Space Settlement books

 art, books, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 292021
 

Books that I can confidently state should be owned (because I own them):

Space Resources and Space Settlements

Space Settlements: A Design Study

The High Frontier: Human Colonies In Space

The Starflight Handbook: A Pioneer’s Guide to Interstellar Travel

Colonies in Space: A Comprehensive and Factual Account of the Prospects for Human Colonization of Space


– – – – – – – – – – –

Books that look promising, but that I don’t have firsthand experience with:

Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From The Asteroids, Comets, And Planets

Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA, and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Space Settlements 

MARS COLONIES: Plans for Settling the Red Planet

And then… there’s this:

Designing and Building Space Colonies: A Blueprint for the Future

Looks good. But then comes the authors bio: “Martin’s interest in the Paranormal, Spirituality, and much more goes back to his childhood. He has had many paranormal experiences and has been a student of Eastern Philosophies and Meditation for 35 years. Seeking Enlightenment; he knows that we are already all Enlightened. We just have to realize this deeply. His books are expressions of his creativity to help others understand what he has internalized through study, experience, and membership in different societies.” Ummmm……

 Posted by at 3:58 pm

The war on SpaceX

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., I'm from the government, news, politics, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 282021
 

SpaceX is politically troublesome for certain groups. You’ve got your SLS fans, terrified that Starship/Superheavy will make the SLS and all its pork go away. You’ve got people terrified of the idea of capitalism, American exceptionalism, western civilization spreading out to the planets. You’ve got your crackpots who dislike western science and engineering rigor, thinking that such things are tools of the cishet white patriarchy or some such foolishness. Take your pick of villains, they’re opposed to SpaceX. As evidence, behold:

Justice Department investigating Elon Musk’s SpaceX following complaint of hiring discrimination

Who are SpaceX being accused of discriminating against? Non-US citizens. A US company that makes rockets and launches Defense Department payloads would rather employ Americans? How is this even remotely controversial?

“The charge alleges that on or about March 10, 2020, during the Charging Party’s interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident,” DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval wrote in a court document filed Thursday.

Ina  rational world, this would be laughable. How is it even possible that non-citizens can demand employment at *any* US company, much less one vital to the continued existence of the United States as a going concern?

UPDATE: Elon lays it out. Several years ago.

 

 Posted by at 11:59 pm

USAF FOIA Reading Room

 aircraft, drawings, history, Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, science, secrets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 252021
 

I just came across this. So far I’ve failed to get it to admit to actually having *anything; no search term or combination of search terms results in any hits. But perhaps it is new; perhaps it’s a work in progress… or perhaps all the good stuff is behind some AF firewall. Dunno. But I thought y’all might find it of interest… and if anyone has any success with it, let me know how and with what.

AF FOIA Library

https://efoia.milcloud.mil/(S(vovixi10c1twlmkm50inkazg))/App/ReadingRoom.aspx

 

 Posted by at 6:18 pm

Ithacus Jr./Enterprise model ideas…

 art, blather, Hmm..., politics, rockets, ships, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 232021
 

Just a thought. If someone were to take a model of the CVN-65 USS Enterprise nuclear powered aircraft carrier and modify it with the Douglas “Ithacus Jr.” rocket transport as in the concept art below, what should go along with it? The art depicts the Enterprise modified with a bow extension, two movable “VABs,” and two of the rocket transports (an aft extension is implied but not visible). The flight deck is shown as deserted, which is reasonable under the circumstances… with those VABs, most of the flight deck would be unavailable for takeoffs and landings. Only the angled deck would seem to provide some functionality there.

The concept dates from 1964. If a model was made, it would probably tend to represent a time frame from the mid 1970’s onwards. What should be on the deck in that case, to help dress it up (it seems like it’d be kinda bland without some other things populating the deck)? A few things seem reasonable:

Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter:

A VTOL C-130:

Convair 200 VTOL fighter:

Lockheed CL-1090 (or similar) passenger compound helicopter:

Anything else to consider?

 Posted by at 12:28 pm

Orbital HL-10 artwork

 aircraft, art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 192021
 

A ca. 1964 Boeing rendering of an HL-10-derived spaceplane in orbit. Numerous companies – Boeing, McDonnell, Lockheed, Northrop, etc. – contemplated the development of a logistics spaceplane based on the HL-10. The spaceplane itself would, rather like the X-20 Dyna Soar, have been minimally functional in space; most of the propulsion and power would have come from the attached adapter module. The conical adapter would have also carried the bulk of the vehicles payload to be delivered to orbit, and would be used to provide a de-orbit burn for the spaceplane. The adapter would therefore burn up on re-entry, leaving the lifting body to glide to a runway landing. The spaceplane itself would be crammed full of astronauts and the life support they’d need; there would generally be little capacity for anything else, certainly not payload going back downhill. This was fine, though, as there were few enough payloads other than humans that made sense to send *back* down the gravity well.

 

 Posted by at 7:18 pm

Virgin orbit got to orbit

 aircraft, awesomeness, Hmm..., news, rockets, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Jan 192021
 

Huh. This got by me… Virgin doesn’t seem to be as media-savvy as SpaceX.

It’s a nice-looking launch. But what it looked like to me was less the launch of a space vehicle, but the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile: with the 747 reaching the end of its passenger carrying life, perhaps the USAF should buy a few thousand of them and modify them into missile carriers for a new generation of air-mobile, air-launched long range nuclear strike system. I’m sure the Harris administration will get right on that.

 Posted by at 12:16 pm

Well, at least it didn’t explode

 Hmm..., news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 162021
 

Critical engine test for NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket shuts down earlier than planned

Starts at about 2:06:58.

This would have been a *fantastic* test… in about 1984. Splice it into “Wonder Woman 1984,” and it would have fit right in. But nearly 40 years later, it just looks like an antique. It’s like firing up an F-104 Starfighter: impressive in its way, but no longer  top of the line.

 

 Posted by at 5:31 pm

AMROC art

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Jan 142021
 

A piece of concept art depicting the AMROC Industrial Launch Vehicle 1, circa 1987. AMROC specialized in hybrid launch vehicles, and the privately funded and developed ILV was no different. What the vehicle looks like is a liquid propellant core vehicle with a bunch of solid rocket strap-on boosters… but what it actually is is a core made up of liquid oxygen tanks, surrounded by clusters of solid fuel motors. The motors were fed LOX from the core, firings together to create a sort of plug nozzle using the aft end of the propellant tank to react against (though it appears the bulk of the expansion took place within individual nozzles). When the first stage motors burned out, the whole thing fell off as a single stage. The vehicle had four stages; stages 2,3 and 4 were made of different solid motors around a common liquid tank core. The whole stack was 82 feet long. It was supposed to have been able to deliver 1800 kilograms to a 200 km orbit from KSC, or 1350 kg to 200 km polar orbit from Vandenberg; a little over 1400 kg to a 1000 km KSC orbit or about 1050 kg to a 1000 km polar orbit. First launch attempt was to be in the latter half of 1988… that didn’t happen.

 Posted by at 11:35 am

SLS test firing Saturday

 news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Jan 132021
 

NASA TV to Air Hot Fire Test of Rocket Core Stage for Artemis Moon Missions

Snerk. NASA actually thinks there will be Artemis moon missions.

NASA is targeting a two-hour test window that opens at 5 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 16, for the hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Live coverage will begin at 4:20 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website, followed by a post-test briefing approximately two hours after the test concludes.

 Posted by at 5:37 pm

Science Journalism: now with decolonized math

 AARRRGH, dumbassery, news, rockets, science, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Jan 102021
 

NASA will soon fire up the most powerful rocket ever built

So NASA is planning on a static fire of the core of the Space Launch System. OK, fine, if about a decade-plus behind schedule and maybe a couple dozen billion dollars over budget. But the article goes into WokeMath in order to ramp up the excitement:

during this first ignition, only the liquid fuel engines at the core of the rocket will be tested, without the solid fuel boosters that will one day help carry SLS into orbit.

When the SLS core test-fires, it will become the most powerful rocket ever ignited on Earth.

UMMMMM….

The core of the SLS has four RS-25 engines, thrust 418 klbf each, totaling 1,672,000 lbf. The Saturn V had five F-1 engines, each with a thrust of 1,522 klbf each for a total of 7,610,000 lbf.

I’m not sure I agree with LiveScience’s math. But then, 2+2=4 is racist, so maybe 1.672 is greater than 7.610 these days.

 Posted by at 12:16 pm
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