Reader stars 'n' interesting links

Seems like this is becoming a regular feature for those things I found interesting....but not interesting enough to make a dedicated post.

• Project High Jump Boosted Dart - High Power Rocketry (Discussion, photos, video...CATO.)
• Nuclear Katyusha Launching - Next Big Future (NBF reviews his proposal for a one pulse, Orion-style nuclear powered rocket.  It would be constructed in, and launched from, a 3.5km deep hole in a salt dome.  A 150kT nuclear bomb would accelerate the ship to escape velocity.  Interesting, but not likely to ever happen. " Launch people and delicates the regular way. ")
• NASA Aerospace Advisory Panel's annual report - RLV and Space Transport (Evidently the NASA safety bureaucracy  isn't happy with the Commercial Crew Program.  Clark points our that both the Atlas V and Falcon 9 will have dozens of flights under their belt before a human climbs aboard.  Unlike the Shuttle or SLS.)
• Project Bifrost: Return to Nuclear Rocketry - Centauri Dreams (Sounds like another study on the state of nuclear rocketry today; building on Project NERVA, which was finally canceled in 1972.  The question remains whether we as a society are ready for nuclear powered rockets.)
• Dale Windsor is rumbling about bringing back LawnDart Rocketry.  Note the new URL as Sunward bought his old one after it lapsed:  http://www.lawndartrocketry.info/. He says, "Lots of new stuff in the pipeline (can you say X-planes?), though I'm reluctant to make any announcements."

Zombie-X AK-47

Zombie-X AK-47, a photo by jurvetson on Flickr.

Day of Remembrance, 2012

Apollo One, AS-204, lost January 27, 1967

Lt. Col. Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, USAF
Lt. Col. Edward H. White II, USAF
Lt. Roger B. Chaffee, USN

Challenger, STS-51-L, lost January 28, 1986

Francis R. (Dick) Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist
Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Sharon Christa McAuliffe

Columbia, STS-107, lost February 1, 2003

Rick D. Husband, Commander
William C. McCool, Pilot
Michael P. Anderson, Payload Commander
David M. Brown, Mission Specialist
Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist
Laurel Blair Salton Clark, Mission Specialist
Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist

Minimum diameter fiberglass build tutorial

Over on TRF, Crazy Jim is describing how to build Wildman's minimum diameter Space Cowboy kit.  This 54mm fiberglass kit features surface mounted, diamond airfoil fins.  These fins are capable of handling any 54mm motor with no added fiberglass reinforcement.  The kit reportedly will break Mach 2 and hit 20k ft. The methods of prepping the fins and tube are interesting and should be applicable to any MD kit, even the cardboard and wood variety.

Blame it on too many rockets

At the last build session, Warthog asked about the status of my F-104 Starfighter.  I respond that it suffered some damage on the last flight and that some of the plastic joints needed to be re-glued.  Today, I pulled it out to do the minor repairs.  Well, it appears that I had already repaired it.  Sigh, the mind is the second thing to go (and I can't remember the first thing).  What I did do is add a separate shock tether for the tail section. So, in the spring I'll fly her on a G138-4 and recover her on two 'chutes.  The fast short burn will hopefully minimize the soaring action and lead to a slower horizontal velocity at apogee and the two 'chutes will minimize the chances of the wings being sheared off by the shock cord.

Hey! How can I be expected to remember the status of each of the 220 rockets in my active fleet?

The daily feed reader stars and links post

• Starships Inc. status update - RLV and Space Transport (They plan to launch sub-orbital nanosats this year and orbital payloads within a year. I love F-104s. Update via NASA.)
• 50-man Space Base Crew - Beyond Apollo (Another unrealized space station plan.)
• Rocketarium released four oddrocs - X-shaped Vorlon's in 18mm and 24mm, a hexagonal saucer and an octagonal saucer.  The Vorticos spin on the way up and autorotate down without inverting.  These sound interesting but I get my saucer and spinning fixes from Art Applewhite.
• While talking about Art, I see he is offering his 36" Delta Saucer as a kit.
• There is a TRF thread discussing an interesting failure mode seen in a CTI reload. The rocket will boost, quickly burn out and then there will be a second boost phase.  The thread has 2 videos and a discussion of the phenomena. While there, check out the cook futuristic HPR design.

Delta-IV WSG-4

Delta-IV WSG-4 (8), a photo by Mike_Killian on Flickr.

I referenced this photo when it was featured on Space.com. I love the composition.

Reader stars and other links of the day (CME update)

• 1958 - Missile Designed with HITCO in Mind - High Power Rocketry (Ad from an early composites company.  The original is for sale on EBay.)
• Strange Forgotten Space Station Concepts That Never Flew - Wired (via Clark Lindsey)
• I was going to post about the current auroral activity, which NOAA says is the strongest since 2003. However, Space.com is annoying me and NOAA's site is unreachable back up. UPDATE:  I decided to post a link other than those noted before. Here's what NASA had to say about today's CME event. M8.7 Solar Flare and Earth Directed CME.
• Apogee video on how to fix a zippered tube.  I don't need no steenkin' video to fix my zippers, but this serves as a good reminder about Tim's cool video series. 
• Romanian Rocketry; They are also on Facebook and have a YouTube Channel.

SpaceX's next-gen rocket

SpaceX just posted a simulation showing a 'next-gen' Falcon 9/Dragon capsule launching and then  autonomously returning  to its launch site.  This includes the capsule and both booster stages.  Cool concept.  And ambitious.  But that's one thing SpaceX isn't short of.

Roll your own with 'RolaTube'

This may not make it to your workbench or range box, but I found it quite interesting. British company RTL Materials has developed “bistable reeled composites”, which roll like a tape measure but unfurl into a rigid round tube structure. Here's a demo by Mike Judson of Altius Space Machines. (via MAKE)

Under v. over expanded flow

Via Ben Brockert's Twitter feed:

If you compare the plume shape and mach disc locations on Twitpic #1 versus Twitpic #2  and reference Aerospaceweb.org you can see the [Stiga's] nozzle is now over expanded, whereas before it was under expanded.

Warthog build session 2012-1

Warthog successfully conducted his first build session of the year despite Mother Nature's attempt to ice us in. He provided his signature pulled pork BBQ and a coleslaw that was as good as I've ever had.

He helped set up his plunge router so I could make some rings for my Fat 6" Crayon Bank. I successfully made three 6" rings with 38mm holes in them. Two will hold the motor mount and one will hold a tube with nose weight in it.

Don worked on his big 29mm-powered SR-71 rocket glider and began fixing his POW/MIA rocket. Jim worked on a Semroc kit and tried to convince Don into continuing to convert the SR-71 for RC control (kinda).  Don decided that he wants his first RC project to be something that's easier to control.  That sounded like a reasonable idea to me.  Finally, build session newbie but MDRA veteran Glen came to observe and talk rockets.

I took a vote on whether to use clear fins on my Crayon or go with something odd.  It was tied 50-50 but, including Itchy's absentee vote, I guess clear fins it is.  Unless something changes.  Such as the local availability of Lexan or my mood or whatever.

Feed reader stars - TGIF edition

• PWR [Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne] ad zaps SpaceX - RLV and Space Transport News (PWR has a good track record but that alone won't fend off the Falcon 9.)
• "Britain's Got Talent" could win ride on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo - Cosmic Log (I think they should record a track while up there.)
• Photographer Mike Killian took the best photo of yesterday's Delta 4 launch - Space.com  (This is really  good.  Load the large version.)
• Three strikes and Kodak's out - Mashable! (How inventing the digital camera, providing the first WiFi support in a digicam, and pioneering photo printers wasn't enough.)
• The Week That Killed SOPA: A Timeline - Mashable! (It seems to me that is isn't dead but rather is on a Congress-induced coma.  But that may be close enough.)

RS-25D Engines at KSC

RS-25D Engines at KSC (NASA, Space Launch System, 01/12/12), a photo by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on Flickr.

The 15 remaining SSME's are ready for shipment to Stennis Space Center, Mississippi for re-use in NASA's Space Launch System.