future projects – Page 7 – Aerospace Projects Review Blog

Jul 042014

I have added another milestone to my Patreon campaign. If I get to $500 of patronage…

There are a lot of PDF (and Powerpoint) references available online that would be of interest to aerospace aficionados. But that’s kinda the problem: there are a *lot* of them. NASA alone has had millions of reports online. There are far too many for any one person to even try to get a handle on. However… I’ve got a handle on a great many of them. While they are – or in some cases were – freely available online, you’d have to know they existed first. Well… for many thousands of such reports… I know they exist. So at this milestone, I’ll post reviews, including illustrations, of two such reports or presentations per month. Additionally, I’ll post links to the reports or, in some cases, the reports themselves.

So rather than just some snipped images, you’ll get the images, a description of the report *and* the report itself, posted to the APR Blog. This is in addition to the reports, brochures, documents and diagrams that get sent to patrons, stuff that *isn’t* otherwise available.

Jun 302014

I have a pretty fair supply of interesting documents and large format drawings… but not an infinite supply. Consequently, I’m in the market. Do you have interesting aerospace (aircraft, missiles, spacecraft or even perhaps unusual naval or terrestrial projects) documents, large format diagrams or actual blueprints? If so, let’s talk. I’d like to borrow, rent or buy such things. My preference is of course for unbuilt projects, but basically *anything* interesting would be… interesting.

If you have something you’d be willing to share, but not give away, I’d be happy to scan it and send it back ASAP. Alternatively, I’d be happy with good scans.

Additionally: a lot of interesting stuff pops up on eBay. I am actively trolling eBay for such things; just bought two documents tonight. But there’s so much stuff on eBay, with such weird and divergent descriptions, that I can’t possibly hope to catch everything. So if you see something on eBay that looks interesting, by all means let me know.

Boeing CST-100

future projects, space station, spacecraft No Responses »

Jun 292014

A propaganda video by Boeing on their CST-100 space capsule:

[youtube 6VYIUi9H3vM]

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!

Pledge $1.50 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 125 dpi

Pledge $3.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 200 dpi

Pledge $4.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi

Pledge $5.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi, sized for 8.5X11

Pledge $6.00 or more per month

You will receive the uploaded documents and blueprints at 300 dpi plus a bonus CAD diagram at 300 dpi sized for 11X17

Pledge $8.00 or more per month

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

Pledge $10.00 or more per month

You will receive all the prior rewards, plus have the opportunity to vote on what will be released next.

Tell all your friends.

Manned Atlas V/Delta IVs

future projects, launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft, spaceplane No Responses »

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.

SLS wind tunnel testing

future projects, launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft No Responses »

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]

A Patreon campaign for APR?

future projects, Uncategorized 1 Response »

Jun 162014

The flavor of the moment in crowd funding seems to be “Patreon.” The idea is similar to Kickstarter, but instead of a person kicking in X dollars, they kick in Y dollars per month (or per some-sort-of-unit). I tried something similar a few days back with the PayPal “subscription” option next to the tip jar, to results I pretty much expected.

Searching through Patreons listings, I note a number of ‘em for blogs. So… what the heck. Is it worth contemplating for Aerospace Projects Review?

I’ve slapped together a Patreon “campaign,” but I have not yet launched it. However, I’ve stitched together the screenshots of the thing, shown below, listing the “milestones” and the “rewards” I’m considering. In short, I have a fairly good sized library of stuff I’m fairly certain would appeal to a fair number of folks, and this would be a way to get it all scanned and cleaned and posted and whatnot. The way this works, the more an individual contributes, the higher the quality of product they’ll get, and the more the total contributions, the faster the rate stuff will be put out there. The specifics might change, but I think this is a proper sort of setup.

If you have a suggestion or any sort of comment at all, feel free. Advertising, marketing, all that stuff… not my area. So if you see something stupid, or something that could be better, let me know.

“Modern Saturn V”

future projects, launch vehicles, rockets, spacecraft No Responses »

Jun 042014

Every now and then the notion of a modern version of the Saturn V pops up. It’s a silly idea; even if NASA decided that they needed a functional replica of the Saturn V, they couldn’t afford it. Not because the blueprints are missing; they can be obtained from several sources on microfilm. But the tooling to build a Saturn V is all gone. Many of the materials called for no longer exist. Many of the sub-components come from catalogs that no longer carry them, from companies that folded decades ago. To rebuild the Saturn V would be every bit as hard as building a brand-new vehicle along the same lines, but with modern materials, components and design/manufacturing practices.

Still, the idea of a modern Saturn V seems to appeal to many, including many at NASA. Below is a page from a 2011 Space Launch System presentation showing some of the concepts batted around regarding a modernized Saturn V. Note that the designs shown here were probably not designed in any real fidelity… spreadsheets and Powerpoint is likely as far as most of them got.

Aero-X Hoverbike

future projects, transports, VTOL No Responses »

May 242014

I know nothing of this company apart from what’s on the website. They’ve built some sort of prototype that seems capable of hovering and forward motion while in ground effect; that’s a good start, but far from what’s really needed for a truly practical flying motorbike (though it appears that what they’re currently working on is essentially a ground-hugging hovercraft-like vehicle, not a free-flyer). Note that the videos on the website also have the sound shut off, possibly because the prototype is probably loud enough to give bystanders brain damage.

I admit to being somewhat stumped about the utility of the thing if it can’t fly freely. Seems an expensive way to build something that could be done better by a standard ATV. On the other hand, if a future version is powerful enough to fly freely – and almost certainly controlled almost entirely by computer – I can see a lot of interest in such a thing.

http://aerofex.com/theaerox/

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Aerospace Projects Review Blog

Patreon: another milestone added

Drawings and documents: looking to acquire…