Aerospace Projects Review Blog – Page 51 – Unbuilt aircraft and Spacecraft Projects

Rocketdyne nuclear-electric spacecraft art

Aug 242018

A piece of 1960’s (published in a book in 1967, but it looks older than that) artwork depicting a five-man nuclear-electric spacecraft. heading to Mars. The spacecraft is long for radiation shielding purposes; at the far distant forward end is the reactor, with the crew and ion engines in the conical section in the tail. Between the ends is a long boom attached to which are the propellant tanks and two large radiators. This is more or less the propulsion system and layout originally planned for the spaceship “Discovery” from the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey,” with the difference that the ion engines were on the other side of the crew module, and the spacecraft “towed” the reactor and radiators, rather than pushing them.

Raise the Burevestnik

nukes 1 Response »

Aug 222018

As described hereabouts back in March, Vladimir Putin claims to have himself a nuclear powered cruise missile. I remain dubious, but the fact is that the Russians launched *something* and it crashed into the Barents sea. The Russians seem to be looking for it… and chances are fair that the United states Navy is as well.

Back in July the Russians released a video that purported to show bits and pieces of the supposedly nuclear-powered Burevestnik missile:

The video does not show the configuration with any clarity. What can be made out is that it seemed to have a fairly conventional forward fuselage designed for low radar reflectivity, with relatively simple flip-out wings of the type common to cannisterized cruise missiles. Two further points can be gleaned from the video:

1) The missile isn’t that big… seems right in line with something like a Tomahawk.

2) The facility almost seems like a high school gym.

Both of these argue against taking the claim of nuclear propulsion too seriously. Of course, it’s a video produced and released by the Russians, so it’s impossible to say whether it is remotely accurate; it could be pure deception. But assuming it truly depicts the weapon system, it seems *real* *small* for nuclear propulsion, and the facility and the workers in it seems to be pretty lackadaisical about working around nuclear systems.

Early Saturn V art

launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, spacecraft No Responses »

Aug 212018

Found on ebay: a piece of B&W art depicting the Saturn V. The provenance is uncertain… unknown where this art originated. There are some unusual details; the tailfins are clocked 45 degrees off, moved from the outer diameter of the engine firings to between them, an odd choice to say the least. The third stage is larger in diameter than the S-IVb with a very long interstage between the S-II and the S-IVb; this *may* indicate that the third stage was meant to be a nuclear stage, with a single NERVA engine attached to the rear of the S-N third stage. The payload is also different: it appears to be a direct lander… no LEM, the Apollo vehicle landed directly on the lunar surface.

HLH art: 3

transports, VTOL No Responses »

Aug 182018

Another ebay find depicting the Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter, this time carrying a heavy truck of some kind. Perhaps as a bit of a dig at Sikorsky, in the background another HLH is shown carrying a CH-54 Skycrane.

NERVA to Mars art

launch vehicles, nukes, research, rockets, spacecraft No Responses »

Aug 182018

A piece of Aerojet artwork depicting the NERVA nuclear rocket engine heading to Mars. This is almost certainly artistic license as the vehicle depicted here is a single stumpy upper stage with an aerodynamic fairing. This is mot likely a RIFT (Reactor In Flight Test) configuration, a simple expendable upper stage test configuration meant to be launched atop a Saturn V to prove out the engine.

Boeing HLH art: 2

transports, VTOL No Responses »

Aug 162018

Another ebay find, this one depicts the HLH transporting cargo from a ship to shore. It appears to be constructing storage tanks, presumably for oil or water, from prefabricated sections.

XP-55 Ascender Cutaway

fighter, hi-rez, Patreon No Responses »

Aug 142018

The Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender was a tailless fighter design from WWII. It was intended to be an improvement on then-current designs in terms of performance, but proved to be disappointing. After years of development and flight testing, it was overtaken by jet propulsion and failed to make it into production.

I have made the much-larger full-rez scan of the cutaway available to $10+ APR Patreon patrons. If this sort of thing is of interest, please consider signing up for the APR Patreon.

Mercury on a Jupiter

hypersonic, launch vehicles, research, rockets, spacecraft No Responses »

Aug 132018

Found on ebay a while back, a pre-NASA Army Ballistic Missile Agency illustration dated 25 May 1959 depicting the Mercury space capsule, including smaller views of it atop both a Redstone and a Jupiter. In both cases this would be a purely sub-orbital lob. It’s unclear just what’s going on with the nose of the Jupiter version; it does not have the abort tower the Redstone version has. This may be a purely aerodynamic fairing, with abort motors located underneath the capsule in the sizable adapter section.

Bell fold-back tiltrotor

hi-rez, Patreon, transports, VTOL No Responses »

Aug 122018

A photo of a 1960’s Bell Helicopter concept for a high-speed tiltrotor. In this design the aircraft would operate in hover and low speed much like the V-22, but at higher speeds the prop-rotors would stop rotating and fold back to reduce drag. Forward thrust would be provided by pure jet exhaust from the convertible turboshaft engines within the fuselage.

I have uploaded high-rez scans of the color glossy photo to the 2018-08 APR Extras folder on Dropbox for APR Patrons at the $4 level and up.

If you are interested in this image and a great many other “extras” and monthly aerospace history rewards, please sign up for the APR Patreon. What else are you going to spend $4 a month on? Taxes? Bah. Invest in the APR Patreon instead.

Boeing HLH art: 1

transports, VTOL No Responses »

Aug 102018

A piece of Boeing Heavy Lift Helicopter artwork that was on ebay a while back. The XCH-62 HLH was an early 1970’s concept cancelled in ’74. The first prototype was under construction when cancelled; NASA tried to revive and finish the prototype in the 80’s, but got nowhere. The prototype was controversially turned into garbage at the US Army Aviation Museum in 2005. This was *not* a popular decision. nor was cancelling the thing in the first place; had it been built it would have had the ability to lift 22.5 tons.

This illustration shows it carrying a standard shipping container from a cargo vessel to shore. The container seems to contain fuel; it’s being used to refuel a Boeing Vertol UH-61, a design which competed against- and lost to – the Sikorsky S-60 Black Hawk.

Older Entries Newer Entries