. This is a tricky proposition: almost *nothing* in space is worth more returned back to the ground. Humans, of course, and highly hypothetical products made in zero-g… drugs, crystals, electronics. but none of those actually panned out: zero-g and/or high vacuum might produce some small benefit for various chemical processes, but terrestrial manufacture is so much easier and cheaper that nothing has so far come from on-orbit production
The description mentions a “ballistic cargo carrier,” but the piece is illustrated with a lifting body. This appears to be the same vehicle mentioned previously as a “hypervelocity research vehicle.” I don’t know if this means Rockwell gave thought to using the HRV as a cargo return system (if so, it would be an inefficient way to go) or if the HRV diagram was simply conveniently at hand. A ballistic capsule would probably be by far the best way to go for returning payloads that are relatively insensitive to g-forces. Cheaper, smaller, lighter and, importantly, cheaper than a lifting body.
Next up: Space Station Lifeboats.
