An odd collection of vehicles

 art, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 292018
 

Looking through ebay tonight I found a seller with a 1981 issue of a stamp issued in the island nation of Comoros, commemorating approach and landing tests of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. There have been a *lot* of spaceflight related stamps issued by dinky little nations; my assumption has always been that this is a reasonable and understandable way for these small countries to make a little scratch from foreign stamp collectors, rather than as a way to mail letter.

Anyway, this particular stamp comes still attached to a souvenir sheet. Additional artwork on the sheet includes the starship Enterprise (linking it to the Shuttle), a Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar, which I’m a little surprised they were even aware of, and a portrait of Austrian rocket engineer/scientist Eugen Sanger, who died in the 1960’s. An unusual bunch to see together.

 

 Posted by at 10:19 pm

Convair Outpost: 3

 art, history, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 292018
 

This piece of artwork of the Convair “Outpost” seems to be a little bit later than the others. It depicts an Outpost with a nuclear reactor for a power sources; this is held off at some (not terribly great) distance for the purposes or radiation mitigation.

 Posted by at 4:28 pm

Space Stations back in the day…

 art, history, Hmm..., rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 262018
 

Illustrations from a childrens book about space stations from 1960. This was when Men were Men, Women were Women, it was okay to be white and everyone wore their best business suits to board a rocket into space.

Sigh. The optimism of that era is just plain unrecognizable. The past is like a whole different country.

 Posted by at 12:35 pm

Convair Outpost: 1

 art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 252018
 

Very late 1950’s Convair promo art of their “Outpost” space-base built from an Atlas launch vehicle. This was publicized enthusiastically by the likes of Krafft Ehricke; it preceded the MOL program, and would have resulted in a manned facility somewhat similar in size, thought dissimilar in capability. The MOL was a pre-finished, single-launch space lab, while the “Outpost” as a “wet lab” would have required considerable effort by workers in space suits to finish. To service the Outpost, an Atlas with a Centaur-like upper stage would orbit two wedge-like lifting bodies.

 Posted by at 4:10 pm

Razor & Roci: sploded

 art, awesomeness, models, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 182018
 

Modeling of all the parts is done. Some refinement is probable, as some of the bits shown here – the plumbing lines in particular – are pretty small. The plan is to include the walkway to connect the two vessels. In all likelihood the walkway will be a single solid-cast part.

Both vessels are modeled at a higher resolution than is necessary for 1/144. They’re be great at 1/72, perhaps even 1/48. but there are currently no plans for larger-scale (and much more expensive) kits.

 Posted by at 9:11 am

Long March 8 and 9

 news, politics, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jul 092018
 

China reveals details for super-heavy-lift Long March 9 and reusable Long March 8 rockets

Long March 8: meant to emulate the Falcon 9 with a vertically-recovered core, but also use vertically-recovered solid rocket boosters (likely via parachute, though art seems to indicate that they too will have landing legs).

Long March 9: intended to be Saturn V class for manned missions to the Moon and beyond.

No indication that the Long March 9 is aiming for reusability, so it seems likely that the Chinese are emulating not the BFR but the SLS. It is too much to hope that China will emulate the spectacular economics of the SLS as well.

 

 

 Posted by at 11:31 pm

PDF Review: “Fluorine Systems Handbook”

 history, Patreon, rockets, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Jul 092018
 

here was a time when rocket engineers and launch vehicle/spacecraft designers felts reasonably comfortable proposing the use of propellants that today would be considered *insane.* One of these was fluorine, an oxidizer so powerful that it will oxidize *oxygen.* Liquified it is denser than LOX and provides a higher specific impulse than LOX when burned with the same fuels. On paper, liquid fluorine is spectacular. In reality, fluorine is toxic and just about all of the combustion compounds are toxic (burn it with hydrogen and you get hydrofluoric acid, which will eat your bones). Fluorine has the added bonus that it will merrily combust with a whole lot of structural materials, so you have to be careful in your design and preparation for tanks, pumps, lines, etc.

Consequently, it was important to know your stuff. To that end, Douglas Missile & Space Systems Division produced a Fluorine Systems Handbook.

This Handbook contains criteria for the design of airborne fluorine feed
systems and associated components. Two types of information are presented:
1) philosophical information defining general methods, and 2) detailed specifications
and procedures. Although the major emphasis has been upon
criteria for components exposed to elemental fluorine, the information is
general applicable to systems utilizing other cryogenic oxidizers which contain
fluorine as a constituent.

So if you are planning on fueling your rocketship with liquid fluorine… here ya go. You’re welcome.

Fluorine Systems Handbook

 Posted by at 1:55 am
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