Continuing. By stretching the ET and adding a segment to each of the SRBs, an additional 30 to 35 thousand pounds (!) of payload could be carried to polar orbit.
Next time: Stretching the Orbiter itself!
Aug 252019
Aug 232019
Continuing…
The notion of adding a “docking module” to the Shuttle to allow it to dock with another spacecraft. Here’s one that actually got built and used for docking to Mir and ISS.
Next time: a stretched External Tank & SRBs for increased payload.
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.
Aug 212019
Continuing… An idea for added propellant tanks for the rear of the cargo bay. The propellant would feed not the SSME’s, but the orbital maneuvering system engines. This would allow the Shuttle to reach higher orbital altitudes.
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.
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.
If this sort of stuff is of interest or use, why not subscribe to the Unwanted Blog? Doing so comes with Absolutely No Rewards Whatsoever, other than the warm comforting glow that comes from donating money to someone you’ve never met. That and it helps put food in front of a quarter of unappreciative cats.
Aug 162019
Hmmm.
Exclusive: Russian Doctors Say They Weren’t Warned Patients Were Nuclear Accident Victims
As more information dribbles out about the recent Russian missile explosion that released radiation of an undefined sort, this story is kinda interesting. There is some hey-didn’t-I-see-that-sort-of-thing-on-that-Chernobyl-show level paranoid bureaucracy skullduggery going on with doctors not being given all the facts, but one of the more interesting bits is that one of the doctors who treated the incident victims was found to have cesium 137 in his muscle tissue. There are a whole lot of useful bits of data left out here, such as how *much* cesium 137 and whether he could have picked it up elsewhere or whether any of the many other doctors and nurses involved were also contaminated with cesium 137. Given how often cesium 137 shows up in lower left nuclear incidents, such as industrial radioactive sources being simply lost or misplaced, it’s entirely possible that that one doctor came across it somewhere else. But if the doctor was contaminated internally to an important degree by a victim flown in from hundreds of mils from the incident site, it would indicate that there must be a *lot* of cesium 137 floating about. because cesium 137 would be an odd substance here. It’s a byproduct of the fission of U-235, but you’d imagine that uranium would be the bigger story if that was the source. It’s not seemingly terribly useful for military applications.
Cesium 137 is a beta emitter; it’s pretty much useless in a reactor, though I imagine someone clever might be able to find a way to harness the beta emissions somehow. It won;t make a bomb, though you might turn very fine powder into a cladding for a dirty bomb. Cesium salts are water soluble and play hell with biological systems since it infiltrates easily. But it’s actual practical uses in industry all seem kinda pointless for a missile:
Caesium-137 has a number of practical uses. In small amounts, it is used to calibrate radiation-detection equipment.[5] In medicine, it is used in radiation therapy.[5] In industry, it is used in flow meters, thickness gauges,[5] moisture-density gauges (for density readings, with americium-241/beryllium providing the moisture reading),[6] and in gamma ray well logging devices.[6]
I *suppose* it might have been used in a propellant flow meter for a rocket engine? Maybe?
I’m no nuclear expert, but for the life of me I can’t come up with a good use for the stuff.
Aug 162019
Aug 162019
Around three years ago I posted some rather cruddy images of a saucer-shaped nuclear-powered spacecraft that the Chrysler corporation drew up in 1956. At this time a manned spacecraft was a perfectly normal sort of thing for Chrysler to design; their aerospace division was responsible for the Redstone missile and the Saturn I first stage. One of the images was a small scan of the cover of the August-September 1957 issue of “Saucer News.” I finally managed to score a copy of this “fanzine”on ebay a while back and have scanned the cover at high (600 dpi) resolution. The image quality is a bit regrettable, but what can you expect from a 1950’s UFO magazine.
As always, if anyone might happen to know anything more about this design, I’m all ears. Chrysler long ago got rid of their aerospace division and whatever archive it might have had.
I have uploaded the full resolution scan to the 2019-08 APR Extras Dropbox folder, available to $4 and up subscribers to the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Aug 152019
One sizable document I’ve scanned for preservation is a Rockwell presentation package from October, 1985, showing a large number of space programs that the company could capitalize on. These included everything from minor mods to the Space Shuttle to major changes… stretching the orbiter, stretching the tank, adding additional boosters. Heavy lift boosters to put SLS to shame; heavy lift SSTOs; small experimental spaceplanes; manned military spaceplanes; space-based weaponry; space stations; space based nuclear power. Figured this stuff might be of some modest interest. So why not, I’ll post little bits of it from time to time.
