Category Archives: Architecture

Rockwell X-33 Pictures!

Posted on Thu, 2010-09-23 by gravityloss

From NASA Langley – they did wind tunnel tests on a model. Lots more pictures of various aerospace projects there too, some of them are quite weird. Thanks to Secret Projects forum for the info! Naturally since Rockwell built the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, industry, NASA, RLV:s | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Automotive X-Prize Winners

Posted on Sat, 2010-09-18 by gravityloss

Huh, it always takes a long time to find anything on web pages that are so cluttered up. Here. No idea what the MPGe or miles per gallon equivalent is. EDIT: Here’s ERA’s video (they didn’t win, although they were … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Art, Climate, Design, Energy, engines, Homebuilt, industry, RLV:s | Leave a comment

On Pressure Fed Rockets and Scaling

Posted on Sat, 2010-09-18 by gravityloss

Well, scaling seems to be my pet issue. I recently wrote something not entirely well reasoned in a comment at Paul Breed’s. (For some reason Chrome complains about blogrolling.com malware there so continue if you’re sure you’re safe.) So let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Design, engines, Launchers, RLV:s, Spacecraft, Suborbital, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Humans Fast, Machines Slow

Posted on Thu, 2010-09-09 by gravityloss

Detach a small capsule with the humans that goes directly to the surface (with only days of life support) and leave the untended craft to do multi-pass aerobraking Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Colonization, Depot, engines, ESA, Global, industry, ISRU, JAXA, Lunar, Models, Motivation, NASA, RLV:s, Science Links, Spacecraft, Transportation | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There's No Such Thing As A Reasonable Price Launch

Posted on Tue, 2010-08-31 by gravityloss

All these people had to get paid. Even when there wasn’t a launch. Well, to be exact: until the money was spent and there weren’t gonna be any more launches, which was a few years from this photo. From the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Demotivation, industry, Launchers, NASA, RLV:s | 4 Comments

The Last I4

Posted on Tue, 2010-08-10 by gravityloss

It doesn’t have the same sound as “The Last V-8” now does it? When you look at what’s happening in the world of automobiles, you get some idea of a change. It is always slow, yet I predict that when … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Climate, Energy, Global, Homebuilt, Motivation, Science Links, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Be Careful When Starting Large Project, Pt II

Posted on Mon, 2010-05-10 by gravityloss

The Batillus class supertankers built in the seventies that had a larger mass (gross tonnage) than anything now were scrapped pretty soon after since they had to sit around for lack of work. The oil crisis hit at a bad … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, industry, Transportation, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

A Proposed US On-Orbit Propellant Transfer System

Posted on Tue, 2010-04-13 by gravityloss

For the ISS. The shuttle would transfer unused hypergolics to the ISS propulsion module. ATV as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISS_Propulsion_Module It was canceled and instead Progress and ATV are used directly for most boosting. Nevertheless the technology could be useful in developing … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Depot, industry, Lunar, NASA, Spacecraft | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The US Air Force Tries To Do Reusables

Posted on Thu, 2010-04-08 by gravityloss

But is not a real RLV program. It’s just a narrow test for one technology. Hence I think naming it Reusable Booster System Pathfinder is misleading. Overspecification They overspecify the problem by requiring a glide landing. Why is it superior … Continue reading →

Posted in airplane, Architecture, engines, industry, Models, Motivation, RLV:s | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Far Away, Yet So Close

Posted on Tue, 2010-03-02 by gravityloss

He who controls the [Earth-Moon Lagrange points/Phobos/Deimos/Lunar North Pole], controls the solar system. Why? Because in space, it is not the tyranny of distance that sets the rules – it’s delta vee instead. Since there’s no resistance, traveling large distances … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Colonization, ISRU, Lunar, Motivation, NASA | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments