Train-launched ballistic missile

 Hmm..., news, nukes, rockets  No Responses »
Sep 182021
 

Hmmm…

North Korea says it tested rail-launched ballistic missiles

Not impossible, of course. But *something* just seems indefinably off about the footage:

Of course it didn’t take the internet too long to mock it:

In any event, it’s good to know that in this time of rapidly accelerating stress and crisis, we have such trustworthy and astute leadership.

 Posted by at 11:25 pm

LESS

 art, awesomeness, Crazy, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 132021
 

An animation of one of the Lunar Escape System concepts. The idea was that if the lunar module ran into some sort of trouble and couldn’t launch back into orbit, the ascent stage could be torn apart and jerry-rigged into a minimalist launch system… essentially a couple of lawn chairs stuck to a few propellant tanks and a rocket. Could it have worked? Sure. Would it have worked? Ehhhhhh….

If it’s “do this crazy thing or give up and die,” I can see the Apollo astronauts getting straight to work.

 Posted by at 1:05 pm

Astra: that didn’t go quite right…

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 292021
 

This had a very “Early Atlas Test Flight Anomaly” feel to it.

This launch went wrong right form the get-go… but it did a *magnificent* job of recovering. It just wasn’t magnificent enough; seems it never did have enough thrust due to one of the five engines failing right after liftoff. Went terminally goofy at Max-Q, apparently on a command to terminate the flight due to being outside of its launch corridor.

This is the third flight for the Astra in a year… and the third failure. SpaceX also failed a lot, as did the Ranger lunar missions. if the funds and the will are there, they can fix the problems and make a success of it. *If.*

 Posted by at 2:15 am

Boeing: oy.

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Gah., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Aug 152021
 

Remember when Boeing was a company of engineers, a company that could get the job done?

Sigh.

 

As should be well known hereabouts, I have great hopes for SpaceX. That’s both for their ability to get craft such as Starship working, *and* to make spaceflight far cheaper. But in order for them to truly succeed at the latter goal, they will need to be challenged by a realistic competitor. I would rather by far that SpaceX’s greatest competitor be another American company. Boeing, historically *should* have been one of those competitors.

They are not.

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 12:46 am

Moving Super Heavy

 awesomeness, rockets, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 032021
 

I guess it works, but moving the Super Heavy in a vertical position seems like asking for trouble.

It’s also slow. I hope that someday reasonably soon that that transport system will need to be replaced because it’s holding up the rapid recovery and re-launch of the things on their hourly schedule to launch USSF forces to bases on the Moon, Mars and beyond.

 Posted by at 6:54 pm

Super Heavy stacked

 awesomeness, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 022021
 

Substantial grid fins…

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 7:45 pm

Northrop-Grumman Propulsion Products Catalog

 rockets  No Responses »
Jul 272021
 

A PDF catalog of the various rocket motors produced by Northrop-Grumman. This includes the Orion, castor, GEM, STAR, ASAS, RSRM and others.

https://www.northropgrumman.com/wp-content/uploads/NG-Propulsion-Products-Catalog.pdf

Includes basic data (including thrust/time curves) and illustrations. Curiously absent are prices and whether or not they take PayPal or Bitcoin. And what’s the shipping cost of, say, a dozen SLS boosters to my island volcano lair?

 Posted by at 2:30 pm

Books!

 aircraft, art, awesomeness, Book X, books, drawings, history, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Origins and Evolution, news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, SR-71 Origins and Evolution  No Responses »
Jul 232021
 

Two boxes with fifty copies of “SR-71” showed up yesterday. Woo! These will be signed and with any luck at all sold.

 

As previously mentioned, I’m working on a pair of 18X24 prints to go with the signed copies. if you’re on the mailing list, you should have recently received a message (or three… email continues to be problematic) about this.

Here’s a glimpse of the work in progress.

 Posted by at 5:19 pm
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