Congrats to Verna and Randy on 6 years of Fire and Smoke!

I decided to pop over to Verna and Randy's place a day early to see what they had brewing for March 2010...and found that they are entering their 6th year on-line.  Great job guys, keep it up!

This month, they feature a report from Cosmonaut Lev Andropov on President Obama's plans for NASA.  Lev is famous fixing the Space Shuttle Independence with a large monkey wrench.  He's a big fan of NASA's new marching orders and says he will "mizz us on ze moon...a leetle beet..but not too much."

Then, to my amazement, they are featuring yours truly on their Photo of the Day page. I'm blushing, even if I borrowed 2 of the 3 photos myself.  I'm loving the ability to hot-link photos from Flickr :)

Hey Verna, how about a Rocket Babe themed Photo of the Month when the weather warms up a bit? ;)

(whew, that was a typo-tsunami!)

Olympics, snow on the deck, windy, rocketry, snow in forecast

I'm sitting here looking at the remnants of our big snows, which is still over a foot deep in one small spot.  I finished the last steps on my Tau Zero prior to painting but the wind is delaying said painting.  Meanwhile, the Olympics are all in the record books and we can get back to a regular fare of mind numbing TV.  Did I ever mention I love mind numbing TV?

Not that anyone knows, but it looks like the Tuesday storm will head out to sea so our chance for snow is slim.  This seems be the prevailing pattern for the rest of winter. Via the Capital Weather Gang, here's one WAG:

Less than 1": 55%
1-2": 20%
2-5": 15%
5"+: 10%

I might as well add the measured quarter of an inch to our my personal estimate of this winter's accumulation: 76.75"

Well, in honor of the Olympics and once and future snows:

Smokey SAM

Smokey SAM, originally uploaded by Herbert Welmers.

The test rocket, not CTI's propellant of the same name.

Here's a nice shot of four of them mounted in their launcher. Designated the GTR-18, this small rocket produced a dense smoke trail and was used as a training round. The body tube is paper phenolic and the tail cone/fins were molded from high density foam. It is single-use, cheap and light. Light in case it was sucked into a jet's intake. Being light, it evidently is not uncommon for these to blow off the test range into adjacent land. I once read where a sport rocketeer converted one of the use for flight, or maybe I should say re-flight? IIRC, the original motor is around 29mm. You may not be able to find one in the wild and I bet they are too expensive if they reach eBay. However, you can get a body tube if you collect such things.

Rollerons aren't just for the Sidewinder anymore

This Rocketry Planet thread was started by a rocketeer who scored a rolleron from an AIM-9 Sidewinder.  Darrell and brianc note that amateurs/sport rocketeers have also experimented with this method of attaining stability.

Dave Crisali of the RRS tried one: http://psas.pdx.edu/news/1999-09-13

And, here are some photos of a rolleron stabilized rockets at the 2/20/2010 Spaceport Rocketry Association (SRA) launch. Click forward through the gallery for additional pics.

• http://picasaweb.google.com/kfsimpso...00098376609 8
• http://picasaweb.google.com/kfsimpso...00739054853 0

Like Avatar with robots instead of the Na'vi

From SpaceRef's description:

This video of NASA JSC's "Project M" depicts a Robonaut-based, tele-operated mission to the Moon - one that JSC claims could be accomplished in 1,000 days once the go-ahead was given.

The speed of a tsunami (updated with links)

You probably have heard that at about 1:30AM EST, an 8.8 magnitude quake hit off the coast of Chile. Fearing that this will send a potentially deadly tsunami across the Pacific at the speed of a jetliner, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for Hawaii. The first waves were expected at 11:19 a.m. Saturday (4:19 p.m. EST; 2119 GMT). A Twitter user posted this cool graphic showing how the wave might propagate. Click-through for a larger copy.



While waiting for the tsunami, let us not forget the damage that the quake did to Chile itself!

Oh, for newsy stuff, go to Google. For some sciencey stuff, read Phil Plait's post.

More fire and ice

Last Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Test (NASA, Space Shuttle, 02/25/10), originally uploaded by nasa1fan/MSFC.

Last Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Test (NASA, Space Shuttle, 02/25/10)

This was the closest shot that I've seen.

The Shuttle is waning and Ares is dead (maybe) but...

Even though the Shuttle is slated to be retired and it looks like the Ares is history before it makes any, some cool new hardware is being prepped at Cape Canaveral:

First, SpaceX's Falcon 9 with Dragon  qualification spacecraft continues towards its maiden flight.  Here it is on launch pad SLC-40 (Photo Credit: SpaceX).  It is undergoing its final safety review prior to its static test.

The Air Force's Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) (previously the X-37B) has arrived at Cape Canaveral.  It is manifested to launch atop an Atlas V on April 10th. Via Spaceflight Now with a hat tip to Clark Lindsey.

A TGIF hodgepodge post...

The original Rocket Boy gives his 2-cents on NASA's current turmoil - An Open Letter to NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden. He includes a short shopping list of how they should spend their money.  So, many possibilities, so little money.  (hat tip to the bayourat)

Might the Shuttle yet be extended? See Clark Lindsey's latest post. If so, this week's SRB test may not really be the last one.  It was still cool. I posted a pic earlier and Clark's post points to more.

Wired's Geekdad shows us 20 Geeky Images from Space. Some I've seen before and some are cooler than others.

The Atlas was sure shiny - Multi-Million Dollar Makeup Mirror



I had forgotten that the Vatsaas Bros included my Level-2 rocket on The Salvador Dali Commemorative Collection of Peculiar Rocket Names. Great Googly Moogly!

Designer solar systems...for free!

Check out My Solar System from the University of Colorado.  Define up to four bodies in a single plane and let 'er rip! (hat tip to R2K)  They also have a bunch of other on-line sims to play with.

Nice shot of the last static test of the Shuttle SRBs

the last big test, originally uploaded by Scott Stringham "Rustling Leaf Design".

odd-roc

_MG_1167, originally uploaded by Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

Bloom Energy - the future personal/local power generation?

My son mentioned this to me yesterday and I found that there was no shortage of reports available.  However, when I checked their website (Bloom Energy), they merely had a non-informative inspirational video.  Today the site is well populated.

The tech start-up, lead by Dr. KR Sridhar, is developing efficient power generation systems based on work performed he did at the University of Arizona as part of the NASA Mars space program. Here's what they say about their Energy Server:

Built with our patented solid oxide fuel cell technology, Bloom's Energy Server™ is a new class of distributed power generator, producing clean, reliable, affordable electricity at the customer site.

Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than dirty combustion. They are like batteries except that they always run. Our particular type of fuel cell technology is different than legacy "hydrogen" fuel cells in four main ways:

1. Low cost materials – our cells use a common sand-like powder instead of precious metals like platinum or corrosive materials like acids.
2. High electrical efficiency – we can convert fuel into electricity at nearly twice the rate of some legacy technologies
3. Fuel flexibility – our systems are capable of using either renewable or fossil fuels
4. Reversible – our technology is capable of both energy generation and storage

Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100kW of power, enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building... day and night, in roughly the footprint of a standard parking space. For more power simply add more energy servers.

Their systems are not cheap but they already have some high profile corporate customers, including Google, Staples, Walmart, eBay, Cox, and FedEx. Whether Bloom Energy Servers will be installed at every house in America, I don't know.  It's clear their web site will only provide the good news and I have seen there is plenty of skeptical viewpoints.  It will be interesting to see how this product progresses.

More on the Next Big Future, National Geographic, and IEEE Spectrum.

Big a$$ rocket of the day - Melvin

Featured on one of my favorite stagnant web sites, Trailer Trash Aerospace, Melvin was made from two plastic water barrels, a stainless steel salad bowl, 12" sono tube and 3/8" plywood.  Built-in handles helped get the 95lb beast to the pad.  A 5", three grain, KNO3/Sorbitol motor made for what looked to be a pretty cool flight. My kinda rocket!

ROCKETS Magazine, February 2010

GPS101...Rocket Mavericks 2009...Arizona State Fair...Freedom Launch, Orangeburg, SC...In Memorium Erik Gates...On-board Cameras...Balls 18...UMERG at Balls 18...In Memorium Ken Zeuner...Copper Compounds as Burn Catalysts III

Coming to MDRA soon, twice the fun

Steve and Vern

1/10th Scale Saturn 1B

Rocket math, G-2 on Blue Origin, the retro Air Launched Sortie Vehicle, and a Xombie attack x 4

From around the blogaverse...

Clark Lindsey provides a link to a Selenian Boondocks article where the blogger uses some rocket math to show why single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) is difficult.  My brain started to hurt so I quit part way through. YMMV.

The Space Review provides some insights to some of what Blue Origin is up to.

Another Space Review article describes the 1980's-vintage Air Launched Sortie Vehicle (ALSV). Launched from a highly modified 747, the ALSV would have been a rocket powered space plane capable of either delivering small to medium payloads to orbit or quickly reaching remote target areas. Part II is here.

And, finally, Clark Lindsey spotted a cool 4-pane video of a flight of Masten's Xombie.  Which I've conveniently embedded below :)

Theories on relativistic rockets, antimatter propulsion, and why they may never be feasible

Centauri Dreams has an interesting post on some recent thoughts on the issues noted in the title.

Useless beer factoid

Is I was enjoying my Santa's Butt Winter Porter, I decided to do some reading.  Reading the label, that is.  There I learned that a 'butt' also refers to a large beer barrel that holds 108 Imperial gallons. 

From Wikipedia, I see a butt is also equal to: 3 hogsheads, 6 barrels, 9 kilderkins, 18 firkins, 144 ale gallons, 665.44 ale liters, 162 ale gallons, or 748.62 ale liters.  For some reason, there isn't a butt to Imperial gallon conversion factor.  Butt, if you use firkins as an intermediate measure you find a butt holds 162 Imperial gallons. OK, I really don't care. Believe Santa or Wilipedia, as you prefer!

Snowpocalypse, I shake my fist at you

Well, Snowpocalypse was like crack to bloggers.  At least this one.  Yesterday was warmish and sunny and there was a patch of clear ground outside our basement walk-out.  Time for rockets! So, I decided to figuratively shake my fist at mother nature.  By 'fist', I really mean rattle can spray paint.

• I decided to cover my Delta X-15 with matte black Rustoleum.  I was surprised how bad it looked with gloss.  Not that matte will make it great, but...
• I had started on the Semroc Tau Zero and continued the build by spraying a silver base coat.  The fins and bottom of the cone will be Metalcast Purple.  Just to be different.  And I have it on-hand.
• I didn't start painting the Astron Invader.  Need more snow melting to do the glide test/trimming.
• Also didn't continue on the SS-7.5 ICBM.  Out of places to put drying projects.
• As for the Hot Rod Discovery, I just don't know how I want to paint it.

Hmm, that's a lot of unfinished stuff!  No rocket photo, how about a snow girl?

More R/C WANT: The HexaKopter

IEEE Spectrum features - Quadcopter, Hexacopter, Octocopter ... UAVs.  But what really stood out was the video of the German MikroKopter (HexaKopter) project.


MikroKopter - HexaKopter from Holger Buss on Vimeo.

Launch silo

I forgot where I found these. I think they're of an M flight. Possibly at Battlepark?

Incredible - sonic boom destroys a sun dog

I had seen several posts about this event but, until R2K posted it, I hadn't taken a peek. Big mistake.  This is got to be the coolest video I've seen this year.

Solar Dynamics Observatory Launch, Feb 11, 2010 HD VERSION A sun dog is a prismatic bright spot in the sky caused by sun shining through ice crystals. The Atlas V rocket exceeded the speed of sound in this layer of ice crystals, making the shock wave visible from the ground. The announcer can be heard in the video saying, "The vehicle is now supersonic."

Controller for sequentially air-starting four parallel-staged rockets

Design News' Gadget Freak features plans for an air-start controller based on a PIC microcontroller.  The controller sequentially fires four output channels with pre-programmed delays and is initiated by a pull pin.

No launch after the snowpocalypse

As I expected, MDRA has canceled our February launch since there is still up to 3' of snow on the field!

I scoff at 3" of snow (update)

They say we'll only get 1" - 3" this time.  Bah!  Remember the good ol' days when a blizzard was a blizzard?  Something to help you remember. (Update:  This event was a total dud.  It snowed hard for a couple of hours but was too warm.  No noticeable accumulation here.)

A good selection of brews

I received a nice assortment of brews today.  Haven't tried many yet, but here goes.  Comments appreciated.

In the photo:

• Anchor - Liberty Ale
• Santa's Butt - Winter Porter
• Brooklyn Brewery - Post Road Pumpkin Ale
• Rogue Ales - Dead Guy Ale - This was a pretty amber with a nice head.  It was malty with fruity hops. Drank very smoothly.
• Tröegs - Troegenator Double Bock - IIRC I liked this one.  Will find out soon!
• Rogue Ales - American Amber Ale
• Smutty Nose - IPA
• Victory - Hop Wallop Ale

Not shown:

• Sam Adams - Noble Pils - Hoppy with a hint of fruit.  Pretty good but didn't stand out.  Can't miss with Sam Adams, tough.
• Sam Adams - Blackberry Witbeer - Blackberry with a touch of orange and coriander. One of my favorite fruity wheat bears.

How do you celebrate Valentine's day?

DCist shows a group that celebrated by running through the cold in their undies. Yesterday's Cupid's Undie Run benefited the Children's Tumor Foundation.

American Bosch Arma Corporation

I had never heard of American Bosch Arma Corporation until I read Aerospace Projects Review V1N3.  That issue of APR presents a magazine ad showing a conceptual Atomic Pulse Rocket.  This rocket would be the size of the Empire State Building and would use 1000 atomic bombs to transport payloads to the moon. Arma's real-world experience included building the inertial guidance system for the ATLAS ICBM and the fire control system for the B-52 Bomber.  Evidently, they also invented the PROM. How serious they were about atomic rockets I don't know.  Could have just been marketing to appeal to the space loving public.

The drawing shown in the APR issue was prepared by spacecraft artist Frank Tinsley.  Tinsley's forte was depicting future spacecraft for magazines like Mechanix Illustrated and Fortune.  The George Glazer Gallery offers a set of four Fortune Magazine Space Vehicle Plaques featuring more of Tinsley's artwork.  One of the plaques (shown to the right) depicts the Mars Snooper "nuclear-fueled reconnaissance craft". I also didn't know that this was where Estes got the inspiration for their classic kit.

The site Plan 59 also offers a looks at another of Arma/Tinsley's concepts.  This one would also make a nice subject for a fantasy scale rocket.

Review: Aerospace Projects Review, Volume 1, No. 3

After reading Scott Lowther's post on the Cole/Helios nuclear pulse rocket, I decided to bite the bullet and buy the download of Volume 1, Number 3 of his Aerospace Projects Review.  I had noticed that it also provided info on a conceptional, lenticular, ramjet-powered aircraft patented by Lockheed in the 1962-1963 time frame.  Since lenticular craft also interest me, I couldn't resist.

The download cost $7 and was paid for via PayPal.  Despite some caveats, the download was made available to me withing a few minutes.  But it was the middle of the day.  It is in .pdf format but is protected so you can't extract text or images.

His page (linked above) gives details about the issue, including numerous lower-res diagrams from the document.  This issue is 78 pages long and covers 7 subjects: the Convair Model 37 Flying Boat; "A Study of Hypersonic Aircraft"; The Cole/Helios nuclear spacecraft; a survey of blended-wing aircraft; Focke-Wulf VTOL jetliners; Lockheed's lenticular aircraft, and; Bell X-14 Derivatives.  Each section includes textual descriptions, lots of diagrams and some photos.  Many of the diagrams were produced by Scott and he has a 'grading' system so you can tell how accurate they may be.  They are generally not well dimensioned, but depict the overall scale and configuration, often in several views. Each section also includes a list of references.

The total amount of material provided is impressive.  However, these are in general a bit expensive for my hobby budget.  That does not reflect on Scott's work as it is evident that he spent a lot of work researching these subjects. I bet the equivalent hourly rate for his work is pretty low. Yet, if you see a particular subject that you are interested in, then that issue is well worth the price.  Subscriptions are also available. (diagram from Scott's site)

And we thought we had it bad (cold and snowy)

Here's a photo of Niagara Falls completely frozen in 1911. There are people walking across the river and also below the falls.  Now THAT is crazy!

Airborne laser destroys ballistic missile

As reported on Closing Velocity, it looks like the YAL-1 Airborne Laser (ABL) made history:

WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. high-powered airborne laser weapon shot down a ballistic missile in the first successful test of a futuristic directed energy weapon, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Friday.

The agency said in a statement the test took place at 8:44 p.m. PST (11:44 p.m. EST) on Thursday /0444 GMT on Friday) at Point Mugu's Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range off Ventura in central California.

"The Missile Defense Agency demonstrated the potential use of directed energy to defend against ballistic missiles when the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully destroyed a boosting ballistic missile" the agency said.

Russian nuclear propulsion

Here's a video on Russia's purported plans for nuclear propulsion.

Cole/Helios internal nuclear pulse propulsion system

I've posted a lot about the Project Orion nuclear, pulse-detonation spaceship. Today, the Unwanted Blog discusses another nuclear pulse propulsion concept, the Cole/Helios.

From 1959 to 1961, Dandridge Cole, a visionary engineer at the Martin Company in Denver, Colorado, produced theoretical studies of vehicles propelled by contained nuclear explosions. In this concept, the atomic device would be detonated within a large spherical chamber; a nozzle would direct the blast in an orderly stream directly aft. The clear advantage of this system was that a vast proportion of the bomb’s energy could be harnessed, whereas the Orion concepts used only ten percent or so of the bomb’s energy.

Scott's post provides a lot of details and he notes that Volume 1, Number 3 of his Aerospace Projects Review provides more info and many more hi-res images.  I borrowed a sampling of the images from his post.  Interesting stuff! The last one would make a cool saucer-like rocket.

The snowpocalypse kills the Internet (?) (updated)

Last night, we were watching the boob tube and surfing.  All of s sudden we hear a bang in the distance and both the cable TV and modem went dead.  Soon, we realized the bang was a huge front end loader clearing our street.  The clearing part was good but the operator was dumping the snow on people's yards. Including on top of...cable nodes (those green tubes that sit a couple of feet above your yard).  Here's what he did to ours.  The bush around the node was visible so it should have been avoided anyway.  I don't think the snow from the top is an issue but the lateral compression as the loader drove up against the snow wall could have been.

This is only speculation since the cable was working this morning. My theory could have been right and Comcast could have fixed it, but I doubt that they could have isolated the problem spot, dug out the buried equipment, and fixed it that fast.

The Russians know how to deal with Snowpocalypse

The WebUrbanist has a compendium of wild snowmobiles from Soviet Russsia. 

(the previously un-named snow post) (updated estimates)

It appears the snow has not only buried us but it also has taken over the Dungeon.  The snow will eventually melt and I suppose I will eventually get back to rockets.  Someday...

The NWS reports were all over the place.  I'm not sure they are all accurate and with the drifting are probably not.  Still, I need to base my personal WAG on something.  So, there are readings in the 10+" range south and east and 14" a bit north so I'll use 12" until I see better data.  This brings my questimate of our snow total this winter to 76.5"!!! (February 2-fer blizzard + previous snowfalls = (29 + 12) + (2 + 23 + 5.5 + 5)) Extrapolating Accuweather's estimate, it could have been as much as 82" (46.5 + (2 + 23 + 5.5 + 5)).  I don't know, I'll stick with my original number.

The snow was dry and the wind carved all sorts of interesting patterns in it. Of course, my poor photography didn't do them justice. I liked the peak that formed on our bushes. And yea, there's the compulsory snow girl...

Snowpocalyptic humor

Breaking news from the snowpocalypse: part of NASM's Garber facility collapses

Just heard on the news that PG County Fire-EMS is reporting that part of the National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility has collapsed.  The facility, located in Suitland, MD, includes 32 metal buildings.  Hopefully the damage to artifacts is minimal.  

Here it is snowing and blowing.  It's hard to guess how much snow has fallen but we are still expected to get up to 12" .  Earlier, the TV weather dude said the '12 - 20 band' is trending downward towards us.  MoCo has recalled their plows and Pepco has called in their teams.

Cold?  Space.com offers some hellfire to warm us up.

Finally, I reckon that I should keep up the snow-girl mini-tradition... 

Snowpocalypse 2010-2 may not bring Snowmageddon after all

The Snowpocalypse 2010-2 is being downgraded to 7 - 14 inches.  Yahoo! The totals are going to be greater to the northeast so I suspect we'll be closer to the mid-range.  However, it will be windy - 25 to 35 mph, with gusts over 45 mph.

I keep getting the urge to see what various sized motors would to to this snow bank.  But, that would be a waste and likely would gather unwanted attention.

Fireball XL5

Fireball XL5, originally uploaded by isemantics.

Here's nice model of the Fireball XL5 from the Supermarionation Flickr pool.

This isn't Sparta, it's SNOWMAGEDDON!!!

We hit the history books with the 2nd major snowfall of the winter and now I hear we are expecting 10 - 20 inches more!!!

I fared OK until today when we had to dig out from the mess the snowplows left in front of our house - ~3 feet of icy, compacted snow. I'm tired and will be sore tomorrow. Too icy to risk the blades on my small blower so it was all manual labor today (well, mostly). My unofficial, unscientific, WAG is we've had around 64.4 inches of the white stuff so far.

I have nothing to say about rockets, and since my readership liked the last snow girl so well...

Ranking the snowpocalypse of 2010

Top 10 snowstorms on record for Washington, D.C.:

1. January 27-28, 1922 ... 28 inches
2. February 11-13, 1899 ... 20.5 inches
3. February 18-19, 1979 ... 18.7 inches
4. February 05-06, 2010 ... 17.8 inches, unofficially (Snowpocalypse 2010-1)
5. January 6-8, 1996 ... 17.1 inches
6. February 15-18, 2003 ... 16.7 inches
7. February 11-12, 1983 ...16.6 inches
8. December 19-20, 2009 ... 16.4 inches (Snowpocalypse 2009)
9. February 15-16, 1958 ... 14.4 inches
10. February 7, 1936 ... 14.4 inches

Lower than what we saw, but enough to rank #4.  Another neighbor in our area measured 34".

A snowpocalyptic update

It's tapering off now.  I still didn't get a good read on the depth and the NWS data is latent.  But, a neighbor up the street set up a yardstick and it says 29".  I'll consider that to be what we got too!

After two runs, I have about 75% of the exposed drive/walkways cleared and will wait for tomorrow's sun to do the rest.  This much snow was a lot more fun 25 years ago.  Clearing the driveway is about as much fun as I can stand nowadays :(

I hope this snow angel cheers you up too ;)

Official statement: Updating NFPA Code 1125 on Rocket Motors

Via Trip Barber on the NAR website.

Report from under the sowpocalypse

We we up really late so, when we drug out of bed, we expected snowpocalypse! I haven't been out to measure the depth but have pasted in some readings from the NWS.  And, I just heard the storm has once again been upgraded with 6 - 10" more expected today!

2 ESE GERMANTOWN 25.9 1014 AM  2/06
1 NW ROCKVILLE   24.5  717 AM  2/06
1 SE NORBECK     22.6  841 AM  2/06

These should be reasonably representative, and note the times.

My method of approximation using the height of the snow on the deck rail fell apart.  This thin structure evidently can't support the greater depth.  The photos I took don't do it justice - there just isn't enough contrast.  Everything is the same color white!

Video of the Jules Verne ATV re-entry

Here's a video of ESA's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle burning up on re-entry. It was filmed from a DC-8 as it broke up at ~47 miles over the South Pacific.  Follow the tag for my other posts on the Jules Verne. Hat tip to R2K.

HotRod Rocketry Discovery

This is another of the rocket trio that I won from EMRR's Quarterly Rocket Giveaway. Thanks Nick!

The Discovery is a 'modular concept rocket', that features three interchangeable fin units. It is part of HotRod's Educators Series and is intended either builders who have previously built a rocket or newbies under the guidance of an experienced builder. It flies on 18mm motors and recovers via a 'chute. You can always make additional fin units too.

Here is the completed rocket showing one of the three fin units. I'm not super excited about 3FNC modrocs so I'm going to try to think up something more interesting for other fin units.

The snowpocalypse of 2010 has begun (nickname update)

We saw first flakes at about 11AM.  It's been snowing lightly now for almost 2 hrs but it has been warm enough that there is no noticeable accumulation on streets, cars, or even our deck (other that what was already there, of course).  I have no way to measure the snowfall until I can stick a ruler in it, so estimates from the dungeon will be on the low side.  I guess it doesn't count much if you don't have to shovel it!

The National Weather Service has increased the amount of snow predicted for Montgomery County to 20 - 28 30 inches!

I'm still calling this a snowpocalypse.  Others are calling it (list updated): snowmageddon, snowgasm, snOMGasm, casnowphe,  snowverkill, snowzilla, snowfecta, s'now joke, snowpocalpto, and other monikers. Many of these are attributed to this blogger.

More on the Avatar starship

A week or so ago, I posted about how the starship in Avatar was modeled around a theoretical, antimatter-powered starship that was proposed by actual physicists.  I also said I wished I could find some photos of the ship from the movie.  Ask and io9 shall answer.

It seems like the ISV VentureStar, the ship Jake arrives on, cannot travel faster than light. So how does it travel?

According to Ben Procter, James Cameron wrote a ten-page document addressing this very question, "which became my bible as I led a team of talented 3D designers (Tex Kadonaga, Joe Hiura, and Rob Johnson) in the development of the exterior design." The document includes sketches, as well as entire section on the ship's propulsion technology, which uses matter/antimatter reaction, complete with speed and trip duration calculations. There's also "a wealth of information on the ship's components and their relative layout."
Adds Procter:

The huge glowing radiators mounted to the engines dissipate their heat, and the enormously long central truss, with its own protective coolers and reflectors, protects the cargo and crew modules from the engines' heat and radiation using the simple rule of r-squared attenuation rather than heavy shielding. (Yes, Jim really thinks about this kind of stuff and explains it very clearly in text and in person.) The ship has a pair of centrifugal-gravity-gen modules for the crew who remain awake for the duration, which has become a pretty typical feature of quasi-realistic ship designs in movies. But one unique feature it has which directly relates to the sub-light realistic travel is a cascade-style shield stack to protect the speeding craft from interstallar debris. Jim's doc completely explains this technology, apparently based on current NASA research, and how it obliterates potentially catastrophic particles by letting them slam through a series of thin, light shield surfaces.
To make a long story short, the VStar is definitely not your typical movie ship and it's all due to Jim's engineering knowledge and passion. It was a privilege to work on this design that he'd clearly invested so much thought into.

Snowpocalypse of 2010 is coming!

Info from the Capital Weather Gang:

Here are the top 10 snowstorms on record for Washington, D.C.:
1. January 27-28, 1922 ... 28 inches
2. February 11-13, 1899 ... 20.5 inches
3. February 18-19, 1979 ... 18.7 inches
4. January 6-8, 1996 ... 17.1 inches
5. February 15-18, 2003 ... 16.7 inches
6. February 11-12, 1983 ...16.6 inches
7. December 19-20, 2009 ... 16.4 inches (Snowpocalypse)
8. February 15-16, 1958 ... 14.4 inches
9. February 7, 1936 ... 14.4 inches
10. February 16-18, 1900 ... 14.3 inches



We are just north of DC and regularly see more than the official totals measured at Reagan National, as shown above.  Snowpocalypse 2009 (#7) gave us 23".

Since the early 1940s, there have only been two winters in which DCA received multiple double-digit events, 1957-58 and 1986-87.

Can you dig it?  I know I do...and will dig out too :)

Hubble images of Pluto's surface

The following video was pieced together from still images taken in 2002 and 2003. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Buie (Southwest Research Institute)

Pluto, you're still a planet here in the Dungeon.

Phil Plait tells us why this is more than eye candy.

Video of the RRS 50 Mile Flight at Black Rock

Rocketry Planet has resurrected coverage of a 1993 Reaction Research Society (RRS) amateur rocket flight that reached 50 miles.  The rockets carried an amateur television camera and footage is included. 

Flight summary:

• booster - 13' x 10" ; 475 lbs
• motor - solid, 14k lbs thrust, 5 sec burn
• dart size - 5' x 3.25"; 65 lbs
• radar tracking
• booster - 90k', Mach 4.5, 3.5 Gs
• dart - 280k', recovered ~8 mi. downrange

Retro engineering safety - goggles...check, gloves...check, bra....

io9 bring us this photo of a model showing off the latest in engineering safety gear.

Modeling alert: 30 years of future launch vehicles

Clark Lindsey lets us know about Marcus Lindroos' archive about "future launch vehicle" designs that arose between 1963 and 1993 (the intro says through 2001, so I assume there is more to come).  Here are the top-level categories:

1. Early American Reusable Launch Vehicle Proposals (1963-67)
2.THE SPACE SHUTTLE -- From Dream to Reality (1968-72)
3. THE 1970s -- Solar Power Satellites and Advanced Launch Vehicles (1973-80
4. NASA "Shuttle II" Advanced Manned Launch System studies (1978-89)
5. Military Spaceplanes (1978-93)

I haven't looked through the site much, but it should be a good resource. The intro page provides a convenient slide-format  presentation of the material on the site.  On the down side, the images aren't appearing for me in-line so causal navigation is cumbersome.

I foresee a new section on the one and future Ares line of vehicles.  Other than the Ares 1-X, these may forever be stuck in the 'future' category.

BTW, the photo is of Quest's Future Launch Vehicle (which isn't included in the archive).

Sunprobe

Sunprobe, originally uploaded by kennetzel.

Astron Invader and the possible snowpocalypse of 2010

Invader status: Slight warpapge, previously undetected, was problematic.  Nothing that sandpaper, CyA, a accelerator couldn't handle.  Glide testing/trimming may have to wait for dry ground or dry snow.

Well, we got another 5" of snow or so making my estimate of this season's snowfall at the Dungeon to be 35.5" (2 + 23 + 5.5 + 5).  I may have missed one small one early-on.

This is what the Capital Weather gang thinks about this weekend:

20% chance: Less than 2"
25% chance: 2-6"
30% chance: 6-12"
25% chance: 12"+   <-----snowpocalypse category

Constellation v. Spaceport America

Reports, comments, opinions and prognostications regarding President Obama's proposed changes to NASA's manned space programs continue to flood the blogaverse.  Some are fer, some are agin. I note that all potential stake holders are aligned as you'd expect. And, all these are thus biased opinions.  Clark Lindsey's RLV blog is probably best source as he's compiling the on-line references (across multiple posts, not centralized).

Here's a report about the possible impact to southern New Mexico.  Under the new plan, WSMR may lose work while Spaceport America may gain work.

NARPres comments on the NFPA 1125 revision

Trip's words, my highlights and added comments in brackets (stuff I didn't mention before or didn't catch earlier):

Almost Scientific rocketry...well not really

From the MAKE:blog, I found Almost Scientific's annals of the West Oakland Rocketry Club, a self-professed "Art Rocketry" club.  In the name of 'art', these folks take odd-rocs to the extreme. (Gee, I guess I did a lot of art in the desert when I was a kid.) They will stick a motor in most anything, often with no apparent effort to make the resulting projectile stable or recoverable.  Generally, we sport rocketeers try to apply a modicum of rocket science to give them a chance of working.  However, I have to get off my high horse since I have had more than a few that didn't.

That being said, some of my favs are the turkey (an actual turkey, not a plastic one), the slinky-roc, the condom-roc, and snow man whose body is the pad and the head is the rocket.  I don't know if this is art or not, but it is amusing.

At least they seem to fly in areas that seem to be devoid of free range kids (or adults). One might think that we MDRAer's should have little to say in this regards [2010 Christmas Tree launch], however, more safety measures were taken than were evident to the casual observer, including crowd control, field conditions, fire control, crowd control, thrust-to-weight experience, etc.

So kiddies, don't try this on your own, but enjoy the art show:

Changes to the NFPA modroc code are a done deal (well, kinda)

Update:  I should clarify that there is one more level of approval and the changes won't go into effect until the release of the updated document in 2011.

Earlier today, I heard that the NFPA approved the changes to NFPA 1125, Code for the Manufacture of Model Rocket and High Power Rocket Motors.  I also heard that we rocketeers would be happy with the results.  The first word about the details comes from Rocketry Planet.  Here's my filtered version:

• Model rocket particle size threshold changes from 150 micron (100 mesh) to 74 micron (200 mesh). This point was central to the sparky motor issue. Furthermore,
• All motors that aren't classified as modroc motors will be high power motors by default.  I read this that sparky G's (and F's and E's etc) can be certified, but they will fall under the high power code.  Those will be required to have 'HP' added to the letter designation (HPG69-x or GHP69-x or ???). 
• The power limits (80N avg/160N-s total) will stay in the definition of a modroc, but the 62.5g limit is changed to 125g (4.4 oz) to agree with FAA Class 1 limits.  CPSC regs. still will limit sales of motors >62.5g to those over 18yrs of age.
• Manufacturer designations must reflect average thrust within 20 percent, or 10 Newtons, whichever value is greater.  I guess manufacturers had better not print those labels until certification testing is completed.
• NFPA 1127: Code for High Power Rocketry will have to be updated to make it consistent with these changes.

All in all, what I was most concerned about is that all motors have a home, and it looks like this is a reasonable first step to that end. But then, I'm old and have a place to fly most anything.  Mmmm, sparky E's :)

Possible asteroid collision imaged by Hubble

R2K pointed me to this cool photo of Comet-like Asteroid P/2010 A2 (Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)).  The Universe Today provides the background about why this is even cooler than just a pretty picture.

Alien Invader wing assembly

The Invader is distinguished by its odd, UFO-like wing plate.  It has been described as a Flying Pie Plate. Its flight profile has been questionable, so Of Death belongs in the nickname too.  So, that's what I'll call mine.

The plate is assembled from three laser-cut pieces.  These are first glued together (duh).  I laid the parts on some wax paper and used white glue.  You use a template, printed from the archived plans from JimZ's site, to mark locations for the pylons and rudders as well as the mid-line of the circle. Then, the assembly is cut in half.  One half is flipped over, which alternates the grain pattern and adds some strength. The two parts are rejoined, with a dihedral applied, using a provided stand/brace. The attached photo shows this step.  Note the grain direction and the brace.

Space Shuttles abound at Verna and Randy's place

Verna's Photo of the Month features an interesting Shuttle variant.  She's highlighting Dr. Roy Houchin's custom Shuttle, outfitted with a Boostervision camera and scale "crawler" pad.

Meanwhile on Fire and Smoke, they are featuring the next expansion to their already cool home - a real Space Shuttle! (So far, I think they are short about $28.8M.)

BMS Astron Invader

Nick timed the shipment of my Quarterly Rocket Give-Away swag perfectly...it arrived today!  I'm going to start on the BMS Astron Invader first.  It is an odd-roc glider and is thus more up my alley than the other two kits I won.  PLUS, being a glider, a lot of filling and painting is discouraged.  This too fits me well. PLUS, the weather is cold and snowy so a lot of painting probably wouldn't happen anyways.  I can already see that I'm happy the parts are laser cut ;)