Drawbridge orbiter: launch art

 aircraft, art, history, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Dec 222017
 

The early development of the Space Shuttle was filled with bizarre designs, attempts to jam capabilities into existing technologies. One such unconventional concept came from McDonnell-Douglas: a low-cross-range orbiter atop a flyback booster. The orbiter, unlike the Shuttle Orbiter actually built, contained considerable internal propellant; the booster would get it up to high altitude and velocity, but the bulk of the actual delta V would come from the Orbiters own propulsion. The vehicle had small, straight wings that would fold up against the side of the fuselage for launch and for re-entry… but they would have to deploy on-orbit to allow the payload bay doors to open, and they’d deploy again once the craft had entered the atmosphere.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (8 megabyte 5598×4529 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-12, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in accessing this and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

 

 

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 Posted by at 12:24 pm

Almost there

 art, awesomeness, models, science fiction, spacecraft  1 Response »
Dec 222017
 

Basically all that’s left is the shuttlebay and surroundings.

So who here would be interested in a set of plans once it’s all done? Going from a 3D model to 2D diagrams is, from one point of view, as simple as typing in one command. But making a *good* set of plans from that is a bucket of work, since a lot of lines vanish and a lot of excess lines are thrown in, so I’d be interested in the level of interest.

 

 Posted by at 2:23 am

You should buy this

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, books, history, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Dec 192017
 

If you haven’t already bought a copy of Dennis Jenkins’ “Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013,” you really should. It’s pricey, but it’s also massive (18 pounds/1584 pages)… and the last word on the subject. It is also the last edition of Jenkins’ Shuttle history that he’s planning on producing, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. The Amazon reviews are enlightening: 95% of them are five-star, 5% are 4 star… and precisely none of them are three star or less. That almost never happens.

 

 Posted by at 1:32 pm

X-24 on a Titan III

 aircraft, art, history, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Dec 172017
 

A few days ago I uploaded in the 2017-12 APR Patron Extras Dropbox folder a scan of an old magazine article on the X-24 lifting body which including this interesting piece of art depicting an X-24 atop a Titan IIIc launch vehicle. There were indeed proposals to launch X-24 derivatives into orbit with Titan IIIs, but they wouldn’t be *exactly* X-24’s. The X-24 was not built as a spacecraft or a re-entry vehicle; it would be uncontrollable outside the atmosphere and would be a molten collection of rubbish on re-entry. Still, the proposed vehicles did look a *lot* like the X-24.

Support the APR Patreon to help bring more of this sort of thing to light!

 

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 Posted by at 12:32 pm

Most of the detailing is in place…

 art, models, science fiction, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Dec 142017
 

Apart from some “panel lines” and a few greeblies the details on the upper/forward hull are in place. I’ve re-sculpted the aft end of the “spine” and added the whatchamacallits to the forward ends of the lower engine nacelles. I need to detail the underside (there are fewer details there) and the at fuselage. Last thing I’ll do is flesh out the shuttlebay and at that point do another round of scale-guesstimation based on scenes showing people standing in the shuttlebay.

 Posted by at 11:00 pm

Might be going a little overboard here…

 art, models, science fiction, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Dec 132017
 

The detailing of the Orville continues, now installing the individual windows and greeblies to the forward hull. *Pretty* sure that these probably won’t be entirely visible on the finished 1/1400 scale product, but who knows.

And yeah, rather than rendering a proper image file I simply photographed the computer screen with my phone. So sue me.

 Posted by at 7:49 pm

Back to the Moon?

 awesomeness, Hmm..., news, politics, spacecraft  17 Responses »
Dec 112017
 

President Trump signs space policy directive ordering NASA to send humans to the Moon

For whatever a policy directive to NASA is worth…

The article discusses the fact that Mars advocates are worried that a return to the Moon would sidetrack a manned mission to Mars, which the article says is hoped-for for the year 2033. No mention of SpaceX’s rather optimistic plans on getting there by 2024. But the thing about Moon vs. Mars…

Sure, the idea of using the Moon as a launching pad for Mars is silly. Once the Moon is sufficiently industrialized, Lunar surface mass drivers could lob aluminum and LOX to Earth orbit for use in the construction of Mars ships; but that’s a long way off and there’s no good reason why one destination should wait for the other. They are both useful for their own ends. The Moon is a clear destination for industry; mining, processing and power generation (vast PV arrays on the surface beaming power back to Earth could end the usefulness of fossil fuels entirely). Mars is a clear destination for colonization. The one can be State 51, the other State 52. Hawaii/Alaska, Moon/Mars; both good.

 Posted by at 7:25 pm

Exploration Class Vehicle

 art, awesomeness, Hmm..., models, science fiction, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Dec 102017
 

So I got pretty far along with modeling when Brain 1.0 got a 1201 alarm and I had to step back from it for a bit. Now I’m back working on it. I continue to add windows and such details to the upper surface, along with fixing divide by zero errors and Einstein-Rosen bridges in the model, that sort of thing. Work continues, just not quite at the original pace.

I’ve also take a preliminary experimental stab at 2D diagrams. Let’s face it, this is a Trek ship… and you can’t have a Trek ship without a Booklet Of General Plans. The actual work on creating the diagrams won’t really begin until the modeling is done, but I just wanted to see if the rendering system could make a fair diagram from the existing model. Seems ok.

 Posted by at 12:42 pm

Mars: Boeing vs. SpaceX

 awesomeness, news, politics, spacecraft  20 Responses »
Dec 082017
 

Boeing CEO Says Boeing Will Beat SpaceX to Mars

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg: “Eventually we’re going to go to Mars, and I firmly believe the first person that sets foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing rocket.”

 

 

One of the worst things to happen to the space race was when the Soviets conceded. If we can get American aerospace companies competing against each other… we can get this train moving again. Its a pity there’s been so much consolidation among US aerospace companies… a perfect future would have involved things like Ceres being acquired by Grumman, Phobos by Republic Aviation, Pluto by General Atomic, with Mars divvied up by Boeing, Lockheed and Walmart, with Europa in contention between Northrop and McDonalds, Ganymede being fought over between Chrysler and Ford.

Continue reading »

 Posted by at 10:27 am

Titan IVa Artwork

 art, awesomeness, history, Patreon, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Nov 302017
 

A bit of Martin Marietta artwork depicting the Titan IVA, rescued from ebay. I’ve put the full-rez scan (600 dpi, so it’s pretty big) in the 2017-11 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to all APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above.

 

If you are interested in helping to preserve this sort of thing, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

 

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 Posted by at 10:54 pm
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