Martin-Bell Dyna Soar artwork

 Dyna Soar, hypersonic, launch vehicles, research, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Jul 302012
 

A reproduction of admittedly dismal quality of a Martin Co. painting of their December 1958 Dyna Soar configuration at launch. This configuration, the product of a team-up of Martin and Bell, competed against Boeing (and other companies) and lost; what must have been grating for the Martin-Bell folks was that the Boeing design that won looked nothing like the final Dyna Soar design… which actually looked a whole lot like this vehicle.

The Dyna Soar is here being shown launched by a modified Titan I ICBM. This booster would have fallen far short of orbiting the Dyna Soar; instead it would have simply tossed it on a long hypersonic suborbital trajectory. This would have been a purely experimental aircraft, the natural follow-on to the X-15.

 Posted by at 2:30 am

Model 176 Art

 hypersonic, launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Jun 172012
 

The McDonnell Douglas Model 176 was a generic spaceplane design derived from the FDL-7 (Flight Dynamics Lab – USAF Wright-Pat). It was incorporated into small spaceplanes adequate for taking a few crewmembers to a space station on up to Space Shuttle competitors. Below are two pieces of art (found in the NASA HQ historical archive) showing a late 1960’s concept for a Model 176 optimized for the ILRV (Integral Launch and Recovery Vehicle) role. ILRV was one of the immediate predecessors to the Space Shuttle program.

The Model 176 was a sleek dart-like design with stubby fins. While details varied from iteration to iteration, all (or nearly all) featured high aspect ratio variable geometry wings for landing.

 Posted by at 5:05 pm

P&W NASP artwork

 hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, spaceplane  2 Responses »
Jun 112012
 

An artists impression of the National Aero Space Plane by United Technologies/Pratt & Whitney, ca. 1989. P&W was seeking to win the contract to build not the airframe, but the scramjet propulsion system. From a brochure found in the NASA HQ historical archive.

 Posted by at 4:58 pm

STAR Clipper derivative in hi-rez

 hi-rez, launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
May 132012
 

A cutaway diagram of a Boeing-Lockheed Space Shuttle concept derived from the Lockheed STAR Clipper design. This and other related concepts was covered in great detail in issue V3N2 of Aerospace Projects Review.

You can download a 1.5 megabyte version of this diagram; the link is HERE. To access it, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 8 of APR issue V3N2. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 24 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 1:35 pm

Aft Cargo Carrier

 launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
May 032012
 

The Space Shuttle system was seemingly designed for modularity… the orbiter could be replaced, the boosters could be replaced. Payload shrouds could be placed alongside the tank in place of the orbiter, or on the nose of the external tank either replacing the orbiter or supplementing it.

Martin calculated that the payload for the standard Shuttle using lightweight fiber wound solid rocket boosters and a lightweight ET going to a 215 nautical mile orbit would be 60,800 pounds. Payload to the same orbit would increase to 69,700 pounds if the ET was taken all the way to orbit (the more efficient SSMEs would be used all the way to orbit rather than relying on the OMS engines). By using the ACC and dragging the ET and ACC all the way to orbit, total payload would be 60,100 pounds.

A brochure from Martin Marietta describing the ACC is available HERE.

 Posted by at 6:33 pm

Wide-bottomed Apollo

 launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 292012
 

A 1962 study by North American Aviation produced designs for the Apollo Service Module designed to mate directly to the 260-inch-diameter Saturn S-IVb and other stages. At the request of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center (later known as the Johnson Space Center), NAA studied whether it would be advantageous to increase the 154-inch base diameter of the Service Module.

In short, the wider vehicle was found to be aerodynamically superior than the baseline configuration when used on the Saturn C-5 (later known as the Saturn V), but aerodynamically inferior when used on the Little Joe II test vehicle and the early Saturn C-1. Additionally, the engine would be easier to install, inspect and maintain; the conical surface was better for the radiators, and the larger moment arm improved performance of the reaction control system. Unfortunately, the wider service module would be about 1000 pounds heavier at burnout than the 154-inch baseline, and the lunar module adapter would have to be notably heavier as well. Given the primary importance of mass in the Apollo program, this result was probably the most important.

Two 260-inch diameter configurations.

 

 Posted by at 10:18 pm

NASP PR Card #5

 hi-rez, hypersonic, jetliner, launch vehicles, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Apr 102012
 

This card shows an early (late 1980’s) McDonnell-Douglas design for NASP. A relatively fat lifting body design, this has many similarities to hypothetical “Aurora” hypersonic spyplane designs bandied about at the same time. This is not surprising… this NASP design is similar to any of a number of hypersonic configurations tested in NASA wind tunnels and shown publicly.

Note that the text on the back of the card describes a vehicle somewhat different than what NASP was supposed to be. The claim is made that the scramjets could power the vehicle Mach 25, orbital velocity… of they could allow the vehicle to cruise at Mach 6 for long range hypersonic transport. Early on in the program, the “Orient Express” was touted as a logical result of NASP work, but that quickly faded.

You can download 5.3 and 2.5 megabyte JPG files of the illustrations. The links to the JPG files are HERE and HERE. To access them, you will need to enter a username and password. The username: the first word in the body of the text on page 5 of APR issue V1N1. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 11 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 

 Posted by at 1:20 am

METEOR: 1956

 launch vehicles, rockets, space shuttle, space station, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Apr 062012
 

One of the pleasant surprises from my recent trip to D.C. was obtaining a scan of a color version of an illustration I’ve only ever seen in B&W… the Goodyear “METEOR” spaceplane design from about 1956. This was part of a truly audacious plan put forward by Goodyear’s Darrel Romick and others to develop a “city in space,” a giant space station with artificial gravity and giant hangars for spacecraft.

The color seems to be off, due, likely, to the fading effects of half a century. But even after some “fade correction” processing, it’s clear that the spaceplane was painted red… an interesting choice.

And it’s a little difficult to tell, but a closeup focusing on the crew seems to either show that the heads were pasted on, or are surrounded by  some sort of bubble helmets.

Much more on the METEOR plan is available HERE.

 Posted by at 1:36 am
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