Manned Mars Spacecraft

 art, history, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Spacecraft Projects  No Responses »
Nov 022018
 

This is what a manned mission to Mars dating from the late Apollo era would have looked like: a cluster of hydrogen tanks with a small number of NERVA nuclear rockets. The spacecraft would have been relatively gigantic as it leaves Earth orbit; large enough that it would have been assembled in space from at least six Saturn V launches. When it returns to Earth it would have been little more than the mission module; this would blast past Earth and continue in solar orbit while the astronauts and a few trifling hundreds of pounds of Martian souvenirs would have plowed into Earths atmosphere in a compact entry capsule. The mission module itself is described fully and heavily illustrated in US Spacecraft Projects #3.

I’ve uploaded the full rez versions of these renderings to the 2018-11 APR Extras folder on Dropbox, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 2:59 am

APR Patreon October 2018 rewards

 aircraft, art, history, new products, news, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 282018
 

I’ve just sent out the rewards for October, 2018, to APR Patrons. This months rewards include:

CAD diagram: 20-meter Orion spacecraft

Diagram: Genealogy of Piper aircraft

Document: “Story of the Uprated Saturn I” NASA-MSFC brochure circa 1966 describing the Saturn Ib, including future possibilities

Document: “Preliminary Design Study of a Three Stage Satellite Ferry Rocket Vehicle,” 1954 Goodyear paper describing the METEOR launch vehicle. First of a number of METEOR documents I have.

Document: “The Rocket Research Aircraft Program 1946-1962,” Edwards AFB booklet describing the various rocket aircraft tested up to the x-15

 

 

If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 3:59 am

XC-142

 aircraft, drawings, history, Patreon  No Responses »
Oct 252018
 

An inboard profile of the LTV XC-142 VTOL transport from the mid/late 1960’s. The XC-142 proved capable, but also a bit flawed, suffering a few failures and crashes. Still, had those problems been worked out, the capabilities of the V-22 might have been realized twenty years earlier.

I’ve posted a higher rez version of this to the 2018-10APR Extras Dropbox folder for $4+ APR Patrons.

 Posted by at 12:23 am

Forgotten Warbirds

 aircraft, history, Patreon, photography  No Responses »
Oct 162018
 

A while back I stopped at the Brigham City airport. One of the hangars there is occupied by a warbird restoration company called “Forgotten Warbirds,” and on the day I stopped their doors were open. I took a number of photos. Nothing spectacular (cell phone camera… meh), but possibly of interest.

 

The full set of photos have been uploaded to the 2018-10 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 6:15 pm

September APR Patreon rewards

 aircraft, awesomeness, drawings, history, new products, nukes, Patreon, projects, rockets, ships, spacecraft  No Responses »
Oct 022018
 

Patrons of the Aerospace Projects Review Patreon received last month:

Diagram: A foldout diagram of an Apollo-derived logistics spacecraft

Document: “The Piasecki Story,” an illustrated history of the company and its products

Document: “The N.S. Savannah,” a brochure about the sole nuclear powered merchant vessel

Document: “Lunar Spacecraft Design” A paper describing the evolution of the General Electric Apollo design, quite similar to the later Soyuz spacecraft

CAD diagram: 1985 design of the British HOTOL spaceplane

If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 12:41 pm

Lockheed L-2000 Mockup

 art, history, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
Sep 252018
 

The Lockheed L-2000 was a Mach 3 SST designed to compete against the Boeing 2707 in the mid 1960’s. It was an elegant and classy looking design, but was passed over by the US Government in favor of the Boeing design. Lockheed built a full scale and reasonably convincing mockup of the craft, using it for both study and PR purposes.

The L-2000 looked like nothing quite so much as a cross between the Concorde and the SR-71.

A full rez scan of the 8X10 glossy has been uploaded to the 2018-09 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 12:25 pm

Bell D-270-900-100 Tiltrotor

 aircraft, drawings, Patreon, projects, US VTOL Projects  No Responses »
Sep 052018
 

A 1969 Bell Helicopter design for a high speed stowed-rotor tiltrotor. This was meant for USAF search and rescue and featured gun turrets fore and aft (each with a Minigun) and four turboshaft engines under the wings. Doubtless the gearing from the engines up through the pylons and along the wings to the nacelles would have been an engineering nightmare. But if it worked, it would have resulted in a tiltrotor with the hover performance of the V-22 and a cruise speed of 400 knots.

An article on the similar D270-900-112 (the main visual difference being that the engines were separately podded) was included in US VTOL Projects #1.

I have made the much-larger full-rez scan of the cutaway available to $10+ APR Patreon patrons. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 8:19 pm

Rotating space station art

 art, history, Patreon, projects, spacecraft  No Responses »
Aug 282018
 

An artists concept of a rotating space station circa 1962. It has a NASA ID number but it *may* be North American Aviation, as they designed a space station essentially identical to this, as described and illustrated in an article written by Dennis R. Jenkins for Aerospace Projects Review issue V1N6. This space station was designed to be launched as a single payload atop a two-stage Saturn V; it would unfold once in orbit to form the pseudo-toroidal shape. This piece of art depicts a central docking hub that must have been intended to be rotationally decoupled from the station. The space station must have been non-rotating at the point in time illustrated, or those spacewalking astronauts are going to have an interesting time doing their job.

A high-rez scan of this piece of art has been uploaded to the 2018-08 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patreon patrons at the $4 level and above. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 11:17 pm

XP-55 Ascender Cutaway

 aircraft, art, drawings, history, Patreon  No Responses »
Aug 152018
 

The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender was a tailless fighter design from WWII. It was intended to be an improvement on then-current designs in terms of performance, but proved to be disappointing. After years of development and flight testing, it was overtaken by jet propulsion and failed to make it into production.

I have made the much-larger full-rez scan of the cutaway available to $10+ APR Patreon patrons. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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 Posted by at 4:28 pm

Bell fold-back tiltrotor

 aircraft, history, models, Patreon, projects  No Responses »
Aug 122018
 

A photo of a 1960’s Bell Helicopter concept for a high-speed tiltrotor. In this design the aircraft would operate in hover and low speed much like the V-22, but at higher speeds the prop-rotors would stop rotating and fold back to reduce drag. Forward thrust would be provided by pure jet exhaust from the convertible turboshaft engines within the fuselage.

I have uploaded high-rez scans of the color glossy photo to the 2018-08 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patrons at the $4 level and up.

If you are interested in this image and a great many other “extras” and monthly aerospace history rewards, please sign up for the APR Patreon. What else are you going to spend $4 a month on? Taxes? Bah. Invest in the APR Patreon instead.

 Posted by at 3:05 am
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