Aerospace Projects Review Blog – Page 99 – Unbuilt aircraft and Spacecraft Projects

Five New Air & Space Documents

bomber, launch vehicles, nukes, rockets, space shuttle, spacecraft, spaceplane No Responses »

Dec 272013

Be sure to check out the Complete Catalog for all the drawings and documents.

Saturn I Summary

A 44 page NASA brochure (from somewhen around 1965) describing all the Saturn I vehicles that were launched. Includes diagrams showing the different configurations and provides mission data and highlights.

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The Retro-Glide Booster Concept

A 20-page collection of information on the Martin-Marietta “Retro-Glide Booster,” an early Shuttle idea for using a winged and recoverable derivative of the Saturn V first stage. A 1971 NASA Space Shuttle History Project document.

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NB-36H Aircraft Descriptive Data

30 pages of Lockheed data on the Convair NB-36H (the B-36 equipped with a nuclear reactor for test purposes). This comes from the Lockheed “Competitive Data Group,” which was Lockheed’s collection of intelligence data on *other* companies designs and proposals. This report, largely hand-written, provides a program history as well as weight and dimensional data, with a number of sketches showing the general arrangement and internal layout.

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Handbook on Guided Missiles

212 pages of a 1946 War Department report on German and Japanese rocket powered missiles and aircraft. This rarely-seen classic (scanned from a photocopy) provides a vast pile of information, including a great many diagrams.

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Saturn Foldout

A NASA-Marshall publicity brochure on the Saturn V, dating to the mid-late 1960’s. Prints out full-size to 34 1/4 inches by 9 1/2 inches

Boeing 2707-200 cutaway

jetliner, transports 2 Responses »

Dec 252013

From the glory days of aerospace illustration, the B2707-200 supersonic transport. The full-rez illustration is a thing to behold!

F-14 for USAF

fighter No Responses »

Dec 242013

A piece of artwork, presumably from Grumman (it came from a photo album full of Grumman artwork), depicting an F-14 in USAF colors. Shown flying over ballistic missile warning radar facilities Way Up North. It appears to be a pretty stock F-14… seems equipped with an M-61 and an AIM-54.

Ba 349 & X-4

rockets No Responses »

Dec 232013

Post-war US Army film showing US soldiers poking around with some captured German rocket vehicles: the Bachem Ba-349 (basically a manned surface-to-air missile) and the Ruhrstahl X-4, an air-to-air missile. The X-4 would have been difficult to use… wire guided like the modern TOW missile, the lone fighter pilot launching the missile would have to fly his plane while simultaneously steering the missile, using a Mark I Eyeball to track a visible flare.

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Nuclear Propulsion In Space (NASA Film)

nukes, rockets, spacecraft 2 Responses »

Dec 172013

A film about NERVA (Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications), 1968.

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Provides a basic description of nuclear rockets, plus some art, animation and diagrams of nuclear propelled space vehicles along with footage of test firings.

NASA Lunar concept art

spacecraft No Responses »

Dec 162013

A photo of a bit of NASA concept art, found on eBay. Dating from 1968, this shows an astronaut doing some geology (“seleneology?”) with a six-wheeled rover and a remarkably slim space suit.

2707 SST now closed

jetliner, transports No Responses »

Dec 142013

For those of you following along with my email-listing updates regarding the Boeing 2707 eBay listing and how to get in on it… it has now closed. The package of proposal books, art & diagram showed up today, and now the process of scanning begins.

For those of y’all reading this going “WTF?” and wondering why you don’t know what I’m yapping about and why you’re not on the list to receive a gigabyte or so of SST stuff… probably has something to do with you not being on the emailing list.

Brilliant Pebbles kill vehicle

rockets, spacecraft 1 Response »

Dec 142013

LLNL artwork depicting the hit-to-kill terminal stage of the Brilliant Pebbles, sans the booster drop-stages. It does not seem to have a go-forward thruster; that would seem to have been provided by the boosters. What it does have is a fair amount of divert capability provided by the thrusters mounted at what should be the center of gravity.

While dimensions are unknown with any certainty, this would be a fairly small system. The kill vehicle – which in this case is somewhat difficult to distinguish from the propulsion system – had a mass goal of only 2.5 kilograms (according to THIS), while the booster was to mass about 100 kilograms. THIS source said the vehicles were about one meter long.

Brilliant Pebbles out of cocoon

rockets, spacecraft 1 Response »

Dec 132013

Here is the Brilliant Pebbles anti-missile vehicle just after cocoon (“life jacket” here) separation. The kill vehicle is shown as a multi-stage vehicle with four drop-tanks; this capability usually isn’t shown. However, it would certainly allow for blisteringly fast interception speeds.

Brilliant Pebbles in “Cocoon”

rockets, spacecraft 2 Responses »

Dec 122013

Lawrence Livermore National Lab artwork of the Brilliant Pebbles anti-missile satellite within its protective “cocoon.” Compare to artwork HERE. Dimensions remain elusive.

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