Published on Zero Hedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)
You Won't BELIEVE What's Going On with Government Spying on Americans
By George Washington
Created 08/17/2013 - 12:24
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Saturday, August 17, 2013
A Republic, If We Can Keep It
Classical values
comment:
Ann Barnhardt thinks we've already lost it. Mark Levin wants a dialogue about restoring the Constitution, perhaps leading to an Article V convention.
The more I look around, the worst it looks.
comment:
Ann Barnhardt thinks we've already lost it. Mark Levin wants a dialogue about restoring the Constitution, perhaps leading to an Article V convention.
The more I look around, the worst it looks.
VON BRAUN, Trip Around the Moon, DISNEY,1955
This was made in 1955. It is still incredibly advanced in ideas. Can you imagine the leadership of this country even beginning to attempt to do something like this? Even 40 years after landing on the moon?
By the way, most of this video is about building a space station.
By the way, most of this video is about building a space station.
Robert Bussard's Aspen SSTO Concept
This idea for this discussion was obtained from The Nuclear Rocket, by James Dewar.
Dewar said nobody has studied Bussard's concept since 1971. However, that is incorrect.
The linked pdf study was done in 2001 and concluded that the idea seems impractical for now. Perhaps, it is because of the use of scramjets, which have poor thrust to weight ratios.
The idea occurred to me that you could use Skylon's engines for the ASPEN. Replace the scramjets and take it up to Mach 5.5, then switching Skylon's engines to conventional rocket mode. Here's a twist though. Instead of using the scramjet trajectory, you are now free to use a sounding rocket trajectory. The sounding rocket, using Skylon's converted to conventional rocket, can get the vehicle well above the atmosphere, where it can then power the rocket to orbital velocity. It is hoped that the use of a trajectory like this will save onboard oxygen ( and weight penalty) because, as a sounding rocket, it won't need full power. Sounding rockets only get altitude, not velocity.
It will have the added benefit of avoiding NASA's prohibition on using an atomic rocket in the atmosphere. Once high enough, say at the Karman line, the nuclear rocket can then be used to gain orbital velocity. A similar technique is proposed by Parkins in his beamed microwave concept.
Why do this at all if the Skylon will achieve orbital velocity without the need for nuclear thermal technology? Well, the motive is to improve upon its performance. Nuclear thermal rocketry can achieve higher ISP's than conventional rockets. Dewar believes the payload fractions could be increased significantly. If he's right, this could be way to get cheaper access to space.
Another possibility would be to carry a small vehicle in the payload bay, and deploy it at the Karman line.
It would weigh much more than the Skylon is designed for, but the Skylon won't be going to orbit, so it may be able to handle the weight. Or the payload could be downsized. This is a bit harder, though.
If we stick to ASPEN, then we will have to borrow Skylon's engines. Alan Bond may not agree to that proposition.
You'd like to combine the two concepts for a more powerful concept.
Dewar said nobody has studied Bussard's concept since 1971. However, that is incorrect.
The linked pdf study was done in 2001 and concluded that the idea seems impractical for now. Perhaps, it is because of the use of scramjets, which have poor thrust to weight ratios.
The idea occurred to me that you could use Skylon's engines for the ASPEN. Replace the scramjets and take it up to Mach 5.5, then switching Skylon's engines to conventional rocket mode. Here's a twist though. Instead of using the scramjet trajectory, you are now free to use a sounding rocket trajectory. The sounding rocket, using Skylon's converted to conventional rocket, can get the vehicle well above the atmosphere, where it can then power the rocket to orbital velocity. It is hoped that the use of a trajectory like this will save onboard oxygen ( and weight penalty) because, as a sounding rocket, it won't need full power. Sounding rockets only get altitude, not velocity.
It will have the added benefit of avoiding NASA's prohibition on using an atomic rocket in the atmosphere. Once high enough, say at the Karman line, the nuclear rocket can then be used to gain orbital velocity. A similar technique is proposed by Parkins in his beamed microwave concept.
Why do this at all if the Skylon will achieve orbital velocity without the need for nuclear thermal technology? Well, the motive is to improve upon its performance. Nuclear thermal rocketry can achieve higher ISP's than conventional rockets. Dewar believes the payload fractions could be increased significantly. If he's right, this could be way to get cheaper access to space.
Another possibility would be to carry a small vehicle in the payload bay, and deploy it at the Karman line.
It would weigh much more than the Skylon is designed for, but the Skylon won't be going to orbit, so it may be able to handle the weight. Or the payload could be downsized. This is a bit harder, though.
If we stick to ASPEN, then we will have to borrow Skylon's engines. Alan Bond may not agree to that proposition.
You'd like to combine the two concepts for a more powerful concept.
ATK To Supply Stratolaunch Rocket Stages
spacenews.com
That means Stratolaunch is still in business. As a matter of fact, they've completed the large hangar for the plane.
The reason I posted this is that I had a thought, which may be completely out of the question. Nevertheless, it costs nothing to post it here, so here goes: Let's say we can develop an aircraft that can be dropped off like the typical spacecraft that they plan to do. Let's say this thing has a nuclear thermal capability and it uses the type of configuration discussed earlier today. Then a typical mission would fly out in the Atlantic Ocean and drop this nuclear beastie and the thing would launch itself into orbit.
The weight would be kept below a half million pounds. The Skylon weighs a bit more, but by using the Stratolaunch, we may be able to save some weight. Consider that the original configuration would have been a SpaceX design that would have weighed about that much. The Falcon 9 weighs about as much as the proposed Skylon. It may not be out of the question to get the weight down to half a million pounds.
You may be able to save weight on the nuclear thermal because of the higher ISP. Let's say about 1000 secs. The empty weight of the Skylon is 120k lbs. Loaded weight is 760k lbs. We'd have to lose about a quarter million pounds. Consider that we should be using less oxygen and hydrogen. Plus the air launch would also save fuel and other weight that the Skylon uses for its braking system that it won't need since it is already airborne. So, this may be possible.
So, if you go out into the ocean, it won't be a problem if it crashes before reaching orbit. It won't fire the nuclear engines until it passes the Karman line, which marks the beginning of space. Perhaps this would assuage some of the concerns.
WASHINGTON — ATK Aerospace will develop and produce “large-diameter” solid-rocket motors for the first and second stages of Stratolaunch Inc.’s planned three-stage air-launched rocket, the Magna, Utah, propulsion provider announced Aug. 13.
That means Stratolaunch is still in business. As a matter of fact, they've completed the large hangar for the plane.
The reason I posted this is that I had a thought, which may be completely out of the question. Nevertheless, it costs nothing to post it here, so here goes: Let's say we can develop an aircraft that can be dropped off like the typical spacecraft that they plan to do. Let's say this thing has a nuclear thermal capability and it uses the type of configuration discussed earlier today. Then a typical mission would fly out in the Atlantic Ocean and drop this nuclear beastie and the thing would launch itself into orbit.
The weight would be kept below a half million pounds. The Skylon weighs a bit more, but by using the Stratolaunch, we may be able to save some weight. Consider that the original configuration would have been a SpaceX design that would have weighed about that much. The Falcon 9 weighs about as much as the proposed Skylon. It may not be out of the question to get the weight down to half a million pounds.
You may be able to save weight on the nuclear thermal because of the higher ISP. Let's say about 1000 secs. The empty weight of the Skylon is 120k lbs. Loaded weight is 760k lbs. We'd have to lose about a quarter million pounds. Consider that we should be using less oxygen and hydrogen. Plus the air launch would also save fuel and other weight that the Skylon uses for its braking system that it won't need since it is already airborne. So, this may be possible.
So, if you go out into the ocean, it won't be a problem if it crashes before reaching orbit. It won't fire the nuclear engines until it passes the Karman line, which marks the beginning of space. Perhaps this would assuage some of the concerns.
Hawaiian volcano serves as make-believe red planet for Mars researchers
.theguardian
Seems to be skeptical of the value of this type research.
The author must be reading Limits to Growth, or is a Club of Rome member.
Six astronauts emerged this week from four months spent living on Hawaii's isolated Mauna Loa volcano to simulate life on Mars, the latest elaborate make-believe staged in the name of science.
Seems to be skeptical of the value of this type research.
The author must be reading Limits to Growth, or is a Club of Rome member.
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