Boom Technology XB-1

 future projects, transports  No Responses »
Nov 152016
 

Boom Technology, a company working towards a supersonic passenger transport, is unveiling in Denver the mockup of their “XB-1,” a 1/3 scale technology demonstrator.

A supersonic jet faster than the Concorde will get public design debut in Centennial

See the link above for some hugenormous photos, but here’s what the thing looks like:
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To me the XB-1 looks like the Rose Mach Buster and a T-38 got a little drunk and made the plane with two backs, then slathered the baby with Bondo and sanded real, real smooth.

Boom Technology is working towards a commercial SST with a cruise speed of Mach 2.2, 44 passengers and transAtlantic range. They are hoping to reduce sonic boom to levels low enough that the FAA will let them fly overland, but as the law is currently written I don’t think they could legally do it if their plane was utterly silent. Getting the bureaucrats and politicians to change the regulations that stifle progress is probably a much bigger chore than designing a supersonic jet that’s actually commercially viable.

 Posted by at 2:20 pm

Blue Origin “New Glenn”

 future projects, launch vehicles, rockets, VTOL  No Responses »
Sep 122016
 

Jeff Bezos of Blue Origin has described a new rocket his company is working on , the “New Glenn.” It’s kinda big:

new-glenn-large2

The “New Glenn” will be 27 feet in diameter (close to the Shuttle External Tank, it seems), 270 feet tall in a two-stage configuration and 313 feet tall in a three stage configuration. The first stage is recoverable, landing vertically under rocket power. It will have seven BE-4 engines burning natural gas and oxygen, producing 3.85 million pounds of thrust. The second stage uses a single BE-4 engine with an increased expansion ratio. The third stage uses a LOX/LH2 BE-3 engine.

The article says that Bezos has claimed that the rocket will fly “within the decade.” If that means by the end of 2019, that’s pretty ambitious.

 Posted by at 9:58 pm

New diagrams & blueprints: Shuttle & SLS

 future projects, hi-rez, launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Jun 282016
 

NOTE: Not the best photos, but… ehh, what’re ya gonna do…

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I have a new batch of physical media… digital prints and old-school cyanotype blueprints. What sets these apart is that they are BIG.

First, a book: Space Transportation System Diagrams. This is a collection of 27 wide format (the standard 11 inches high… but up to *40* inches wide) Space Shuttle diagrams. They are all official NASA.industry diagrams, painstakingly cleaned, depicting all aspects of the STS. Includes numerous instrument panel diagrams as well as structural arrangements, general arrangements, insulation/tile layouts, etc. This is available for $75. Ten were printed. NOW SOLD OUT

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STS Diagrams book: $75

Second, some very large digital prints of the Shuttle orbiter underside tile maps. Three maps provided… left wing, right wing and fuselage. They are all 20 inches high, with the centerline diagram being about 80 inches long. Shows you where every tile goes, all for only $30. This has sold out. If you are interested, send me an email and I’ll let you know when/if more are made available.

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Third: 1/72 scale cyanotype blueprints, handmade, of the Space Launch System Block 1 launch vehicle. This blueprint is 24 inches wide by about 67 inches long, based on a CAD layout of my own creation and is available for $80.

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1/72 SLS Cyanotype Blueprint: $80

All of these are likely going to be available for only a limited time. I’ve had ten copies of the STS Diagram Book printed; each is individually numbered. So far, one sold. The 1/72 SLS is also likely to be only  limited print run; while undeniably awesome, it is kinda big, and I think I’d do better to replace the 1/72 diagram with a 1/144 version. So snap ’em up fast before they become collectors items!

As always with physical items, postage is required. A single flat fee is charged no matter how many items… if you’re in the US, you pay $10 in postage is you order one item or a dozen (so order a dozen). Elsewhere… costs a little more.

US postage: $10

Non-US postage: $18

 Posted by at 1:05 pm

PDF Review: Aerospace Projects Clip Art

 bomber, fighter, future projects, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, PDF Review, space shuttle, spaceplane, stealth, VTOL  1 Response »
Jun 252016
 

A heavily illustrated USAF brochure on turbine engine technology included, among a vast number of little photos of engines and aircraft, a few illustrations that might be of interest.

Several futuristic concepts here, several old ones. Of particular interest is the “Supersonic Multirole Fighter,” which looks like a cross between the old Lockheed Hopeless Diamond concept and the Northrop XST design… tailless with an inlet on top, with features reminiscent of the F-117, but blended rather than faceted.

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Of these “Emerging Concept Needs,” several are distinctly old. The middle row of three designs are all 20+ year-old concepts.

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 Posted by at 6:08 pm

DARPA cancels ALASA

 fighter, future projects, launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft  1 Response »
Dec 012015
 

DARPA Scraps Plan To Launch Small Sats from F-15 Fighter Jet

ALASA (Airborne Launch Assist Space Access) was a program to develop a launch vehicle that could be carried aloft by an F-15, with an orbital payload of around 45 kilograms. The design detail that was supposed to make ALASA work was what killed it: the propellant.

ALASA was to use liquid rocket engines. Nothing new there. The propellant combination was acetylene and nitrous oxide; that’s kinda new. But the Really New part of the design was that the two propellants were to be pre-mixed, meaning that the vehicle required only a single tank and simpler plumbing. Pre-mixing fuel and oxidizer is always a tricky proposition, but it has been successfully demonstrated from time to time. But here, in several tests the propellant simply exploded. This should not be overly surprising… acetylene  is one of those unstable chemicals that will on occasion blow itself to bits just because it’s cranky. Mixing it with an oxidizer is just asking for trouble.

DARPA seems to have bailed on the launcher program, but is continuing to try to develop the propellant (called NA-7). Tricky though it may be, if it can be reliably stabilized there are undoubtedly vehicle designs that could effectively utilize it.

ALASA-darpa

The ALASA vehicle made another unusual design choice: the rocket engines were near the front, not at the back. The reason for this: the trailing propellant tank could be dropped as a stage, but leave the engines in place. This would theoretically make the vehicle lighter, at the risk of having hot rocket exhaust scraping down the sides of the tank.

 Posted by at 3:47 pm

PDF Review: Boeing Nuclear-Pulse Powered Turbofan

 future projects, nukes, PDF Review, rockets, transports  4 Responses »
Jul 082015
 

I haven’t had an opportunity to really dig into this, but Boeing just patented a jet engine powered not by hydrocarbon fuel combustion but by small nuclear explosions. Basically an Orion (via laser-driven inertial confinement compression of tiny fusion fuel pellets) in a jet, stuck on a passenger plane.

Neato.

The US Patent Office page on this.

THIS should link directly to the PDF of the patent.

Sigh. Every single time I think I’ve got a handle on “this is everything in the world of NPP, I can finally finish the book,” they suck me back in.

 Posted by at 2:37 pm

US Transport Projects #02, Spacecraft Projects #01 now available

 Dyna Soar, future projects, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, US Spacecraft Projects, US Transport Projects  No Responses »
Nov 192014
 

The latest releases in the “US Projects” line (see the full library HERE):

USTP 02

Issue #02 of US Transport Projects, done in the same format as US Bomber Projects, USTP will cover flying vehicles designed to transport cargo, passengers and troops. Issue 02 includes:

  • Jupiter Troop Transport: A 1956 Army concept for ballistically launched soldiers
  • Catamaran 747: A NASA  concept for a more efficient twin-fuselage 747
  • Nuclear C-5A: A NASA concept for using the existing C-5 to demonstrate nuclear powered flight
  • Boeing 765-076E: A recent design for a small supersonic transport
  • Lockheed L-151: An early jetliner concept adding six turbojets to a Constellation
  • AAFRL/Lockheed AMC-X: A recent design for a stealthy C-130 replacement
  • Boeing Twin Hull Airship: A 1970’s design for a semi-buoyant  cargo lifter
  • Douglas D5.0-15A: A partially NASP-derived hypersonic jetliner

USTP #02 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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ustp02ad
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USSP 01

Also available: issue #01 of US Spacecraft Projects.  This series will present some of the wide range of manned and unmanned probes, stations, landers, spaceplanes and so on that have been designed over the decades. Issue #01 includes:

  • General Dynamics 2-Man Space Taxi: A concept for the minimum possible manned spacecraft
  • General Dynamics EMPIRE lander: one of the earliest designs for an excursion module to and from the surface of Mars
  • Convair Landing Boat: Krafft Ehricke’s Atlas-launched spaceplane
  • Zenith Star: the SDI laser battlestation experiment
  • Northrop PROFAC: a flying gas station for spacecraft
  • NASA Warp-drive spacecraft: a highly hypothetical concept for planning purposes
  • Martin Direct Flight Apollo: lunar landing without the LEM
  • Boeing DS-1 Satellite Interceptor: an early Dyna Soar with nuclear missiles

USSP #01 can be downloaded as a PDF file for only $4.25:

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ussp01ad

 Posted by at 6:37 pm
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