Convair VL-3A model photos

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May 102018

The Convair VL-3A was a 1966 concept for a space station logistics spacecraft. It was a sleek, flat-bottomed lifting body featuring a twin tail and flip-out wings that would deploy shortly before landing to reduce the landing speed. It would be fitted with flip-out turbofan engines for range extension, self-ferry and control during landing. General Dynamics released sizable “educational” cards with information and photos of models of the spaceplane showing how the wings would deploy from within the lower fuselage.

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.

I also wrote about and illustrated the VL-3A in US Spacecraft Projects #2, showing the general arrangement of the design along with the disposable propulsion stage and the launch configuration atop the Titan III.

USSP #02 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $6:

If you are interested in thes VL-3A 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?

NEW: US Bomber Projects #21 and Spacecraft Projects #05

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Apr 262018

US Bomber Projects #21 and Spacecraft Projects #05 are now available.

US Bomber Projects #21

Cover art was provided by Rob Parthoens, www.baroba.be

US Bomber Projects #21 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #21 includes:

Convair Submersible Nuclear Ramjet: a Mach 4 manned nuclear powered flying submarine
Bell MX-776: an early post-war pilotless airplane
Convair Manned Flyback Atlas: an unconventional recoverable ICBM
DTNSRDC PAR-WIG Strategic Deterrent: a low-flying aircraft packing 4 Trident ballistic missiles
Boeing Model 464-197: a supersonic B-52
Martin Model 151-K: a pre-war twin-engined medium bomber
Boeing Cruise Ballistic Missile: an entire aircraft packed into a silo, carrying an ICBM
MC-747 Air Mobile System: a 1973 concept for carrying up to seven ICBMs in a modified cargo jet

USBP #21 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

US Spacecraft Projects #5

US Spacecraft Projects #05 is now available (see HERE for the entire series). Issue #05 includes:

Project HORIZON Lunar Lander: a late 1950’s US Army concept for a manned Lunar lander
Lockheed-Martin Mars Ascent/Descent Vehicle: A very recent concept for a future manned Mars vehicle
JPL Interstellar Precursor: a 970’s design for a space probe to interstellar space
Lockheed Modular Rotating Space Station: a truly gigantic design circa 1970
Lockheed Payload Carrier: an early 1960’s spaceplane for space station logistics
Martin-Marietta Winged NIMF: a nuclear powered “hopper”
Lockheed CL-414: a capsule for Man in Space Soonest
NASA HAVOC: High Altitude Venus Operational Concept, a 2015 project for manned exploration of the atmosphere of Venus

USSP #05 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $5.25:

——–

The previous releases of US Aerospace Projects:

US VTOL Projects #2

SOS Interceptor: A US Navy Mach 3 aircraft with jettisonable wings
Lockheed GL-224-3: A small battlefield surveillance and ground attack plane
Phalanx Dragon MP-18: An unconventional small civilian transport
Lockheed L-161-1: An early concept for a variable geometry roadable helicopter
GE Supersonic V/STOL: A supersonic strike fighter with flip-out lift fans
Convair ANP-VTOL: A nuclear-powered ground-effect craft of the Navy of unusual configuration
Piasecki 16H-3: A compound helicopter for high speed passenger transport
Boeing Vertol Model 147: A tilt-wing close support fire support design for the US Army

USVP #2 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

US Research & Recon Projects #2

Lockheed A-1: The first true design leading to the SR-71
Bell MX-2147 Model 105: The high altitude “X-16”
Boeing/CRC/AMROC X-34 Reference Configuration: A reusable launcher test vehicle
Martin Model 159: A scout/observation float plane
NASA-Langley Low-Boom Demonstrator: a recent design to demonstrate quiet SST tech
McDonnell-Douglas DC-9 Super 80 Propfan Configuration 1: A fuel efficient transport demo
Convair “HAZEL” MC-10: An inflatable Mach 3 plane for the Navy
Republic Manned Hypersonic Reconnaissance Vehicle: an early scramjet concept

USRP #2 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

——–

HL-20

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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.

Recent Acquisitions

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Jan 232018

Currently winging their way from Ukraine to yours truly are two vintage brochures on the Antonov 225. These were picked up on ebay, purchases made possible by patrons of the APR Patreon. These brochures will in due course end up on the APR Patreon catalog, to be voted for as possible monthly rewards for the patrons.

If you’re interested in helping to preserve this sort of aerospace artifact, and also interested in getting high-rez scans of them, consider signing on to the APR Patreon.

Drawbridge orbiter: orbital art

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Jan 012018

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.

Drawbridge orbiter: staging art

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Dec 252017

This piece of art depicts the McDonnell-Douglas “Drawbridge” orbiter staging off the manned flyback booster, showing the wings still folded against the sides of the fuselage. The wings served no purpose during ascent; they would only be used after-re-entry. Of course, in the event of a mission abort shortly after launch, the wings would need to deploy fairly quickly. There are no doubt numerous abort scenarios where the orbiter would be left intact after separation from a presumably stricken booster (or after a main engine failure on the orbiter stage), but would nevertheless still be doomed due to inability to get the wings deployed in time.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (5 megabyte 3951×2121 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-12, 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.

Drawbridge orbiter: launch art

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Dec 212017

The early development of the Space Shuttle was filled with bizarre designs, attempts to jam capabilities into existing technologies. One such unconventional concept came from McDonnell-Douglas: a low-cross-range orbiter atop a flyback booster. The orbiter, unlike the Shuttle Orbiter actually built, contained considerable internal propellant; the booster would get it up to high altitude and velocity, but the bulk of the actual delta V would come from the Orbiters own propulsion. The vehicle had small, straight wings that would fold up against the side of the fuselage for launch and for re-entry… but they would have to deploy on-orbit to allow the payload bay doors to open, and they’d deploy again once the craft had entered the atmosphere.

I’ve uploaded the high-rez version of this artwork (8 megabyte 5598×4529 pixel JPG) to the APR Extras Dropbox folder for 2017-12, 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.

Crowdfunding: Grumman logistics spacecraft documents

space shuttle, space station, spacecraft, spaceplane 1 Response »

Nov 152017

Every now and then something of aerospace history interest and importance shows up on EBay that is too expensive for easy acquisition, and so I will run a “crowdfunding campaign” to procure the funds to purchase the item. In these cases, the item – almost always a document of some kind – is scanned, the funders get complete copies, and the original is then sent to a relevant archive. Another such item has popped up.

In this case, the item is expensive because the seller has put a stupid-high Buy It Now price on it. What they have is a pair of early-1960’s Grumman documents abut manned lifting body logistics spacecraft. Very interesting-looking stuff, the sort of item I’d snap up in a heartbeat for Aerospace Projects Review… if they didn’t cost $800.

So, I’m looking for people willing to join in on purchasing this. I currently have six people lined up, but the minimum this time is fifteen: this would drop the price per person to about $53.50. That’s still a pretty good chunk of change, but the more people who sign on, the lower the price will be.

So if you’d like to sign on, just send me an email or comment below. You won’t be asked to put up money unless the documents are purchased, and that won’t happen until at least 15 people sign up. Check back here for updates.

UPDATE, 11/15/2017-9:37PM mountain time: 10 people signed up. 2/3 of the way there…

UPDATE, 11:17 PM: 12 people.

UPDATE, 11/16/2017-8:29 AM: 14 people signed up. One more and I’ll pull the trigger on this, but I’ll keep availability open for a little while longer in order to hopefully bring in more funders and reduce the per-person cost. Can’t keep it open *too* long, because… sheesh, 800 bucks. My mortgage payment comes due *tomorrow.*

UPDATE, 7:54 PM: Now at 17 funders. The seller is currently away for a few days and it seems unlikely that anyone else will plunk down the $802 for this, so I’ll risk it and leave things open for a few more days to get more funders on board. With 17, the price per person is now $47.17. If it gets to 20, that’ll be $40.10, and so on.

Dyna Soar Test Flight Art

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Oct 192017

A rare piece of color art depicting an early Dyna Soar being dropped from a B-52. The Dyna Soar is equipped with two rocket engines used to boost it to higher altitude and higher speed (supersonic, though not very supersonic… think the test flights of the M2-F3 and the HL-10). Note that this shows the Dyna Soar having been tucked into a modified bomb bay in the B-52’s fuselage; planning would soon move the Dyna Soar to under the wing, using the same attachment point used by the B-52 to carry the X-15 and the lifting bodies.

“Roof” space station concept

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Oct 092017

Posted to a NASA Flickr page is this illustration of a 1984 space station concept:

This is the Johnson Space Center’s 1984 “roof” concept for a space station. The “roof” was covered with solar array cells, that were to generate about 120 kilowatts of electricity. Within the V-shaped beams there would be five modules for living, laboratory space, and external areas for instruments and other facilities.

This would probably be a very heavy station for the volume and usable surface area provided. However, once that truss structure is in place, it seems like it would be possible to keep adding on to it without overly stressing the structure, with the possible result of a very capable station. It should also be possible to keep tacking on new truss elements.

The design would necessarily keep most of the station elements shadowed by the solar arrays.

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