All aboard for outer space, the race for the artificial satellite and space flight is on! Is this the ship that will take us to earth’s first manned satellite?
By G. Harry Stine, Viking-Aerobee Operations Engineer, White Sands Proving Grounds.
Most people can tell you that the Germans were developing some weird aircraft during the World War II. The German Antipodal Bomber (or Silverbird) was one of these. A revolutionary rocket-powered aircraft, it was designed for supersonic, stratospheric flight capable of striking targets anywhere in the world, that proposed Dr. Eugen Sanger and Irena Bredt in the late 1930s. In 1944 the Antipodal Bomber became one of chosen concepts to bring a "Miracle Weapon" to the USA (it was only one of the Amerika Bomber project). The design was a significant one, as it incorporated new rocket technology and spaceplane concept ideas. In the end, it was considered too complex and expensive to produce. After the war ended, the Sanger-Bredt design formed the basis for major development projects in the 1950-60s (X-20 Dyna-Soar in the US and Keldysh Bomber in the USSR), but these were cancelled.
For more information check out the following sources:
Silbervogel (Wikipedia).
Sanger Amerika Bomber (Luft '46).
Amerika Bomber project by E. Saenger and J. Bredt, August 1944 (PDF).
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
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.
Link: Apollo 9 Art by Russell Arasmith (Apollo Mission Control Photo Plus).
Gallery: Russell Arasmith Space Art Gallery (Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama).
Technology and engineering discussion of possible space colonies designs. Space colonies, spaceships, design and technology for living in space, etc.
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.
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.
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.Artist says: "Space art," sometimes called "Astronomical Art," has a long and respectable history. Artists have been creating imaginative works showing conceptual and fanciful spacecraft, strange new worlds and awesome galactic vistas since long before the first primitive artificial satellites were boosted into earth orbit. Until the advent of the computer, space artists relied on traditional media, such as oil paints on canvas or acrylics on illustration board, to show us their visions. Today’s powerful desktop computers provide an optional medium. The images on this Digital Space Art website show some of the capabilities of affordable three-dimensional (3D) modeling and rendering software as used to create photo-realistic images of space subjects. The hardware models in these images — spacecraft, booster rockets, interplanetary probes, and so on — are realistic extrapolations of designs not so very different from vehicles that actually flew. You won’t find any physically unlikely "fantasy" spacecraft here. Most of these images feature the hardware in a prominent role-they’re not just extraterrestrial scenery.
Here just a few of the works that available for viewing on his website.
Note: All artwork and images copyright © Terry L. Sunday. Please do not use images without the permission of the artist.
Earthmen who land on the moon will need a special lunar vehicle for exploration. The vehicle must be self-sustaining and capable of traversing both the smooth, dust-paved crater beds and climbing the steep rocky passes of their mountainous rims...
An original MI design by Frank Tinsley.
