NASA: Spider Space Station Concept

Description: A 1977 concept drawing for a space station. Known as the Spider concept, this station was designed to use Space Shuttle hardware. A solar array was to be unwound from the exhausted main fuel tank. The structure could then be formed and assembled in one operation. The main engine tank would then be used as a space operations control center, a Shuttle astronaut crew habitat, and a space operations focal point for missions to the Moon and Mars.

For Hi-Res images, click the link: Spider Space Station Concept (GRIN / Great Images in NASA).

For more information about history space station concepts check out the Space Station Concepts of the 1970's.

NASA: New Spaceships

NASA awarded a $7.5 billion dollar contract to build a manned spaceship to Lockheed Martin. The Orion crew exploration vehicle is supposed to replace the Space Shuttle fleet. New Spaceship will be primarily used for the missions to the ISS. It is also supposed to take astronauts to the Moon and perhaps on to Mars.

NASA has selected Lockheed Martin as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build Orion, America's spacecraft for a new generation of explorers. The Orion crew capsule will carry astronauts back to the Moon and later to Mars. The first flight with astronauts aboard is planned for no later than 2014. Orion's first flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020. Orion improves on the best features of Project Apollo and the Space Shuttle Program, increasing the likelihood of success. Versatility will be Orion's trademark. It is being designed to fly to the moon, but could also be used to service the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit.

Well, it's interesting. Lockheed Martin gets Apollo 2.0? NASA opted to benefit from a design but technology approach similar to that used for the development of the U.S. Apollo and Russian Soyuz. The space agency will be developing 1960's old technology of rockets for the next 15 years?

Photo credits: NASA / John Frassanito and Associates (NASA Constellation Program).

Link to flash animations, 3D models, and slideshows of NASA's new spaceship

Link to full resolution photos of NASA's new spaceship

Apollo 9 Art by Russell Arasmith

Beautiful space drawings by Russell Arasmith. These were used by NASA to illustrate the Apollo 9 Mission. The NASA description is given for each illustration below.

Russell Arasmith is an American illustrator. After graduating high school in 1945, he enlisted in the Army Air Force where he served as a radar operator. Upon leaving the service in 1946, he attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago for a year, leaving to work on The St. Joseph News Press two years later. In 1949, he took a job with the Kansas City Star in Kansas City, where he worked for 11 years before being offered a job at the Los Angeles Times.

Artist says: "I worked with The Times 32 years. I was Editorial Art Director for 17 years there. I did all the space drawings for the Times. Those drawings are the result of extensive briefings I attended at various space centers. All were done before the fact "on deadline" [on the same schedule with] the individual missions involved. The articles and my drawing were run in the Los Angeles Times on the day the actual event occurred. The Times Syndicate distributed the art work to 300 newspapers all over the world."

Russell Arasmith retired from the Los Angeles Times in 1992 and currently resides in Orange County, California.

Note: All artwork and images copyright © Russell Arasmith. Please do not use images without the permission.

Command module and attached service module separates from third stage and four petal-like panels making up lunar module adapter section are ejected to export the lunar module. Command/service modules separate to distance of about 50 feet then turn around and return to dock nose first with lunar module.

Legs of lunar module are extended and service rocket is burned for first time on mission. This drawing illustrates first service rocket burn on first day or any one of three service rocket burns on second day of the mission. Lunar module is still unoccupied at the time. The three crewmen remain in the command module.

After two crewmen check out lunar lander, they power up vehicle for test of lunar module descent engine. This is throttle able rocket in lower stage of two stage moon landing vehicle that will be used on future landings missions to lower men to the moon’s surface.

Astronaut Schweickart shown on space walk (EVA) between vehicles on forth day to demonstrate the lunar module crewmen could return to command module be tether line in case docking tunnel is blocked for some reason. He will use handrail up face of lunar module and handgrips on command module. Plan is for him to step into open hatch of command module (lower torso) then return to lunar module.

On Fifth day, Lunar Module crew returns to lander (leaving Scott in command ship) and the two spacecraft are separated for manoeuvres. After tow vehicles are positioned as planned, the lunar module’s descent (lower) stage is jettisoned, leaving tow-man crew in upper or ascent stage. Drawing shows separation of two stages.

Here the ascent stage engine is fired to place upper stage of landing vehicle on proper orbit fro rendezvous with command ship. Two spacecraft must rendezvous, dock, so lunar module crewmen can return to command craft for re-entry. Lunar module is designed only for space/lunar operations and cannot re-enter earth’s atmosphere without burning up.

View through window of command module as lunar module manoeuvres through final sequence to complete docking operation. Lighted reticule on window will help Astronaut Scott check lineup of two vehicles by placing cross lines on target just to left of lunar module’s docking cone.

After docking, Lunar Module crew will return to command module and the lunar module ascent stage will be separated from the command module for a long duration burn that will place it (unmanned) in a high elliptical orbit. Then, for rest of mission, day 6 through day 10, the pace will be more leisurely, and Apollo’s service rocket will be burned several more times, including a de-orbit burn to initiate re-entry, as shown in drawing.

Interior view of McDivitt, left, at standing station in LM, watching Schweickart back slowly out of forward hatch to begin space walk of about two hours. Schweickart wears backpack life-support system. The cable restraints hold McDivitt in position.

Link: Apollo 9 Art by Russell Arasmith (Apollo Mission Control Photo Plus).

Gallery: Russell Arasmith Space Art Gallery (Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama).

NASA: Space Colonies & Starships

Technology and engineering discussion of possible space colonies designs. Space colonies, spaceships, design and technology for living in space, etc.

Sources:

NASA and SSI of O'Neill Bernal Sphere design

NASA Stanford Torus design

NASA and SSI of Island Three paired cylinder design

A few illustrations - not the NASA ones

Starships and Space Colonies

Below are a few examples. You can click on images for a much larger version.

Stanford Torus

The Stanford Torus was the principal design considered by the 1975 NASA Summer Study, which was conducted in conjunction with Stanford University (and published as Space Settlements: A Design Study, NASA Publication SP-413). It consists of a torus or donut-shaped ring that is one mile in diameter, rotates once per minute to provide Earth-normal gravity on the inside of the outer ring, and which can house 10,000 people.

Stanford Torus external view. The overhead mirror brings sunlight into the colony through a series of louvred mirrors on the inner ring. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

Stanford Torus cutaway view. The rotation of the torus provides Earth-normal gravity on the inside. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

Stanford Torus interior. It seems unlikely that early colonies will have a population density this low. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

Stanford Torus agriculture, conducted on multiple tiers for efficient use of space. Agriculture in space can be very productive because of the controlled environment. Painting courtesy of NASA.

Stanford Torus construction. Depicted is the final stages of installation of the radiation shielding. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

Source: Stanford Torus

Bernal Sphere

The Bernal Sphere design is very similar to that used in the science fiction series Babylon 5, although the original Bernal Sphere design is much smaller, only 1 mile in circumference, and can house 10,000 people.

Bernal Sphere external view. It was later learned that the mirrors won't work properly in this configuration and will need to be redesigned. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

Bernal Sphere cutaway view. The sphere rotates twice per minute to provide Earth-normal gravity on the inside. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

Bernal Sphere agricultural rings seen in cross-section. Farming occurs in the upper layers, and animal husbandry in the lower layers where gravity is a little stronger. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

Bernal Sphere interior, complete with California-style wine and cheese party, and human powered flight in the lower-gravity area near the axis. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

Bernal Sphere hub still in the construction phase, with shielding and mirrors being installed. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

Bernal Sphere low-gravity recreation area at dusk, protected by netting. Gravity becomes lower as you approach the center, and at the very top are the zero-gravity honeymoon suites. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of L5 News and National Space Society.

Source: Bernal Sphere

O'Neill Cylinder

The O'Neill Cylinder, designed by Princeton physicist Gerard K. O'Neill, is considerably larger than the other two designs, and is referred to as an "Island 3" or 3rd-generation space colony. The configuration consists of a pair of cylinders, each 20 miles long and 4 miles in diameter. Each cylinder has three land areas alternating with three windows, and three mirrors that open and close to form a day-night cycle inside. The total land area inside a pair of cylinders is about 500 square miles and can house several million people. The cylinders are always in pairs which rotate in opposite directions, cancelling out any gyroscopic effect that would otherwise make it difficult to keep them aimed toward the sun.

O'Neill Cylinder exterior. The modules on the large ring structure around the endcap are used for agriculture. Each module could have differing environments ideal for a particular set of food items. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

O'Neill Cylinder interior provides a 20-mile vista. Children born here would think it totally normal to have "upside down" land areas overhead. Painting by Rick Guidice courtesy of NASA.

A dramatic side view of an O'Neill Cylinder showing a cloud level forming at an altitude of 3000 feet. Painting copyright by Don Davis courtesy of the artist.

O'Neill Cylinder endcap. The artist's inspiration came after O'Neill suggested to him that the view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge from Sausalito would provide an excellent scale reference for a later model cylindrical colony. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

O'Neill Cylinder vista with ruddy hues caused by a fairly rare solar eclipse. The cylinders are large enough to have weather, which could even be made to change with the seasons, perhaps depending on a colonist vote. Painting by Don Davis courtesy of NASA.

Source: O'Neill Cylinder

NASA: Space Colony Design from the 1970s

In the 1970's Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill with the help of NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University showed that we can build giant orbiting spaceships and live in them. A couple of space colony summer studies were conducted at NASA Ames in the 1970s. Colonies housing about 10,000 people were designed. A number of artistic renderings of the concepts were made. These have been converted to jpegs and are available as thumbnails, quarter page, full screen and publication quality images.

Great cylindrical utopias. At some times these might have seemed remotely feasible...

Link: Space Colony Art from the 1970s

Gerard K. O'Neill: Space Colonies: The High Frontier

Wikipedia: Gerard K. O'Neill

Pat Rawlings Space Art

Pat Rawlings is a well known space illustrator and designer. He has painted many scenes of human exploration on the Solar system, and deep space. His paintings of space scenes have been used in various studies by NASA and have appeared in many books. He has been doing NASA art for many years and has become one of the most popular artists in the world of aerospace.

His art has been on the cover of Aviation Week and Space Technology 9 times. Pat Rawlings produced artwork also for various organizations and media (Lockheed, McDonnell-Douglas, Wyle Laboratories, The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Ballantine Books, Tor Books, Analog, Time-Life Books, Scientific American Magazine, Encyclopedia Britannica, Air and Space Smithsonian Magazine, Walt Disney Television Productions, IMAX Space Films and NHK Publishing Japan among others). Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan featured a dozen of Rawlings' paintings. His design of all the spacecraft and the colony in the 3D IMAX film, L5: First City in Space garnered national critical acclaim. In addition, he has provided preproduction art, conceptual designs, and technical advisory assistance for several other film projects. His artworks are seen in a huge number of publications and these can also be found in collections around the world.

Pat Rawlings creates images based on scientific and technical themes that appeal to both rocket scientists and regular folk. His extraterrestrial "snapshots" of future events give viewers a sense of "being there" as explorers hop from one world to the next using the best technology of the 21st century. Rawlings' desire to travel in space and time motivate him to make scenes as accurate as possible. After consulting with numerous space experts around the country, he uses hand-built and computer models, topographical maps, and space and family vacation photos to mentally create his worlds. Artist says: "Space art provides me with an excuse to talk to some of the most interesting people in the country, build minature models of space ships, and then sit in my studio painting or working on the computer for hours while listening to movie soundtracks and classical music."

Below is a selection of some of his countless artworks (you can click on images for a much larger version).

Note: All artwork and images copyright © Pat Rawlings. Please do not use images without the permission of the artist.

Links:

Official Pat Rawlings website

Pat Rawlings and his Cosmic Canvas