Cargo Rockets

 awesomeness, history, Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 092020
 

Back in the 50’s the idea of lobbing troops and cargo around the world with rockets seemed not altogether unreasonable. US Transport Projects #1 illustrated a battlefield troop transport based on the Redstone missile; US Transport Projects #2 illustrated a scaled-up project for the same sort of thing using a Jupiter missile. In the 1960’s, Douglas scaled up the idea to use a ROMBUS SSTO to launch 1,200 fully equipped Marines halfway across the world (as seen in USTP#4), and Convair studied a similar idea at the same time based on work done on their NEXUS/Post Saturn designs (as seen in Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N3). In the early 21st century, “HOT EAGLE” was a spaceplane concept for hypersonic rocket-launched troop transport (seen in USTP#5 and USTP#6).

It turns out that the idea is still alive, thanks  in no small part to SpaceX.

Pentagon wants SpaceX delivering cargo around the globe — and a live test could come next year

The goal isn’t small… 80 tons delivered anywhere in the globe inside of an hour. Falcon 9 could not do this; this would seem to be a job for Starship/Superheavy. *If* SpaceX can get that system running for their hoped-for cost of only $2 million per flight for an orbital launch, then this would seem entirely practical. $2 million to transport 80 tons seems a bit steep, but given that it would be used for special operations, it might be a bargain. It’s quite possible that the Starship to be used would have to be quite different from the standard Starship, even from a Starship used for point-to-point commercial cargo and passenger service. The landing gear would need to be improved, so the craft could land on uneven and unimproved terrain; it would need defensive systems from ECM to flares to chaff and perhaps even powerful defensive lasers.  Given the likelihood that the Starship would not be recovered, it might make sense to split it into two parts: a stripped down propulsion section and a cargo lander that is basically just a low L/D payload shroud that comes screaming in and lands with chutes and braking rockets, splits apart and spills out all the goodies. Nothing of value left for the enemy to scrounge up, just sheet metal.

 Posted by at 7:05 am

The Cost of Falcon 9

 awesomeness, Hmm..., rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 052020
 

How Much Cheaper Are SpaceX Reusable Rockets? Now We Know

A direct price list apparently isn’t available, but the authors attempt to put together what the cost of the reusable Falcon 9 will be once all the government contracting is figured out: originally $62 million, now potentially $36 million. With a payload to LEO (with a reusable booster) of 34,400 pounds that works out to $1,047 per pound. Still a tad high to horse my dead ass into orbit for a weekend jaunt, but a substantial improvement over anything else out there, save perhaps boosters that are massively subsidized by governments. SLS will reportedly cost $2 *BILLION* or so per launch (not counting development cost) in order to plop 290,000 pounds into LEO… a cost of $6896 per pound.

Starship/Super Heavy is hoped to be able to put 100,000 pounds in LEO for $2,000,000. This optimistic goal works out to 20 dollars per pound… cheap enough to dream of any of us seeing space (or, perhaps, at least our still-warm corpses, having keeled over from heart failure or a stroke on the way up as the vibration and G-forces crush our bodies as badly as 2020 has crushed out spirits). But it will be quite a while before people are buying steerage class tickets to LEO.

 Posted by at 6:47 pm

Astra’s first launch failed

 history, Hmm..., news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Sep 122020
 

As Elon Musk points out… “Rockets are hard.” Having their first vehicle shut down in flight and fall back to Earth is a shame, but it’s not shameful. They did a lot better than many… it didn’t kerblam on the pad.

Astra’s 1st orbital test launch fails during first-stage engine burn

 

 

 Posted by at 1:57 pm

I prefer the way SpaceX does it

 AARRRGH, awesomeness, Crazy, Gah., news, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Sep 082020
 

So the Chinese launched a Long March 4B rocket and “recovered” the booster stage… to certain limits of the definition of “recover.” On its way down it looks a lot like a Falcon 9 booster coming down; it just kinda skipped the “landing burn” part. And the “don’t aim at a school” part. And the “don’t spread a cloud of nitrogen tetroxide over the plebs” part.

I’m sure the Chinese will steal what they need from SpaceX to fix this issue… eventually.

 Posted by at 8:04 pm

Well, that didn’t seem to go right

 AARRRGH, humor, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 052020
 

Can anybody with experience firing shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles confirm that when you pull the trigger, the missile is suppose to leave the tube… not drag the launcher along with it? Cuz goll-lee, this sure don’t seem right:

 Posted by at 9:02 pm

Another Starship hop

 awesomeness, news, rockets, science, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Sep 042020
 

After a long string of flubs, SpaceX seems to be getting on the ball with Starship. SN#6 flew to 150 meters yesterday, transitioned sideways and landed itself, all seemingly without a hitch.

May SpaceX get Starship up and running soon. Sane people may need to flee this planet sooner than even I would have thought just a few short years ago.

 Posted by at 1:49 pm

Antique store MIRVs

 awesomeness, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, photography, rockets, weapons  No Responses »
Sep 022020
 

A while back I found two 8X10 glossies in an antique store. The owners had no information on the photos; they had come in a box of photos from an estate sale, the rest of the photos being completely unrelated. The store owners thought that the photos showed a test of a beam weapon of some kind. Not unreasonable for people not familiar with actual beam weapons or ballistic missiles. The photos are certainly evocative of death beams zapping targets in the sky. But what they actually show are missile warheads coming *down,* screaming towards the ground at incredible speed. When the photos were taken, I’ve no idea. *Where,* almost certainly somewhere in the South Pacific… most likely Kwajalein Atoll, a common target for ICBMs and SLBMs. *What* missile was tested, I’m also uncertain. One photo shows a single re-entry vehicle; the other shows three. The Minuteman III lobbed three warheads; the Peacekeeper, up to ten; the Trident, up to 14. This *probably* shows a Minuteman III… assuming that is actually a single test.

I’ve uploaded the full resolution scans of these photos to the 2020-09 APR Extras Dropbox folder for Patrons and Subscribers at the $4 level and above.

 Posted by at 12:51 am

Apollo Extension System models

 history, models, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 262020
 

This set of models was recently sold on eBay. It depicts a proposed concept for extending the utility of Apollo hardware… in this case, the Command Module and the Ascent Stage of the Lunar Module, by using them in Earth or Lunar orbit in conjunction with a small space laboratory. The Lunar Module would be used as a little space lab of it’s own, with a bolted-on telescope… this idea transformed into the Apollo Telescope Mount on Skylab, which began life as a modified LM. This probably dates from 1965-66. The purpose of the lab was to provide living space for the crew of three, because missions were contemplated lasting several months, providing detailed examination of the Earth or moon. Scientifically useful to be sure, but were the crew packed solely into the CM and LM for that period they’d likely kick the walls out.

 

 Posted by at 7:41 pm

Titan II-Scramjet

 aircraft, art, drawings, Hmm..., humor, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 242020
 

Now here’s an odd thing…

Part of the collection of images from the Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, NY, this depicts a Republic Aviation concept circa early 1960’s for putting a scramjet vehicle atop a Titan II first stage. Presumably this is meant to be… I dunno, a space launcher? No wings are in evidence, so cruise flight and a landing seem unlikely. But it would seem a hell of a thing to throw away, so *presumably* it was meant to be recovered somehow. Perhaps it shed the entire payload-containing nosecone and came back using the blunt forward dome of the propellant tank as a heat shield, followed by a splashdown. Dunno.

 

Also in the collection is the “AX-92 detailed drawing.” Clearly this is an entirely serious proposal, and not at all an example of an artist screwing around for giggles.

 Posted by at 12:57 am

A one-week sale on aerospace goodies

 aircraft, awesomeness, drawings, history, Monthly Historical Documents Program, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, sales & specials, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 212020
 

I’m currently running a sale on downloadable aerospace items that I had planned on either not releasing or not releasing yet. Twenty-eight pretty nifty items of considerable interest to aerospace aficionados. The sale is open to APR Patrons and Monthly Historical Documents Program subscribers for one week only. If any of these look interesting, consider signing up.

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 1:48 am
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