A propaganda video by Boeing on their CST-100 space capsule:
[youtube 6VYIUi9H3vM]
Jun 292014
Jun 282014
These are vastly-reduced versions of some of the diagrams I may include as rewards for Patreon patronage. Not all are unbuilt aerospace projects, obviously, but all are, I trust, of interest to those interested in aerospace. If interested, please consider joining my Patreon campaign. Also to be provided are PDFs of aerospace documents
Jun 282014
I’ve launched the Patreon funding campaign:
http://www.patreon.com/user?u=197906
If you appreciate the aerospace research I do and the stuff I dig up, please consider contributing. As a bonus, you will get goodies if you do! High rez large format diagram scans, brochures, reports, proposals, etc.
Pledge $0.75 or more per month
You get my thanks and a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are contributing to saving the history of aerospace engineering!
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 125 dpi
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 200 dpi
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi, sized for 8.5X11
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 11X17
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You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 18X24 or larger AND the diagram in the native vector format
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You will receive all the prior rewards, plus have the opportunity to vote on what will be released next.
Tell all your friends.
Jun 262014
Found on eBay, a set of fridge magnets printed with three manned United Launch Alliance launch options: the Boeing CST-100, the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser and the Orion capsule in the Exploration Flight Test 1 (first unmanned flight) configuration. I’ve not found better versions of these illustrations elsewhere, sadly. This image was processed a bit to straighten and brighten the photo posted on eBay.
Jun 232014
Saw this on eBay a while back. No further data. I assume it’s from the early/mid 1960’s, early MOL era. I don’t imagine that it was a particularly serious study; I’ve never seen it’s like elsewhere, and it seems like it would be quite heavy and prone to leaks. A reasonable guess would put the diameter at 10 feet, standard for the time (same diameter as the Titan II/TIIIc core vehicle).
I tinkered a bit to fix the warping and clean up the image:
Jun 232014
A rather uninformative (no narration) NASA-Langley video of supersonic wind tunnel testing of the proposed Space Launch System. Interesting for the shots of the model itself (nice to see actual models, rather than just CGI), as well as a few shots showing the shock waves shed off the body.
[youtube 8NxB0KAsous]
Jun 212014
In 1962, NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center kicked off the EMPIRE (Early Manned Planetary Interplanetary Roundtrip Expeditions) studies. This was a preliminary examination of manned missions to other planets, mostly looking at Mars, with Venus flyby and orbital missions as well.
Contracts went to General Dynamics, Lockheed and the Aeroneutronic Division of Ford. Yes, Ford, the car company: at the time, rather than the American aerospace industry being so tightly contracted that there were only a handful of players, the industry was so lively and vast that *car* companies were doing good business in aerospace (Chrysler built the Redstone rocket, the first stage of the Saturn I and even proposed an SSTO for the Shuttle program).
General Dynamics/Convair produced the best known of the resulting studies. With much of the work overseen by Krafft Ehricke, there was a distinct sense of enthusiasm to it; much of the results of the EMPIRE study crossed departments and ended up in General Atomics Project Orion work. One portion of the EMPIRE design that Orion adopted was the manned Mars Excusion Module (MEM).
In configuration the lander looked much like an Apollo Command & (shortened) Service Module with three landing legs. instead of a conventional parachute, it used a metal ring that was to serve much the same purpose. The Mercury-like “Abort Tower” was to be used at liftoff; it would drag the ascent vehicle up far enough that ignition of the main engine would not through debris around that could strike and damage the ascent vehicle.
Sadly, this design was produce before the Mariner 4 probe flew by Mars . The data sent back by Mariner 4 showed that the atmosphere of mars was more than an order of magnitude thinner than had been expected, with the result that aerodynamic braking would be far more difficult. Thus, this design simply would not have worked on Mars; it would have slammed into the ground at high speed.
Jun 162014
At last: Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N4 is available. This issue has 128 pages. The main article focuses on the Boeing Model 844-2050E, the final, almost-built version of the X-20 Dyna Soar spaceplane. Included are not only detailed diagrams showing the design and construction of the spaceplane, but also drawings and information on proposed operational versions, including passenger ferries, satellite inspectors/interceptors, even nuclear bomber versions.
Also included are a large number of all-new diagrams that finally show the Dyna Soar atop the Titan IIIC accurately and in detail, along with proposed variants, variant launch systems and suggested space stations.
An article by Bill Slayton on the Lockheed CL-295 design series. This was a series of tailsitter VTOL fighters including designs derived from the F-104 as well as wholly new designs.
The third article is on the McDonnell F-4(FVS),a mid-1960’s concept to replace the low-mounted fixed wing of the F-4 Phantom II with an all-new variable geometry “swing wing.” The story goes from the F-4(FVS) in its numerous incarnations through the Model 225, McDonnell-Douglas’ entry into the 1968 US Navy VFX contest which resulted in the F-14.
Also, Aerospace History Nuggets on the US Navy SCAT VTOL and the Republic Aircraft RAC-730 SSTO aerospaceplane.
23 megabyte PDF file
Here’s the complete issue V3N4 layout:
It is available in three formats. Firstly, it can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $10.00. Second, it can be purchased as a professionally printed volume through Magcloud; third, it can be procured in both formats. To get the download, simply pay for it here through paypal.
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To get the printed version (or print + PDF version), visit my MagCloud page:
http://scottlowther.magcloud.com/
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Also available: the V3N4 Addendum. This contains 49 pages formatted for 11X17. Includes larger and improved versions of all the CAD diagrams produced for V3N4, as well as larger versions of some of the illustrations from the X-20 and F-4(FVS) articles (as well as a number of illustrations that did not appear in the X-20 article):
The V3N4 Addendum can be downloaded for only $4.00!
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Jun 122014
Very early. I would be entirely unsurprised if this has no basis in engineering, just artistic license. The “descent stage/ascent stage” ratio seems really, really off. Comes from a NASA PR brochure, date unclear.
See high-rez HERE.
Jun 102014
In the runup to the Saturn program, American aerospace companies studied every possible variation on large launch vehicles. One idea that seemed promising was the use of large solid rocket motors, singly or in clusters, to form large booster stages. It was sensible enough… in the late 1950s large solid rockets were better developed than large liquid rockets. Solids can put out truly monstrous levels of thrust, and reasonably reliably; and they require minimal preparation once stacked up and ready to go. In contrast, liquid rockets are complex and finicky, but with the advantage of substantially higher specific impulse.
In 1959 Lockheed released the results of an early study for NASA on a series of large boosters using solid rocket motors. They studied a range of vehicles, with 2, 3 and 4 stages; 300,000, 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 pound gross weights, and targeting 300 nautical mile circular orbits, geosynchronous, escape and soft lunar landings.
Shown below are diagrams of 1,000,000-pound gross weight boosters using 180-inch diameter solid first stages (440,000 pounds of propellant) and liquid upper stages (LOX/RP-1 or LOX/LH2 for the second stage and LOX/LH2 for the third). Payload weights were given for representative vehicles rather than specific designs.
Payload: 39,800 pounds to 300 n.m.; 9,400 pounds to geosynchronous; 12,400 to escape; 3,900 pounds to soft lunar landing
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Payload: 51,500 pounds to 300 n.m.
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Payload: 39,800 pounds to 300 n.m.; 9,400 pounds to geosynchronous; 12,400 to escape; 3,900 pounds to soft lunar landing
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Payload: 15,000 pounds to geosynchronous; 18,400 pounds to escape; 5,600 pounds to soft lunar landings