SpaceX Dragon: SUCCESS!!

 awesomeness, history, rockets, spacecraft  11 Responses »
Dec 082010
 

I missed this one earlier in the day… a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle put a “Dragon” capsule test article into orbit. It made two orbits at 182 miles altitude, staying up for three hours twenty minutes, and ended the mission witha  successful re-entry and splashdown on target off the California coast.

While Dragon cannot go to the moon (it’s not designed to make hyperbolic entries… it’d likely burn up), it can in principle go to the Space Station. Once proven out, perhaps NASA will pay American entepreneurs, rather than Russian government interests, to send Americans to the ISS. Or, better, to a *real* space station. Perhaps a station built from numerous Bigelow station modules.

Watch the videos. Note the rather impressive combustion of what looks like a stream of kerosene a few seconds after ignition. First, the webcast:

[youtube Q-ci9xIgNZM]

NASA’s High Def coverage:

[youtube wj1qwDxw9nk]

 Posted by at 9:22 pm

Martin Astroplane Art: 1

 aircraft, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  2 Responses »
Dec 082010
 

As described in issue V2N5 of Aerospace Projects Review, in 1961 the USAF examined input from numerous contractors for the Aero Space plane project… a single stage to orbit “aircraft” that could perform militarily useful missions in orbit.

One ASP design that saw a smidgeon of press at the time was the Martin Co. “Astroplane.”  It was a long, slim vehicle that used nuclear propulsion… an air scoop fed either liquified air or liquid nitrogen to a solid-core nuclear rocket (or to an MHD thruster, though this seems doubtful). If it separated the oxygen from the nitrogen, the oxygen would probably be used to run conventional chemical rocket engines.

Technical info on this particualr vehicle is rather hard to come by. See V2N5 of APR for more information on a variant design of the Astroplane.

 Posted by at 8:48 pm

Sometimes Photos ARE Accurate

 awesomeness, cats, humor, photography  2 Responses »
Dec 082010
 

Some of the cat photos I’ve posted are a bit deceptive. They may indicate that things are calm and peaceful, that everyone is getting along famously, but sometimes that photo is the one frame between “hiss” and “spit.”

But then there are these. They may look like two cats calmly and happily enjoying each others company… and that’s exactly what they are. Granted, there’s some unequalness… while I hate to anthropomorphise too much, the best I can say is that Fingers seems to *love* Raedthinn, while Raedthinn more or less just tolerates Fingers. But in some instances, when Raedthinn is in the right mood and Fingers isn’t too pushy, the two will lay there and hold each other in a way that makes me think that I will very soon have to take up an insulin habit.

For instance:

Go ahead and try to convince yourself that that’s not a happy cat.

And then the next day…

 Posted by at 8:26 pm

Weirded Out By Garfield

 awesomeness, blather, cats, humor  12 Responses »
Dec 072010
 

The comic strip “Garfield” has long been known to not be “edgy.” Instead, it’s “safe” and “bland.”

However, there are two forms of Garfield that are anything but.

Firstly, there’s the wholly anomalous series of five strips from late October, 1989: http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=1989&addr=891023

Short form is, it’s weird and inexplicable, and Jim Davis has never explained just what the hell was going on. One of the more intriguing theories is that this strip forms the last delusion of Garfield, as he lays abandoned and starving to death in an empty house.

Cheery, eh?

The second is less immediately disturbing, and occasionally fall-down funny: Garfield Minus Garfield. It’s a concpet of pure genius: stock Garfield strips, but with Garfield editted out of them. Now Garfield’s owner Jon is, instead of being a sad loser with a cat, a sad lunatic living along, talking to himself. As I said, not as immediately disturbing. But some of the strips are simply hilarious.

And the most awesomest thing? Garfield Minus Garfield was created without Garfield creator Jim Davis’ knowledge or approval. And when Davis found out… he approved.

Yeah, you and me both, brother.

Of course, nothing tops the true utter awesome that is The Nameless Dread.

 Posted by at 4:46 pm

eAPR in paper: is there interest?

 APR, books, new products  7 Responses »
Dec 062010
 

One project that fell by the wayside was printed versions of the new electronic APRs. They fell by the wayside because the price was, well, kinda high.

But still, there might be interest. I know that *I* would rather read something like APR on paper rather than screen. One “print on demand” service that looks generally appealing charges $0.20 per page plus $1 for “perfect binding” (i.e. the square “paperback” style binding) plus postage plus whatever markup the publisher asks. So for a 100-page issue of APR, that’d be $21 for the printing and binding, plus postage and whatever the markup is (10%? $4? 5%? Dunno). For a 150-page APR, that would of course be $31. Expensive, but something you can put on a  bookshelf and not be embarassed by, and not lose in a computer crash. Page sizes are limited to 8.5X11… no large foldouts.

So, to the point: anyone *seriously* interested? If so, I might start re-paving the existing eAPRs for a printed format (only after v3N1 and V0N0 are out the hatch, of course), starting back with V1N1.

 Posted by at 5:15 pm

Saturn/Apollo histories

 books, history, rockets, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Dec 062010
 

Two of the best books on the hisory of the Apollo and Saturn programs are available for relatively cheap from Dover. Stages To Saturn (NASA SP-4206)and Chariots For Apollo (NASA SP-4205) were both published abot thiorty years ago and have been a little difficult to come by in printed form, but now you can get them from Amazon.

Now, if they’d release the multi-volume “The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology…”

 Posted by at 10:46 am

APR V3N1 Update

 APR, blather  No Responses »
Dec 052010
 

Sigh. Still plugging away at what, six months ago, I’d hoped would be an easy, quickly-dashed-off issue. Just passed 105 pages today. I’m hoping to get it done and out the door soon. Of course, that’s what I hoped five months ago, too. Projects like the CAD drawings/prints fiasco and the “Nuclear Pulse Propulsion” book and others have taken their toll. Sadly, no “lots of money rolling in” projects have been occupying my time of late, so if you see that “donate” button off to the right…

I’m hoping (there’s that damnable word again) that shortly after V3N1 is out the door I’ll wrap up the revised V0N0. And then there’ll be V3N2, which will feature a new article on F-23 derivatives.

 Posted by at 7:44 pm
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