Possibilities of New Business Growth: Unmanned Orbiter

 history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 282019
 

Continuing…

In 1985 Rockwell pondered the idea of an unmanned Orbiter. The US did not proceed with that concept, while the Soviets did with their Buran. It was an interesting notion and for the time reasonably advanced tech… but it’s clearly a very silly idea (even more so with Buran). The whole purpose of the Orbiter as compared to any other launch vehicle is to *return* stuff. With the Space Shuttle, the stuff it returned was sometimes payload, always avionics, engines and crew. Making the Orbiter unmanned means… why the hell are you launching a crew cabin? Buran was even worse; it didn’t even bring back the main engines.

 Posted by at 11:08 pm

Possibilities of New Business Growth: Stretched Orbiter

 history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 262019
 

Continuing…

In 1985 Rockwell suggested stretching the Orbiter to create a 75-foot-long cargo bay in order to carry longer – though clearly not heavier – payloads. Exactly what those payloads might be was not given, but they would presumably be sizable yet relatively light structures… deployable structures such as solar arrays and radar arrays seem not unlikely. Interestingly, the main landing gear were to be moved slightly forward, the nose gear well aft.

Up next: the “hump-backed” Orbiter, with the most amazing shuttle diagram EVAR.

Hey. Hey.

Tips


 

 

 Posted by at 10:05 pm

This is how you do a trailer

 art, awesomeness, humor, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Aug 222019
 

For Kerbal Space Program 2, at any rate:

A good mix of beauty, awesomeness and hilarity. Note that this seems to imply that Orion and Daedalus nuclear pulse propulsion systems will be a part of it.

I’ve never gotten into KSP. I guess I’ve missed out. When people first started telling me about it years ago I started getting interested until I found out that the planets *weren’t* earth and the rest of the solar system, modeled accurately.Turn it into a true simulation system directly applicable to real-world designs, and I might be interested in going to the bother.

 

 

 Posted by at 1:46 pm

Possibilities of New Business growth: Higher thrust SSMEs

 history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 192019
 

Continuing. This time, discussion of possibilities of higher thrust SSMEs including the SSME-150 with an extendable nozzle. Once again this would be for increased payload capability, in particular 32,000 pounds to polar orbit from Vandenburg.

Hey. Hey.

Tips


 

 Posted by at 10:08 pm

Possibilities of New Business growth: Graphite structures

 history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 182019
 

Continuing. This time, discussion of possibilities of swapping out existing Orbiter structures with graphite composites. The advantage would be lowered dry mass of the Orbiter, leading to potentially higher payload performance. This would, presumably, be of interest for USAF launches from Vandenburg, a possibility that Challenger put to bed.

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 Posted by at 3:47 am
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