A Boeing concept from 1983 for an Orbital Transfer Vehicle. This vehicle would change the orbit of the payload not only propulsively, but by using aerodynamic drag to slow the vehicle at perigee. When returning a payload from geosynchronous orbit, it would dive into the upper atmosphere and use aerodynamic lift and drag to slow…
YouTube is filled to overflowing with “fan edits” of this or that movie, or fan-made videos showing spaceships from Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar Gallactica, etc. The quality of these vary greatly. Lots are *terrible.* But every now and then, you get THIS: It’s a reworking of the “launch” scene from Star Trek…
Currently on ebay is an aluminum model of a lifting body. The rear of the vehicle is that of the M1 or M2, but the nose is distinctly conical. The lack of useful volume leads me to think that if this is a legit wind tunnel model (rather than something someone just knocked out at…
Russia warns West: We can target your commercial satellites Konstantin Vorontsov, deputy director of the Russian foreign ministry’s department for non-proliferation and arms control, told the United Nations that the United States and its allies were trying to use space to enforce Western dominance. “Quasi-civilian infrastructure may be a legitimate target for a retaliatory strike,”…
Over the years there have been suggestions of using “lithobraking” as a means of reducing the cost of transporting payloads to the lunar surface. As the name suggests, the idea is to use the lunar surface itself – the lithosphere – to slow the craft. Meteoroids do this all the time, of course, though in…
Art from 1966 showing the S-IVB stage as launched on the SA-203 flight of the Saturn Ib, launched July 5, 1966. This flight put an S-IVb stage into orbit and demonstrated engine restart in microgravity, needed on the upcoming Apollo moon missions.
Someone messed up the NASA logo on the recent SpaceX launch. The derpified logo “Nick B” created in response fills me with joy: https://t.co/ZriD22ndBh pic.twitter.com/XfZoCatumQ — Nick B 📸🚀 (@_AstroGuy_) October 2, 2022
I’m at work on a new series of CAD diagrams (see HERE for the first run) to be released as PDFs formatted for printing at 18X24. For example, here are first drafts of a few: Boeing Space Sortie (3 sheets) Saturn C-8/Nova Jules Verne’s “Columbiad” A-12 Avenger II (2 sheets) Lockheed CL-400 “Suntan” All of…
One might argue that an ESA astronaut doing cosplay while on the Space Station is a waste of time. I would counter with: “you’re an idiot. Watch this awesomeness.” 2022 A Space Odyssey. Turns out, yes, you can walk with Velcro shoes. Slowly, very very slowly 😉#ASpaceOdyssey #MissionMinerva @esa @esaspaceflight @Space_Station pic.twitter.com/WI69RXmObE — Samantha Cristoforetti…
The DART mission successfully changed the motion of an asteroid Prior to impact, it took Dimorphos 11 hours and 55 minutes to orbit its larger parent asteroid Didymos. Astronomers used ground-based telescopes to measure how Dimorphos’ orbit changed after impact.Now, it takes Dimorphos 11 hours and 23 minutes to circle Didymos. The DART spacecraft changed…
