H.S. 803 VTOL airliner

 aircraft, drawings, projects  2 Responses »
Sep 092011
 

The Hawker-Siddely 803. A short-range “airbus” seating 58 passengers, equipped with helicopter rotors on the wingtips. The rotors stop in forward flight, and two of them fold back… but one, rather distressingly, projects forward. This would *not* work well, as anything vaguely resembling a wind gust or change in angle of attack would tend to try to bend the rotor back.

Drawing from the late 1960’s.  It’s pretty awful quality, but what do you want? It’s free, ya mooches. Feel free to hit that “Donate” button over there on the right.

 Posted by at 10:40 pm

Titan ARGH

 AARRRGH, blather, drawings, Gah., history, rockets, spacecraft  8 Responses »
Sep 092011
 

*THIS* is what happens when I decide to write an article on something that I’ve got a lot of info on (“Titan III Derived Launch Vehicles”), but it’s info that I’ve collected over a span of *decades* without properly cataloging…

Something I have vague recollection of is an “unrolled” diagram of the surface of either the Titan II or Titan III (probably the 2), just a rectangle with all the surface features laid out on it. But now that I go looking for it, not only can I not find it, not only do I not remember where or what it was, now I’m not entirely sure it ever existed. Maybe I dreamed it up. Argh.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I am also looking for high-rez photos of the Titan IIIC. The boosters I’ve got lots of info on, but the core vehicle less so. If anyone can help out on detailing the core of a Titan IIIC, I’d be most appreciative.

 Posted by at 9:19 pm

Titan-Boosted Shuttle

 aircraft, APR, drawings, projects, rockets, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Sep 092011
 

Even though I’m desperately far behind on getting out APR issue V3N2, I’m nevertheless also thinking about future articles. One I’m interested in is some for of “Titan Derivatives” article. The problem is in determining how to cut it off. The UA-1205 motors designed for the Titan IIIC were, after all, proposed for all kinds of other vehicles, from ROMBUS to Saturn Ib to Saturn V to Shuttle to even an atmospheric bomber.

Below is a March 1972 McDonnell Douglas concept for a Space Shuttle with UA-1207 motors as boosters, rather than the larger RSRM’s that actually flew. Along with the different booster configuration, also note that the orbiter is equipped with two podded turbojet engines.

 Posted by at 12:17 am

Someone Learned The Lesson

 awesomeness, blather, humor, politics, science fiction, weapons  6 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

One Lt. Col. Dan Ward, USAF, proves that there are lessons to be learned from the Star Wars universe.

http://www.dau.mil/pubscats/ATL%20Docs/Sep-Oct11/Ward.pdf

The Death Star’s lackluster contribution to the fight is reason enough not to build one, but serious problems emerged long before it was declared operational. In Return of the Jedi, viewers gain a fascinating insight into the programmatics of Empire acquisitions. In the single most realistic scene in the whole double-trilogy, Darth Vader complains that the second Death Star construction project is … behind schedule. In fact, much of the drama in Episode VI revolves around this delay.

Consider the implications of pop culture’s most notorious schedule overrun. In the Star Wars universe, robots are self-aware, every ship has its own gravity, Jedi Knights use the Force, tiny green Muppets are formidable warriors and a piece of junk like the Millennium Falcon can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. But even the florid imagination of George Lucas could not envision a project like the Death Star coming in on time, on budget. He knew it would take a Jedi mind trick beyond the skill of Master Yoda to make an audience suspend that much disbelief.

This, I think, is one of the best discussions of the real-world implications of Death Star thinking since “Clerks.” Read the whole article… it’s good, funny, and full of valid points.

 Posted by at 10:01 pm

DM-3: Huh.

 blather, history, news, rockets, spacecraft  6 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

Just back from watching the test. Nothing out of the ordinary about the test firing… no sudden and energetic dis assembly of the motor, no flaming chunks of propellant  blasting across the hillside, no spontaneous proton decal or rips in the space-time continuum. But there was one thing about the overall experience that’s a bit of a headscratcher: where the hell was everybody?

The gates to the public viewing area opened at 11. I got there about 11:05… and was the first one there. And I stayed the only one there for another half hour. In the end, the parking lot, normally packed to overflowing, was maybe 1/3 full. No school buses loaded with screaming kidlings.

Since this was they very last test ever of a motor this size (assuming that the “Liberty” launch vehicle meets the fate that seems most likely… studied for a bit, then dropped), I would have thought that the historical importance would have brought *more* viewers than usual. That’s why I got there early. Instead, not only were there relatively few people, there was little in the way of VIPs and public relations stuff. It seemed kinda… half-hearted from the publicity front.

Oh, well.

Anyway, I’ll copy over the photos and, assuming I didn’t screw them up (always a distinct possibility), I’ll post some later today.

 Posted by at 2:15 pm

DM-3

 awesomeness, history, news, photography, rockets, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Sep 072011
 

Tomorrow (Thursday September 8 ) ATK is scheduled to fire the DM-3 motor, the last of the Shuttle-sized solid rockets. This is a 5-segment motor originally designed for the Ares I and V boosters

Last night (Tuesday) ATK held an “open house” for the public. Apparently this was something like only the third time they’ve done that. And as it turns out, I was the first member of the public to show up… and was followed by less than a  dozen, at least for the hour or so I was there. They had a conference room set up with lots of informational boards… largely revolving about one single topic: the fact that ATK dumping dirt on your dirt is not a danger.

Much to my surprise, after a little while we were bundled onto a bus and driven up to the test stand to wander around the rocket itself. This was something I only got to do once when I actually worked for ATK, and then *not* with a camera. The motor has been heat-soaked to 90 degrees F for a good long while, and this will continue until tomorrow morning sometime, so the building-on-tracks that covers the motor was in place while we wandered around it.

The DM-3 test will in all likelihood be the last time in my lifetime that a single rocket of this power will be fired. The ATK staff had – or at least expressed – high hopes that another one like this will be test fired in 2013 or so; but that decision is contingent upon decisions to be made “very soon.” The DM-3 was being touted as the first stage of the “Liberty” launch vehicle, the International descendent of the Ares I booster, with an upper stage made from a French Ariane V core stage. I expressed disbelief that such a thing would fly, politically, and was told that the specific reason why the French upper stage was chosen was specifically *because* it was “international,” and that they were just trying to go along with Presidential wishes to internationalize things as much as possible. Shrug.

Anyway, I took some photos. As the motor was still in its enclosure, they necessarily had to be squished-up-close photos. Tomorrow, I shall have two cameras and a camcorder going.

The nozzle.

At about the mid-point of the motor, a support structure holds up the motor with a thick kevlar strap. Something like 400,000 pounds of tension. Without this the motor would sag 8 inches.

Looking down the length of the motor from the head end. The aft skirt is just visible.

 Posted by at 10:28 pm
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