Patreon bonus: “The colonization of space”

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Oct 132014

While my right arm theoretically heals up (I hopped a ride to the doc at o’dark thirty this AM, waited around for an hour till they showed up, got an X-Ray and a jab right in the damage with a shot of cortisone and pain reliever, and the tentative diagnosis is simple tendonitis, though there may be a bone spur that’ll need to be Dremel’ed off), my ability to do CAD drafting is seriously compromised. Still trying to make some progress, and I hope to have something to show later today.

So rather than just sit around and do nothing, I’m sitting around and doing scanning. One of these decades I’d like to have scanned in everything I have, which would be a neat trick, but every little bit helps. Some things are just photocopies of journal articles and the like. One was something I’d been looking for for a while, and couldn’t find when actively searching for it (but which turned up when searching for something else), Gerard K. O’Neill’s 1974 Physics Today article on space colonization via vast rotating cylinders. hat has now been scanned in an uploaded to the APR Patreon “creations” section, as a downloadable bonus for all APR Patrons.

I’ve a bunch more things like this that I plan on posting for APR Patreon patrons of various levels. These are all, of course, in addition to the promised “rewards.” All the “creations” get wiped out at the end of each monthly billing cycle, so if you’d like to get in, time’s a-wastin’…

Patreon: October 2014 rewards released

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Oct 102014

The October rewards for the APR patrons have been released. They include:

PDF document: “A Recoverable Air Breathing Booster,” A Chrysler study from 1964 for a strap-on booster system for the Saturn Ib incorporating additional H-1 rocket engines and jet engines for recovery.

PDF Document: “XF-103 Descriptive Data,”a Lockheed collection of information on the then-current XF-103. This is from a Lockheed collection of information on competitors designs.

Large format diagram scan: the Boeing Advanced Theater Transport. A later version of the tilt-wing “Super Frog.”

And for the higher-end patrons, a CAD diagram of an early NACA-Langley design for what would become the X-15.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

See Apollo 17 from the Statendam!

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Oct 072014

In 1972 the Holland America cruise ship S.S. Statendam set sail for a spot off the coast of Florida where the passengers got to watch the launch of Apollo 17. Also held on board was the 4th Conference on Planetology and Space Mission Planning. This conference, as described at http://up-ship.com/blog/blog/?p=6879 , was a complete disaster. It was a sad, sad tale of lost opportunities and odd choices. It has also largely faded from memory.

I have a photocopy of the brochure selling the cruise and conference, and have scanned it in as a PDF. The quality is not spectacular, but it’s nevertheless an interesting bit of aerospace history. I’ve posted the PDF for $5 APR Patreon patrons over HYAR.

Patreon: September 2014 rewards

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Sep 202014

After a bit of a delay, the September rewards have been released. These include a large-format inboard profile of the North American Aviation F-108 Rapier Mach 3+ interceptor:

And “Notes on Space Technology,” a compilation of notes by the Flight Research Division of the NACA Langley Research Center based on a space technology course given in the early part of 1958. A hefty 670+pages in length, this covered just about every aspect of space travel as understood in 1958. While I haven’t read the whole thing, it appears to be not only of historical interest, but also useful to get a pretty good general grasp of space travel science, principles and technologies.

Also included for the higher level patrons are three CAD diagrams:

Boeing Bird of Prey stealth, manufacturing and materials testing prototype aircraft from the 1990’s

Zenith Star experimental space based laser anti-missile system, 1988

Hypersonic Test Vehicle 2, a maneuverable hypersonic glider for missile-launched warheads

The September rewards are about a week and a half late in being released. Since I hope to get the October rewards out a little earlier than normal, that means that the September releases will probably be available for a short time.

If you would like to access these items and support the cause of acquiring and sharing these pieces of aerospace history, please visit my Patreon page and consider contributing.

US Bomber Projects #09 and 10 Now Available

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Sep 042014

Issues 09 and 10 of US Bomber Projects is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #09 includes:

Boeing Model 464-33-0: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Consolidated Army Bombardment Flying Wing: A ground attacker with an extreme mode of attack
GE Supersonic System 6X: A Mach 3 nuclear-powered bomber
Convair B/J-58: A supercuising version of the Hustler
Boeing model 484-2-2: AB-58 competitor
Northrop 464L: A blended wing/body spaceplane
Martin Model 223-9: a 1944 step on the road to the XB-48
Boeing Model 800-15A: A Mach 3.5 hydrogen fueled design of incredible range

USBP#09 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

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Issue #10 includes:

Boeing Model 464-34-3: A turboprop B-52 predecessor
Martin Model 192-5: A medium-sized flying wing
Republic Mach 7: a relatively small high-speed design
Convair WS-125A: A large nuclear powered supersonic design
Boeing model 484-415: A jet-powered supersonic flying boat
Boeing 464L: Boeings first Dyna Soar
Martin Model 223-10: a 1944 step on the road to the XB-48
Lockheed CL-1301-1: A very small VTOL ground attacker

USBP#10 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4:

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US “X” Projects

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Sep 032014

US Bomber Projects issues 09 and 10 are now done, and will be available for sale just as soon as I get all the requisite website blahblah worked out. Hopefully tonight. I have issues 11 and 12 planned out, though still quite a bit of drafting to do.

The USBP series has been modestly successful (not blisteringly so, but ok, I guess…). I’m pondering doing the same format but with something other than bombers. Other concepts include:

US Fighter Projects
US Transport Projects (jetliners, cargo, civvies, SSTs, HSTs, etc.)
US Recon & Experimental Projects
US Launch Vehicle Projects
US Spacecraft Projects (spaceplanes, moon landers, Mars ships, etc.)
US Helicopter Projects

So, a few questions for commentors:

1) What did I leave out?

2) What would you most like to see? Some of these have a much bigger database to work from than others, of course.

Aug 192014

With the recent cat illnesses, serious dropoff in business and increase in vet bills, stress levels hereabouts have been at near-historic levels. But hey, at least I haven’t yet contracted a life threatening case of bronchitis in 2014 (that’s me, always looking on the bright side). One of the consequences of stress is a decrease in lesser creativity… I might still be able to creatively think myself out of some emergency situation, but art? Feh. Gone.

Fortunately, things are starting to crawl back towards the normal only-slightly-apocalyptic level of DOOM stress, and creativity is starting to slooowly return. So, some updates:

Patreon: time to vote for August

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Jul 212014

For $10 patrons on my Patreon campaign, a new message should appear there asking you to vote on what I’ll release in August (two documents and one large format diagram). For those who are $10 patrons, here’s a partial list anyway… if you see something there and you really want to make sure it becomes available, well, the obvious thing to do is sign on and vote!

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Drawing: fairly detailed 3-view of Lunar Roving Vehicle (as actually flown to the moon)

Drawing: “Plans for Scale Model Construction of the Honest John Surface-to-Surface Missile” by McDonnell-Douglas, 1971 (does anyone know of more of these???)

Document: “Douglas Aircraft Company: An Overview,” 60+ page brochure showing existing and proposed jetliners, by McDonnell-Douglas, ca. 1980

Art: a vintage lithograph of the Lockheed L-2000 SST in flight, w/3 view on the back.

Document: “CT-39 International Sabreliner,” a Rockwell International booklet/brochure describing the multipurpose utility jet

Document: “Air Force Expeditionary Catapult,” a truly massive billet of paper serving as a proposal from the All American Engineering Company for the System 300 Catapult, 1955. This was to be a turbojet-powered cable launching system for jet fighters which could be easily transported and set up in the field. (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)

Document: Aeroassisted Flight Experiment Nonadvocate Review, 1989, NASA

Document: Pocket Data for Rocket Engines, 1953, Bell

Document: SAM-D Air Defense Weapon System, 1973, US Army

Document: Pilots Handbook of Operation XLR11-RM-3 & XLR11-RM-5, liquid Rocket Engines, 1950, Reaction Motors

Art: X-15 lithograph (date unknown)

Document: The Centaur Program, 1961, Convair

Document: Orbiter Vehicle Structures, Rockwell

Document: An integrated Moonmobile-Spacesuit Concept, 1961, Aerojet

Document: The Intercontinental Stratoliner 707-320, 1955, Boeing

Document: Douglas DC-8 Design Study, 1953, Douglas

Document: Transport Weight Comparison Based on Lockheed 49-10, 1943, Lockheed

Document: ETR Launch Operations Plan for Cenaur on Shuttle, 1979, General Dynamics

Diagram: MD-11 wing diagram, six-feet long: McDonnel-Douglas, 1995

Document: A Lockheed presentation on the GL-224 Turbo-Jet VTOL Aircraft, 1958

Document: A Project RAND report on the GG-2 all-wing bomber, 1949

Document: A small Rockwell brochure on the “common core” concept for a fixed-wing subsonic B-1 variant, 1979 4) A presentation on the Douglas “Skybus,” 1944

Document: A NAA report on a turboprop-powered F-82E for ground attack, 1949

Document: A Curtis report on the twin engined F-87C, 1948

Document: A Vertol report on VTOL transport aircraft, showing several very different configurations, 1956

Document: A Lockheed presentation to the AIAA on the history of the Fleet Ballistic Missile, 1978

Document: A collection of Manned Spacecraft Center Space Shuttle orbiter concepts, 1972

Document: A Convair collection of design drawings of an Assault Seaplane, 1948 (NOTE: this one counts as two reports, as it’s fairly gigantic)

Document: A Vought report on the Regulus II missile with detailed diagrams, 1955

Blueprints on canvas

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Jul 182014

A while back I took a stab at printing cyanotype blueprints on canvas (the kind used by artists for painting on). After a rough start, I managed to get the process to work pretty well. It’s more complex and substantially more expensive than cyanotype printing on vellum paper, so I don’t know if I’ll make canvas blueprints available for regular sale like the paper versions. Still, I’ve put the first three successes on ebay if anyone is interested:

“Little Boy” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

“Fat Man” atom bomb blueprint on canvas

Dual Saturn V blueprint on canvas

Pax Orionis

art, blather, books, drawings, Hmm..., My Fiction, new products, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, Pax Orionis, science fiction 16 Responses »

Jul 062014

A while back I posted a bit of fiction describing part of a battle featuring Orion nuclear pulse propelled “space battleships.” It was only a small scrap, and I didn’t think much of it, but someone else seemed to like it and suggested an effort that would have seen it fleshed out to novel length. I put a considerable amount of scribbling behind the project, but it recently fell through. As I hate to see effort wasted, I’m considering plowing ahead with a modified version by myself.

What it would be is an alternate history, where the US develops Orions starting in the 1960’s and, as the earlier tale partially describes, tangles with the Soviet Union some time later. Here’s the thing: there’s no using Orion battleships for anything other than total global thermonuclear war. The story would be at best grim. But in my plan, the tale would be told in the form of an official history of the Orion program, as seen from (handwave) 2014, starting from the beginning, through early development, into World War III and then into the post-war period of economic and ecological disaster, but also great progress in space due to the existing infrastructure. The post-war US would be a very different place than Real World US, and would basically stride the wreckage of the world like a pissed-off giant.

Being an official history, it would of course be illustrated, featuring Orion vehicles of my own design (which designs were begun under the previous book project).

But before I waste another millisecond on this, I gotta know: is anyone even remotely interested?