Future-tech: Rockets, PewPew, etc. 05/24/2012

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Ryujin
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Future-tech: Rockets, PewPew, etc. 05/24/2012

Puffin one-man VTOL Design

Not quite the flying car or personal jetpack of the 50's/60's retro-future, but it's a design that appears to have had a lot of brainpower & technical resources poured into it, unlike most other designs out there. Actual flight tests with a 1/3 size demonstrator are scheduled for March, and a full-size prototype later in the year; this should be interesting...
Last edited by Ryujin on Thu May 24, 2012 9:07 am, edited 32 times in total.
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Mu La Flaga
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Re: NASA 'Puffin'

That looks interesting will have to read the full article next time I am on the forums.
But yeah a VTOL take off one man stealth plane.

Interesting idea.
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Ryujin
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Re: NASA 'Puffin'

ATM, the electric motors & power sources are what interest me the most. I also have to wonder about the legal & bureaucratic issues that are bound to arise if people try flying & landing these things in the middle of downtown, not to mention air traffic control and a rise in neck doctor appointments.

Meanwhile...

Private Space Stations edge closer to reality.

It's notable that two trial modules had already been launched, with help from the Russians. Asides from the basic issue of transport, wonder what methods they'll use to handle the danger of micrometeoroids, space junk & radiation from solar flare activity....
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Outlaw
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Re: NASA 'Puffin' & other Aerospace-related stuff

You know, the instant I saw the Puffin it reminded me of this.
"“As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another."
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Ryujin
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Re: NASA 'Puffin' & other Aerospace-related stuff

Budget problems? Outsourcing time.

As a strong believer in space exploitation, I have mixed reactions about this, but at least the government is finally giving more encouragement to private initiatives. Oh well, better 20 years late than never.

This article is also very relevant to the above.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world....

Sukhoi's T-50 PAK FA prototype, billed as Russia's answer to the F-22 Raptor, made its maiden flight last January 29.

Of course, given the current status of its planned engines, avionics, etc. it'll still be a while before this starts rolling off the assembly lines, if ever.
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Ryujin
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Re: NASA 'Puffin' & other Aerospace-related stuff

NASA proceeds to fund commercial spaceflight efforts.

Even though the Constellation program's been scrapped, this is a good start towards officially encouraging private efforts.

Hopefully, Paragon's learned a lot since the whole Biosphere 2 'curing concrete was absorbing lots of carbon dioxide' incident.
Pkmatrix
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Re: NASA 'Puffin'

Ryujin wrote:Private Space Stations edge closer to reality.

It's notable that two trial modules had already been launched, with help from the Russians. Asides from the basic issue of transport, wonder what methods they'll use to handle the danger of micrometeoroids, space junk & radiation from solar flare activity....
Not quite so sure about solar flares and radiation, but NASA's original transhab design solved the problem of micrometeroids and space junk impacts for them: these modules are made (at least partly) of kevlar! :)

What I find fantastic about the inflatable modules is that they appear to be physically stronger than traditional spacecraft modules - the material itself inflates, not the interior like a balloon, and becomes as tough as concrete - while being WAY lighter. I suppose a solution to dealing with radiation might be to create some sort of electromagnetic field around the spacecraft, or perhaps adding a layer of water (I've heard that can work well as a radiation dampener), however I don't know how much water would be needed to make it work (also, I'm certain water might be too heavy to launch in the necessary quantities).

The link you posted yesterday also intrigues me, as I've heard that Bigelow had plans for larger modules but never had a number attached before. It makes me wonder, just how big can these modules become? I almost wonder if they could be used to build a small space colony, at least just as a test to see if we really can pull off using centripetal force to simulate normal gravity.
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Ryujin
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Re: NASA 'Puffin'

Pkmatrix wrote:I suppose a solution to dealing with radiation might be to create some sort of electromagnetic field around the spacecraft, or perhaps adding a layer of water (I've heard that can work well as a radiation dampener), however I don't know how much water would be needed to make it work (also, I'm certain water might be too heavy to launch in the necessary quantities).

The link you posted yesterday also intrigues me, as I've heard that Bigelow had plans for larger modules but never had a number attached before. It makes me wonder, just how big can these modules become? I almost wonder if they could be used to build a small space colony, at least just as a test to see if we really can pull off using centripetal force to simulate normal gravity.
Neat stuff, that Vectran.

I was thinking that, while they're still at the small module stage, the lifting-body 'lifeboat' that was designed for the ISS might also find use there, doing double-duty as a sort of 'storm cellar' during periods of intense radiation. With regards to larger structures, I was thinking if it might be possible to use some sort of quick-hardening, high-expansion foam in lieu of gasses to inflate them, thus giving them more structural rigidity for rotation.

Meanwhile...
The X-55A made its first flight on February 10. While a modified cargo plane doesn't quite fit the layman's image of X-planes as high-flying, high-risk, record-breaking wundercraft, the techniques, advanced composite materials and construction methods used are of great interest to us engineers. In a nutshell, the new composite fuselage uses a tenth the number of parts and fasteners as compared to a conventional metallic fuselage; it's analogous in many ways to the advances in shipbuilding when steel and welding replaced iron and rivets.
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Ryujin
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Re: Aerospace-related stuff: NASA 'Private Enterprise is a Go'

First successful Airborne Laser shootdown.

The Airborne Laser Test Bed--the 747 with a nose-mounted laser--finally does what it was designed for in its first successful airborne engagement against a ballistic missile last February 11.

On a related note, Microsoft's former chief tech officer Nathan Myhrvold presented to the public his proof-of-concept Anti-Mosquito Laser, built from common, off-the-shelf consumer electronics.

I look forward to one with an anti-housefly and an anti-cockroach setting.

Next step: Hoi-Hoi san
Pkmatrix
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Re: Aerospace-related stuff: Airborne Lasers & Mosquitoes

Looks like the Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft are almost ready for their inaugural launch: SpaceX Updates

I'm excited - the steady development of private spaceflight over the last five years has seriously bolstered my confidence our advancement into space far more than NASA's perpetual failures ever did. I can't wait for them to start manned launches, or for Bigelow Aerospace to finally start launching their full-scale modules. ^_^
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Ryujin
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Re: Aerospace-related stuff: The Falcon & The Dragon

Indeed; I'm also quite excited for the Falcon 9's launch, especially with the upcoming retirement of the Shuttle fleet. Hopefully, it'll go off without a hitch and they'll move on to testing the Falcon 9 Heavy next.

I'm also looking forward to Blue Origin's New Shepard design, since everyone's so hush-hush about it (and it's funded by Jeff Bezos). Looks like it'll be an SSTO design capable of a powered landing--a successor to the DC-X. As a Niven & Pournelle fan, this pleases me a lot.

Even better, NASA has announced that hundreds of megatonnes of water ice have been found on the Moon, frozen in craters at the Lunar north pole.

This discovery makes the establishment of a moonbase that much more feasible, although it'll be a while due to the Constellation program's cancellation.
Last edited by Ryujin on Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
Pkmatrix
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Re: Aerospace-related stuff: The Falcon & The Dragon

Ryujin wrote:Even better, NASA has announced that hundreds of megatonnes of water ice have been found on the Moon, frozen in craters at the Lunar north pole.
Ooo! I hadn't heard about that! That's convenient, since isn't Shackleton crater at the north pole one of the primary targets for a research base?

Actually, this reminds me of a discussion I was having at another website: someone brought up the possibility of any future Moon base being an international effort, like the ISS, which I thought seemed rather plausible. It seems especially plausible considering India is joining the ISS Project, and since my money is on India reaching the Moon next I think this could work out well if the ISS partners pooled their resources together again for the Moon.

Also, Blue Origin's New Shepard sounds cool! I'll be honest, I had no idea that project was still going on...I remember reading it years ago, and just assumed it ended when Burt Rutan won the X Prize.
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Ryujin
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Re: Aerospace-related stuff: The Falcon & The Dragon

Not much I've heard happening recently, asides from minor problems during the Falcon 9's static tests, more tests with the F-35B and Airbus's continued commitment to the trouble-plagued A400M transport, so I'll just be expanding the topic to include other future-tech stuff.

Looks like there's been continuing development to Britain's electrically charged armour concept, originally meant to defeat RPG's with shaped-charge warheads--they're calling it a 'force field' now.

The details seem rather scant about projectiles other than RPG's though. Meanwhile, the other development in protective technology, 'Super Bainite,' sounds, in principle, a lot like the 'perforated armour' which the Leopard 2 initially used.
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Ryujin
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Re: Future-tech stuff: Force Field redux

Soyuz TMA-18 just launched a few hours ago on a mission to the ISS, complete with a crew of three and a toy duck. An uneventful launch, except for communications problems with Mission Control Moscow that had the crew leafing through their 'contingency book.'

Anyways, this marks the start of April, which features several significant launches, among them being space shuttle Discovery's second-to-the-last mission (ISS delivery), the test launch of the Falcon 9 with Dragon module, and the test flight of the X-37B.

It'll soon be the end of an era, as Discovery's final mission later this year will be the last of all space shuttle missions.
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Ryujin
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Re: Future-tech stuff: April Showers

Making 'armoured' T-shirts.
Quite a novel way of making a flexible form of boron carbide, one that could lead to applications other than body armour.

Meanwhile, R2 is slated for delivery to the ISS this September, on Discovery's final mission.
Beam Spraygun, Death Star plans, hologram recording/playback unit not included.

Falcon 9's launch date has been postponed to May, while the X-37B's test launch is scheduled for April 21.

With the Shuttles about to retire, NASA has announced that it will be offering them to various institutions across the US. Anyone who'd like to see one of them alongside the USS Intrepid in New York are advised to sign this petition.

Also, looks like a NASA Mars Mission is on the cards again.
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Ryujin
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Re: Future-tech stuff: Tough T-shirts, R2 joining ISS, Mars Plan

The X-37B's launch was a success, but very few details about the mission have been forthcoming from the USAF or NASA. Kind of understandable, given its connections with DARPA.

On the other hand, the Lockheed-Martin Falcon HTV-2's launch didn't go quite as well, with contact being lost nine minutes into the mission. The hypersonic glider did achieve some controlled flight at over Mach 20 before it happened, though.

That's a pretty interesting mission profile that it's designed for...perhaps this could signal renewed interest in a NASP-like vehicle somewhere down the line.
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Re: Future-tech stuff: Hypersonic Falcon

Friday, May 14, marks the final flight of the Atlantis

Meanwhile, there has been renewed interest in an interstellar space probe with the formation of Project Icarus.

Although it's all entirely theoretical, it would be very interesting to see what they'll come up with when the final study reports come out in 2014. At the very least, it'll provide a contrast to Project Daedalus, the previous study, which was done more than thirty years ago.
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Ryujin
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Re: Future-tech stuff: Project Icarus, Last Flight of Atlantis

It's been quite a month for UAV's.

Marking the growing importance of unmanned systems, the US Army recently announced that, in April, it had logged over a million flight hours with its various UAV's, mostly in combat operations.

Also this month, Boeing debuted to the public its new Phantom Ray UAS, which is heavily based on the X-45C. There has also been talk from various sources that the Phantom Ray will use liquid hydrogen as fuel.

And just a few days ago, the scramjet-powered X-51 Waverider made a historic hypersonic flight. It should be noted though, that the mission was aborted after 200 seconds of scramjet operation, instead of the planned 300 seconds. Still, a much better result than 12 seconds.

Interesting direction that the USAF seems to be taking, what with the recent launches of the X-37B and the Falcon HTV-2 (and, whaddya know, Tehran's whining about it already. Must be fearful for their turtle & annelids).

In unrelated, but noteworthy news, the US Army has also gotten down to serious testing of various high-tech infantry weapons at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Of note is the XM-25, M320 and the CROWS. A lighter version of the M240 and a quicker-changing barrel for the M2 would be greatly appreciated by the ground-pounders as well.
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Areku
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Re: Future-tech stuff: WaveRiders & Phantom Rays

Figured I might as well post about this quadrotor. Made my jaw drop.
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Ryujin
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Re: Future-tech stuff: WaveRiders & Phantom Rays

Score one for Space X. The Falcon 9 made its first successful flight on June 4, carrying a mockup of the Dragon spacecraft as its payload. It wasn't wholly successful, though. The reusable first stage section was destroyed when its parachute failed to deploy properly, and the second stage demonstrated some unexpected behaviour during its burn.

Meanwhile, on the heels of various UAV-related milestones from the USAF & the Army, the Navy has announced a successful engagement & shoot-down of a UAV with its own laser CIWS, which makes use of a DEW coupled to the good ol' Phalanx CIWS system. Given the timing of this test, it feels like someone's giving two other someones the middle finger. :P

One aspect of lasers that doesn't get that much attention is the problem of waste heat. To this end, General Atomics has completed testing of a "thermal energy storage device" for your laser cooling needs. I guess 'heat sink' or 'giant block of wax' doesn't sound as impressive to the stockholders. :wink:

Continuing with the pew-pew, the Army has begun testing Green Lasers in Afghanistan. These are intended to disrupt vision, which should make driving & shooting accurately very difficult, to say the least.

The Army is also continuing testing of its APD ground vehicle at Aberdeen (vehicle shown in the article lacks the sensor mast). The interesting thing is that this is not a remotely-controlled vehicle, but an autonomous one, capable of making its own decisions in how to get from point A to point B. Other features include an electric drive train, with each wheel having its own motor.
Areku wrote:Figured I might as well post about this quadrotor. Made my jaw drop.
Gotta wonder if a scaled-up version would retain a similar level of performance.
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