Another photo (via the NASA HQ History Office) of the Lockheed STAR Clipper. This was an early stage-and-a-half concept with a reusable orbiter and expendable propellant tanks. Vastly more info on this is available in APR issue V3N2.
Mar 082013
Mar 072013
In 1963, the Atomics International division of North American Aviation studied a terrestrial modification of the SNAP space-based reactor. The SNAP 4, also known as COmpact Multi-Purpose Automatic Controlled Transportable (COMPACT), had a 1 cubic foot core made of uranium zirconium hydride. The heat generated would boil water, which would drive steam turbine generators. The steam would be condensed and returned to the reactor to be boiled. The closed-loop system would in turn be cooled be either an external water source or via air cooling. Electrical power output was expected to be from 300 to 3,000 kilowatts. The core lifetime was to be from 1 to 5 years, with no maintenance required for 12 months at a stretch. The whole package would fit in an envelope 8 feet in diameter and 30 feet long, ranging from 48 to 125 tons depending on application.
The COMPACT system was meant to be a truck, train, ship, barge or aircraft transportable auxiliary or emergency power supply system (for disaster relief and such), or as primary power supply for remote locations. The claim was made that if put into production, electrical cost from the COMPACT system would be comparable to that from deisel-electric generators.
Mar 062013
A Lockheed painting of the CL-840, an attack helicopter proposed for the Advanced Aerial Fire Support System contest of 1964-66. This design won, and was built as the AH-56 Cheyenne. Sadly, the design was more advanced than the technologies required to support it, and it was cancelled after only a few prototypes were built.
Mar 052013
Another photo (via the NASA HQ History Office) of the Lockheed STAR Clipper. This was an early stage-and-a-half concept with a reusable orbiter and expendable propellant tanks. Vastly more info on this is available in APR issue V3N2.
Mar 042013
Someone is selling a McDonnell-Douglas painting (the original actual painting, it seems) of an SST concept:
The aircraft uses a “parasol” wing, which was a concept that enjoyed a bit of popularity in the 1970’s. The idea: at supersonic speeds shock waves shed from the nose of the craft would impinge on the underside of the wing, adding lift and reducing fuel requirements. As memory serves, an added bonus would be that the benefit of area ruling would be in place, but without the need to actually “wasp-waist” the fuselage. Being able to produce a bland cylindrical fuselage would greatly reduce cost and stress on the large pressurized structure.
Such “favorable interference” designs would produced for fighters, SSTs and bombers, from USAF design labs to Boeing to McD to Lockheed and probably others. In time, the idea faded away; the gains in supercruise performance were apparently outweighed by cost and weight.
Note that the positioning of the engines, unusual for an SST, would also serve the favorable interference purpose: shock waves from the inlets would impinge on the wings above.
Mar 032013
A late-1970’s Rockwell design for a single-seat fighter of similar configuration to the HiMAT research vehicle. It might have been fast, maneuverable and capable, but almost completely un-stealthy.
Mar 022013
I think I’m about done with the CAD drawings. Maybe a few more, but only a few.
Mar 022013
Another photo (via the NASA HQ History Office) of the Lockheed STAR Clipper. This was an early stage-and-a-half concept with a reusable orbiter and expendable propellant tanks. Note that this version does not have an aerodynamic fairing over the noses of the the propellant tanks. Vastly more info on this is available in APR issue V3N2.
Mar 012013
Rockwell artwork from the late 1970s depicting the launch of a HiMAT (Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology) subscale remotely piloted test vehicle from a B-52 carrier plane. While HiMAT was based on the design of a full-sized advanced fighter, it was a valuable program in its own right, demonstrating new structural materials (such as carbon fiber) and computerized flight controls.
Feb 282013
A photo (via the NASA HQ History Office) of the Lockheed STAR Clipper. This was an early stage-and-a-half concept with a reusable orbiter and expendable propellant tanks. Vastly more info on this is available in APR issue V3N2.
