A 1955 NACA concept for a hydrogen fueled subsonic bomber. Cruise altitude was 80,000 feet; gross weight was 150,000 pounds; wing span was 345 feet; a mission radius of 4300 miles; a payload of 15,000 pounds.
Jul 112012
Jul 082012
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic bomber fueled with liquid hydrogen.
Jul 052012
From the NASA HQ history office, a photo of a Martin Marietta model of the HL-10. The ID plaque on the base of the model reads “NASA HL-10 LIFTING ENTRY RESEARCH VEHICLE,” but the interior clearly shows that this design was intended for transportation of crew, and possibly cargo, to space.
This most likely dates from around 1967, when Martin was studying HL-10-type orbital craft for NASA. This appears to be the “D/3” configuration, one of a fairly large number of HL-10-based designs. The D/3 was capable of carrying three crew (up to six) and would be launched atop a Titan IIIc launch vehicle.
Jun 302012
The “Orphans in Space” DVD set contains a bunch of really rather odd old films about space, from the early part of the 20th century up to the 1980’s. The video of most interest to readers of this blog is a Martin-Marietta promotional video for the Zenith Star laser satellite, featuring snippets of a speech by President Reagan at the Martin Marietta facility (near Denver?) in front of a full-scale Zenith Star mockup.
The video was copied to DVD from a videotape, which is why the resolution is a bit low.
Jun 252012
NASA-Lewis artwork depicting a simple solid-core nuclear thermal rocket, circa 1962.
Jun 252012
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor fueled with liquid hydrogen. Similar in design to the JP-5 fueled design, but with a ceiling of 80,000 feet and engines of shorter length due to the faster combustion of hydrogen.
Jun 242012
A 1955 NACA concept model of a supersonic interceptor powered by JP-5 burning turbojets. With a gross weight of 25,000 pounds, it would be capable of combat at Mach 2.5 to 3.0 with a ceiling of just over 60,000 feet.
Jun 222012
A similar design to the high altitude interceptor shown two days back, but optimized for a lower altitude. Generally similar layout, but smaller engines.
Jun 202012
A poorly reproduced copy of a photo of a NACA-Lewis concept model of a high-altitude supersonic interceptor, circa 1955. Little data is available, apart from the engines having 55% of the weight of the craft, with the rest composed of structure and payload… almost no fuel. Makes an interesting comparison to the Lockheed “Suntan.”
Jun 192012
A simple Nasa-Lewis concept from 1971 for a nuclear-powered subsonic transport aircraft, clearly based on the Lockheed C-5. No other data available.
