Search Results : shuttle

An odd collection of vehicles

art, history, Hmm..., projects, rockets, science fiction, spacecraft No Responses »

Jul 292018

Looking through ebay tonight I found a seller with a 1981 issue of a stamp issued in the island nation of Comoros, commemorating approach and landing tests of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. There have been a *lot* of spaceflight related stamps issued by dinky little nations; my assumption has always been that this is a reasonable and understandable way for these small countries to make a little scratch from foreign stamp collectors, rather than as a way to mail letter.

Anyway, this particular stamp comes still attached to a souvenir sheet. Additional artwork on the sheet includes the starship Enterprise (linking it to the Shuttle), a Boeing X-20 Dyna Soar, which I’m a little surprised they were even aware of, and a portrait of Austrian rocket engineer/scientist Eugen Sanger, who died in the 1960’s. An unusual bunch to see together.

Some “Huh”-worthy titles coming to BluRay

art, blather, Crazy, nukes, science fiction 4 Responses »

Jun 222018

So I looked up the season 3 BluRay of The Expanse on Amazon to see when it’s coming out (July 17), and saw some interesting titles that may be of interest to those who are interested in this sort of thing, available or soon to come out on BluRay. As always, if you are interested in buying these, please click on the links here… if you buy through these links, I’ll get a pittance!

Anyway, first up there’s The Day After, the all-kinds-of-fun TV movie from the 80’s that showed the US getting the bejeebers nuked out of it by the Soviets. Due out August 8.

Also available is the somewhat similar “Threads,” a British TV movie from about the same time that shows Britain getting the bejeebers nuked out of it by the Soviets… and carries that forward another generation or so showing just how thrilling a Mad Max version of Britain would be. Came out in February.

Then there’s Lifeforce. This one has been out on BluRay for a while, but this one is a “limited edition” which seems like it’s longer, or maybe has more extras. It’s… it’s about space vampires. It’s not what you’d probably really call “good,” but as an aerospace engineer there are two designs shown in the movie that have always appealed to me: there’s the UK/US modified Space Shuttle “Churchill,” which features vast solar panels and a NERVA engine distressingly close to the crew. The other design that’s really quite remarkably well done is the chassis of Mathilda May. Yeah, you know what I mean. Out August 14.

Then there’s “The Martian Chronicles.” A TV miniseries from the 80’s which at the time I loved. Then I saw it again a couple years ago and, wow, does it not hold up. Still, might be of interest. Due out June 26.

There’s “Deep Rising,” another one that has been available on BluRay before. I’m not sure if they’ve extended or otherwise tinkered with the movie itself, but it looks like there are a lot of extras. This is a goofy sea monster movie that is *way* more entertaining than it has any right to be. Due out August 21.

And two Lovecraftian flicks:

John Carpenters criminally underrated “In The Mouth of Madness,” which doesn’t feature the “Lovecraftian monster” so much as the “welp, it’s Lovecraft, so I’m’a gonna go nuts now” that most Lovecraftian movies tend to get wrong. Due out July 24.

The Spanish-made, English-language, relatively low-budget movie “Dagon,” which despite its title is actually more of a “Shadow Over Innsmouth.” Been a decade+ since I’ve seen it, but I seem to recall that it was fairly good. Also out July 24.

Forthcoming

drawings, projects, rockets, spacecraft, US Launch Vehicle Projects 1 Response »

Jun 202018

First draft of diagrams for the next issue of US Launcher Projects. This will include concepts such as an eight-F-1 Nova, a 1962 Lockheed fully reusable spaceplane launcher, a Boeing HTOHL SSTO, a Convair VTOHL Delta Clipper competitor, a giant SPS launcher, a balloon-recovered Saturn I, an early Space Shuttle concept and an expendable SSTO.

AR-22

news, projects, rockets, spacecraft 16 Responses »

Jun 192018

The first Aerojet-Rocketdyne AR-22 rocket engine has recently been assembled. This is a somewhat modified version of the old Space Shuttle Main Engine, meant specifically to power the first stage of the Boeing “Phantom Express” spaceplane. Thrust is 375,000 pounds and the engine is meant to be used 55 times, with servicing every 10 missions.

First Engine Assembled for DARPA and Boeing Reusable Experimental Spaceplane

The Phantom Express is meant to fly often and inexpensively… and appears to be basically an updated version of the mid-90’s Rockwell design for the X-33. It’s not clear to me that a hydrogen-burner using SSME-derived tech can compete economically with the likes of the Falcon 9, but the Phantom Express isn’t really intended to compete in the commercial market. Instead, the Phantom Express is intended as military launch system, lobbing relatively small satellites – communications and recon, with the possibility of GPS-replacements in the event that military action takes them out. Given that any future war with a major opponent will certainly involve attacks on American space infrastructure, it’s reasonable for DARPA to want to have as many rapid response launch systems as practical. The basic concept underlying the Phantom Express is simple and straightforward enough, and likely to be somewhat more rugged and reliable than the hoverslam landing system of the Falcon series… at the cost of probably weighing more.

Who wants an Orville?

art, awesomeness, models, news, science fiction, spacecraft No Responses »

May 192018

OK, physical prep work on the 3D printed parts is now complete and the model is ready to be shipped off for casting. Below are photos of the model parts simply taped together (the lower loop is bent upwards a bit due to being simply held together with tape). The model kit should prove fairly straightforward to build; there are only a few pieces:

1: Top shell

2: Bottom shell

3: Bridge

4: Lounge

5: Top loop

6: Mid loop

7: Bottom loop

8: Underside of shuttlebay

And that’s it.

If you want one – and you really should – it will be available from Fantastic Plastic. Send them an email to reserve a copy. this is an important thing to do… let’s ’em know roughly how many to make. Like a lot of kits like these, only a limited number will be made.

Reusable Atlas model photos

history, models, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft 4 Responses »

May 182018

In the 1960’s, prior to the Space Shuttle program, General Dynamics/Convair studied using the Atlas ICBM as a space launch system. no surprise there. But one concept called for a nearly fully reusable Atlas, equipped with wings, jet engines, landing gear and a cockpit to recover the booster in one reusable piece. It would be topped with either an expendable Centaur and satellite/space probe upper stage or a smallish manned lifting body spaceplane with its own built-in propulsive capability. At the time General Dynamics released sizable “educational” cards with information and photos of models of the reusable Atlas. Unlike the normal Atlas, this version did not drop the outboard “booster’ engines, but kept them throughout the mission. An inflatable, deployable afterbody was proposed to fair over the engines after burnout to reduce base drag.

I have uploaded righ-rez scans of both sides of this poster-sized card to the 2018-05 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patrons at the $4 level and up.

Additionally, a report on this concept is available as Space Doc 52.

If you are interested in these Reusable Atlas model images 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?

HL-20

aircraft, history, projects, spacecraft, youtube No Responses »

Mar 292018

An old NASA video describing the HL-20 lifting body. In the 90’s NASA spent a lot of time and trouble trying to get an HL-20 built for a Personnel Launch System, a vehicle smaller than the Space Shuttle but capable of carrying as many passengers and riding a much smaller launch vehicle. For transporting passengers to and from the Space Station, it would have been much more economical and sensible than the Shuttle. And while the HL-20 was never built, the basic geometry has survived in the form of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser, which *might* actually fly to space someday.

Natural Selection vs. Intelligent Design: Steel Edition

AARRRGH, blather, dumbassery, history, Hmm..., news, politics, wisdom, ಠ_ಠ 4 Responses »

Mar 062018

Trump is going on about wanting to put a 25% tariff on foreign steel. This can be immediately seen to be a bad, and potentially economically tragic, idea, since everyone else in the world will naturally respond with tariffs of their own, which the increased cost of foreign steel will drive up the costs of domestically produced products, while exports will decline.

It’s therefore probably a good idea to understand just why the US steel industry might need bolstering. After all, within living memory the US steel industry was the envy of the world. Important figures in Axis powers knew that tangling with the US was not a good idea due to our industrial capability. After WWII, if it was made of steel, it was probably made of *American* steel. So what the frell happened?

How the U.S. Squandered Its Steel Superiority

via Transterrestrial Musings

Short form: prior to WWII, the US competed with Europe and Japan to crank out the worlds steel. After WWII… not so much. The steel manufacturing capabilities of Europe and Japan had been reduced to smoking rubble, while US facilities were still roaring along. So the US kept on using what we had. This of course makes sense… replacing functional facilities with other facilities when you have no competition and your current facilities work just fine… that;s silly.

But thre was a problem: the US facilities were based on old, and soon to be obsolete, technologies and techniques. There were cheaper ways to make better steel. So when the Europeans started rebuilding their own steel manufacturing infrastructure, they wisely started not with the old ideas, but the new ones. Their new plants were better than the American ones, right out of the gate.

Had the US steel manufacturers upgraded, they could have kept up being economically competitive. But they didn’t. They kept using the same old facilities, right up until the Europeans stole the market away from them. Then the US steel manufacturers started screaming for protectionism from the government. Rather than evolving, they demanded protection from the natural environment.

This is not a unique occurrence. World War II trashed pretty much *every* bit of infrastructure in Europe, and so post-war they got to start from scratch. And as a result they got to change things up, often resulting in better systems. The same sort of thing happens from time to time with biology… Europe was a cultural wasteland, a hidebound mess of serfs and Church and aristocracy until the Black Death came along and pushed over all the walls and people rebuilt into a better world.

And it cane be seen today, within the US: look to space launch. SpaceX started from scratch, about half a decade ago, working on the BFR heavy lifter. It may well fly in just a few years, for perhaps a few billion in total development cost. At the same time, NASA’s SLS started a decade and a half ago and has spent enough already to run a good sized war, and with luck it’ll fly at about the same time as BFR, at a far higher per-flight cost, using old, Old, OLD technologies (the safe and arms used on the SLS boosters are likely the same used on the Shuttle boosters, and those were the same as those used on the Minuteman I ICBMS from the early 1960’s). BFR looks to be better in every respect because BFR is the result of competitive thinking; SLS is the result of Intelligent Design.

So what’s the best way for the FedGuv to help the American steel industry? I can think of a few ideas:

1: Get the Europeans to blow themselves up again. Exactly how to do that, I leave as an exercise for the student.

2: Start a few government programs to build a lot of stuff that requires a lot of steel. Interstate infrastructure – especially bridges – would seem a good choice… it needs doing *and* it’s actually within the Constitutional purview of the FedGuv. Also: a few hundred Ohio-class-replacement boomer subs, a few dozen new supercarriers, a few hundred small, fast carriers, a few thousand 4,000 to 10,000 ton Orion spacecraft, But her’s the thing: put a provision in there that the only steel to be used is American steel produced by top of the line steel production facilities (say, they have to use XYZ production method, or something demonstratably better). You want part of that ten trillion dollar, thirty year program? Then build a new foundry. You’ll not only make bank off Uncle Sam, but when your done you’ll have a competitive production capability.

Here’s what you need to know about SLS

AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., news, projects, rockets, spacecraft, ಠ_ಠ 42 Responses »

Mar 042018

What I do know is that SLS is certain to get delayed again. By 2025 we will have paid close to $50 billion for SLS and Orion, and the best we can hope for is a single manned mission. And that one mission will have taken 21 years to go from concept to launch.

Ye gods.

Elon Musk is – probably optimistically – suggesting that the even-more-capable BFR will not only fly before 2025, not only fly people before 2025, but will fly people to *Mars* by 2025. BFR began development approximately 2012, and prototype bits of it are hoped to fly next year. BFR is an all-new giant vehicle using all-new engines and structures. SLS is a kludge of the 1970’s-vintage Shuttle external tank, main engines and solid rocket boosters with an upper stage derived from Delta and Centaur, launching from an existing but modified facility. NASA *should* have been able to slap SLS together in a handful of years.

Drawbridge orbiter: orbital art

aircraft, art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft 5 Responses »

Jan 022018

This piece of art depicts the McDonnell-Douglas “Drawbridge” orbiter in orbit delivering a satellite. Note that the wing are deployed, even though they would be folded up during entry. The geometry of the craft was such that in order to get the cargo bay door open and payloads safely in and out, the wing needed to fold down out of the way.

This points out one of the reasons why you don’t often see a whole lot of “cool” stuff in aerospace… everything has tradeoffs. And needing the wings to constantly go up and down is a bit of a headache. When it comes to spacecraft, mass is a primary priority; the mechanisms needed to deploy the wings weight a lot… never mind the mechanisms needed to retract the wing again. As an example, the real space shuttle orbiter had no landing gear retraction system. And why should it? The landing gear is hardly something the Orbiter would ever need to retract. That could be done by the ground crew without adding weight and complexity to the craft itself.

Note that the Orbiter and the payload here seem to have not NASA markings, but Red Cross markings. I suspect that a number of variants of this piece of art would have been produced with several different markings (NASA and Pan Am being the obvious ones), but why exactly Red Cross? Dunno.

Also note that this might not be an actual “Drawbridge” design, as no extension mechanism for the wing s in evidence. This might be an oversight on the part of the artist; it might be that this was a fixed-wing design. Given the RCS thrusters on the wingtips, this is most likely *not* a Drawbridge.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (11.2 megabyte 6271×4763 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2018-01, available to all APR Patrons at the $4 level and above. If you are interested in accessing this and other aerospace historical goodies, consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

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