Nova Class III in Hi Rez

 launch vehicles, spacecraft  4 Responses »
Jan 112012
 

The Class III designs for Nova were intended to use advanced propulsion systems, advanced materials and be fully recoverable. Shown below is a NASA briefing chart on Nova Class III designs from September 1963 showing three Class III designs. The first is an airbreathing SSTO concept… a conical vehicle with rocket engines at the rim, and  a ;large duct wrapped around them. This produced an ejector effect, in theory greatly increasing thrust at low airspeed. As velocity increased, fuel could be injected directly into the duct, turning it into a ramjet. The ramjet would of course be use for only a relatively brief portion of the flight, so the duct would be dropped not long into the flight, presumably to be parachute recovered in the ocean. The other two designs are substantially more conventional, though both used plug cluster engines.

You can download a 4.4 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; 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 12 of APR issue V1N6. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 14 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 2:24 am

Nova Class I Designs in hi-rez

 hi-rez, launch vehicles, spacecraft  5 Responses »
Jan 042012
 

NASA artwork from September of 1963 illustrating two configurations for Class I Nova designs. The Class 1 designs were the lowest-technology of the three classes suggested, and involved the use of expendable vehicles and conventional propulsion systems.

Still, the Nova designs were sized to carry payloads of a million pounds or more, about four times that of the Saturn V.

You can download a 4.1 megabyte JPG file of the artwork; 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 7 of APR issue V2N3. The password: the first word in the body of the text on page 10 of the same issue. Note that both are case sensitive.

 Posted by at 2:08 am

APR issue V3N2 now available

 bomber, fighter, future projects, jetliner, launch vehicles, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane, stealth, transports, VTOL  11 Responses »
Dec 032011
 

At long last, Aerospace Projects Review issue V3N2 is now available.

The main article, about 90 pages worth, covers the Lockheed STAR Clipper concept.This was a one-and-a-half stage space shuttle concept. Starting in 1968 for the USAF, the concept lasted well into Phase B of the Space Shuttle program for NASA, and in altered form into the 1990’s. This article has a very large number of detailed schematics of many different forms, including the original small 1.5 Stage To Orbit design, numerous variations on that concept, fully reusable two stage versions with manned boosters, giant concepts for Solar Power Satellite logistics and miniature versions for the USAF in the 1980s.

Also included is an article covering antecedents and derivatives of the Northrop F-23 stealth fighter. Included are early designs such as the “Christmas fighter” and several “platypus” concepts, the F-23A operational fighter design, the NATF-23 concept for the US Navy with aft mounted wings and canards, the single-engined Multi Role Fighter (from the competition that led to the F-35) and perhaps most interestingly, the F/B-23 regional bomber, of eBay infamy. This article is illustrated with a mix of photos of official Northrop display models, official Northrop diagrams, all-new scale diagrams and color artwork especially commissioned for this article.

Dennis R. Jenkins provides an article on a Convair concept for converting the F-106 interceptor into a small supersonic transport. Compare this to Convair idea of converting the B-58 Hustler into an SST!

And finally, two aerospace history “nuggets,” the Vanguard Model 18 VTOL transport and a Northrop laminar flow control multipurpose long-duration aircraft.

You can see the entire issue here:

 

It is available in three formats. Firstly, it can be downloaded directly from me for the low, low price of $10. 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

ALSO AVAILABLE: V3N2 Addendum, with 65 pages formatted for 11X17 sheets. Includes larger format (and higher rez images) along with additional artwork and diagrams that were not in issue V3N2 due to space constraints.
V3N2 Addendum download order: $5.00

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The Downloading FAQ

Meteor Jr.

 launch vehicles, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane  1 Response »
Nov 132011
 

In 1957, Darrell Romick of Goodyear produced the “Meteor Jr.”  design for a three stage fully reusable manned launch vehicle, a smaller version of the “Meteor” design from 1954. The designs were straightforward, with simple but gigantic delta wings.

As with other, similar designs of the period, such as Werner von Brauns “Ferry rocket” and derivatives, the math behind the performance of the Meteor Jr. was sound. However, like those other designs, the physics underlying re-entry would have trashed the Meteor Jr. Thin sharp wings made out of steel simply cannot withstand the aerothermal heating. Additionally, the large bubble canopies would have been at best problematic.

The Air & Space Museum Udvar-Hazy facility has a Goodyear display model of the Meteor Jr. vehicle on display.

 Posted by at 12:23 pm

Early Boeing Dyna Soar Concept

 Dyna Soar, hypersonic, launch vehicles, spacecraft, spaceplane  No Responses »
Oct 062011
 

Boeings initial concept for the Dyna Soar – meant to be an actual orbital bomber – bore almost no relationship to the final X-20 Dyna Soar. All sharp edges and fins like a 57 Cadillac, it wound up looking almost nothing like the Dyna Soar that almost got built. Irritatingly for Bell Aerospace, the final Dyna Soar design looked a *lot* like the Bell entry. The winning Boeing entry was just very, very wrong. The baseline launch vehicle for it, for instance, was a kludged-together monstrosity composed of Minuteman ICBM stages clustered together. Of course, Minuteman had the advantage of being a Boeing product, so there ya go.

Another oddity about the Boeing design is that even though it won, and you can get some pretty detailed drawings and wind tunnel reports and whatnot about many of the competing designs… the Boeing design  is rarely depicted with much more detail than a bare three-view. It’s like they phoned it in, not expecting to win… and they won anyway.

The basic design of the initial Model 814 Dyna Soar was tinkered with repeatedly until it eventually turned into the well-known Dyna Soar (as shown in the Aerospace Projects Review Blog header image). One such early configuration is the Model 814-1012 is shown in model form here:

While the initial baseline launch vehicle was proposed to be a cluster of Minuteman stages with sizable fins to maintain aerodynamic stability, alternative designs were of course put forward. One such design is shown in these drawings of the Model 814-0002 launch vehicle + Dyna Soar. This design, from 3-13-1958, features a three-stage booster composed of clusters of XM-20 “Sergeant” rocket motors… seven on the first stage, three on the second, a single rocket on the third… and the biggest damned fins EVAR. Note that the concept is named “Early Bird.” Note that “Early Bird” was also a name for Intelsat 1, the first communications satellite. In the case of the Boeing Model 814-0002, Early Bird likely referred to the supposed ability of a cluster of Sergeant motors to be slapped together and made to fly quickly, sooner than a dedicated launch vehicle.

Portions of this were originally posted HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

 Posted by at 7:18 pm

Titan IIIL

 launch vehicles, space shuttle, space station, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Oct 052011
 

The Titan IIIL series was a Martin Marietta concept (late 1960’s into early 1970’s) for a heavy lift derivative of the Titan IIIC launch vehicle. The core would be increased in diameter from 10 feet to 15, and the number of liquid propellant rocket engines increased from two to four. Additionally, the vehicle could be given two, four or six solid rocket motors (Titan IIIL2, Titan IIIL4, Titan IIIL6). The Titan IIIL6 concept was considered as a first stage booster for the Space Shuttle.

The Titan IIIL2 had enough lift capacity to launch an Apollo-derived capsule and service module, providing an alternative to the Saturn Ib for space station logistics and crew transfer.

 

Portions of this were originally posted HERE and HERE.

 Posted by at 9:42 am

Boeing/ATK AirLaunch

 jetliner, launch vehicles, spacecraft, spaceplane  1 Response »
Oct 042011
 

ATK artwork showing the Boeing/ATK “AirLaunch” concept from a few years back. Started around 1999, petered out a few years later. It called for a winged solid rocket booster similar in outlines to the OSC Pegasus, but larger and carried on the back of a 747. Upon release, the 747 would be obliged to dive out of the way, lest the rather dense booster bonk back into it. As shown below it is equipped with a Space Maneuver Vehicle for payload… a slightly earlier iteration of the X-37 spaceplane. The first two stages would have been Castor 120′s (Peacekeeper first stages, also the Athena booster), while the third would be a new design. Total payload was to have been about 7,500 pounds.

 Posted by at 6:19 pm
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