This was Convairs idea for the Pluto project… a nuclear ramjet cruise missile. Capable of Mach 3 flight at an altitude of 500 feet, it would be virtually impossible to intercept, and would have virtually unlimited range. The YouTube video:
There is more on the Big Stick, including diagrams, in issue V2N1 of Aerospace Projects Review:
A 1948 USAF film documenting JATO units – liquid propellant rocket packs – for use on the B-29. four such units, two under each wing, would give the B-29 some substantial additional get up and go, along with giving it a spectacularly firey takeoff roll.
Here’s an interesting one: a detailed large-format diagram of the US Space Shuttle orbiter… as drawn up by Soviet draftsmen in 1976. Interestingly, the top view includes, in red, the basic outline of the Soviet “Buran” shuttle orbiter. A surprisingly high-rez version of this diagram can be FOUND HERE.
The diagram is not entirely accurate, especially with regards to the OMS pod. The rear end of the pod in the side view is distinctly inaccurate. But note the faint lines just ahead of the OMS pods in the top and side views. One of the last noticeable changes to the Orbiters configuration was the change to the forward end of the OMS pod; originally, the pods continued forward onto the cargo bay doors. This continuation was just an aerodynamic fairing; all the equipment an tanks were in the pod aft of the doors.
Dating from about 1963-63, this is a depiction of a high-altitude research aircraft equipped with “composite air-augmented turbo-jets” for launch and rockets for “near-space operations.” The general configuration was used many times over the decade, typically for scramjet powered aircraft. This was painted by Pat Shealy, chief of the Presentations Division, Air For Office of Scientific Research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
From the very early 1960’s, this piece of Hughes artwork depicts a hot-cycle “Helibus.” The “hot-cycle” was a briefly studied form of helicopter that did not mechanically drive the rotor, but instead ducted hot exhaust gas from a turbojet up into the rotor hub and then down through ducts in the rotors, exhausting out nozzles near the tips of the rotors. The exhaust gas would then push the rotor blades directly. The advantage was that since there was no direct mechanical linkage between the rotors and the fuselage, the torque that a helicopter normally needs to counter with a tail rotor would be largely eliminated. Thus this “Helibus” has no tail rotor, but it would still need to have some sort of reaction control thrusters at the tail to provide directional control at low speed.
Note that every row of passenger seats has its own door. This would greatly facilitate passenger loading and unloading, at some considerable weight and cost penalty. it would also firmly lock in seat pitch… as the engines are swapped out for newer, better, lighter, more powerful and less fuel hungry versions, the airlines drive would be, as we’ve seen, to pack more and more passengers onboard. But here the doors on the side have to precisely match the seat rows.
A vehicle like this would probably be used mostly to transport office drones from rooftop heliports in urban city centers to transport hubs out in the burbs or the sticks.
An old (1962 or before) piece of concept art from Kaman illustrating their “ROMAR,” a helicopter meant for Mars exploration. It appears to be powered by rotortip rockets, a decent enough approach for this sort of thing. However, this was before Mariner mars ’64, when the understood density of the Martian atmosphere dropped by more than a factor of ten. As a result, a helicopter like this would need to be made fabulously low-weight in order to fly, something improbable given the needs of a manned vehicle.
A nifty piece of NASA art showing a cutaway of the Orion capsule atop the SLS.
This is, ummm…
This is *not* a NASA concept, but one produced by the “Parker Brothers,” builders of Hollywood prop vehicles. It kinda looks “cool,”which is certainly good from a PR standpoint… but there’s a whole lot about the engineering design that’s head-scratching. Why the concessions to aerodynamics, when that is of approximately zero use in the incredibly thin atmosphere of Mars? Why all the artsy doodads, like the flags and logos that appear to be metal *relief* structures? Why does it look like something Batman would be busy welding Gatling guns to? And I’m frankly stumped by the wheels. They said the “cutouts” are so the wheels don’t get clogged up. Is… is that actually a concern with the incredibly dry Martian sand? Couldn’t rocks get jammed into those cutouts? What’s with the external bars in front of the windshield?Is this thing pressurized? Is it nuclear powered, and can the reactor put out 1.21 gigawatts? Does Jan Michael Vincent keep a dirtbike in the back?