Descriptions of dozens of rocket planes and reusable shuttles.
Historical background of research projects that led to the current shuttle
Potential future shuttles and missions
Detailed Engineering Analyses
Scale Drawings of 12 vehicles
Over 200 photos and diagrams
439 pages
CD Book, Windows Format
CD "Extras" including all image files and many original source documents
Price: $25 ppd
While not as old as the dream of spaceflight itself, the desire to build a reusable, efficient workhorse vehicle that could ferry crews and cargo into orbit (and back) reaches more than halfway back into the last century.
Dave Ketchledge has done an impressive job of compiling the past, present and future of the reusable spaceship. More than just a history book, this CD delves into many of the engineering issues confronting the designers. This book also provides the scale model rocket enthusiast with dozens of prototypes that are suitable for the NAR's "Future/Fiction Scale" competition.
The first two chapters cover the history of manned rocket plane flight and the early proposed reusable crew and cargo vehicles. Chapter 3 is a history of lifting body research from the very beginning to the Lockheed X33/VentureStar. For those with some technical background, Chapter 4 delves into the engineering issues, in a fairly detailed manner, that spacecraft designers have to overcome. Chapter 5 covers the research and technology projects that led to the current STS shuttle system while Chapter 6 covers the STS itself from the original design specification up to the investigation of the Columbia tragedy.
Chapter 7 shows us the crucial role of model makers in advanced research, since all of these advanced concepts were flown in miniature before ever risking a pilot's life. Chapter 8 contains a dozen detailed scale envelope drawings of the more prominent research vehicles and proposals. Chapter 9 gets to the title subject by reviewing possible replacements for the current STS, and Chapter 10 covers advanced technologies for systems further down the road. Chapter 11 shows us why we should build these vehicles by examining many of the exciting missions available to us in the solar system. Chapters 12 and 13 list the source materials used in compiling the book.
Finally, the CD includes "bonus features" containing all of the images used in the book in their native file formats, a selection of Computational Flow Dynamics (CFD) diagrams for 30 of the subjects, and several of the original source documents, including the complete report on the Columbia investigation.
Contents
Chapter 1 First Steps 1
The Dawn
The XS-1
The D-558-II
The X-2
The North American X-15
Chapter 2 Research Programs and Projects
Introduction
Von Braun Ferry Rocket
Eugen Sanger Silver Bird
Effort at Bell Aircraft
Project HYWARD
The Reusable Dyna Soar
Chapter 3 Lifting Bodies
Early Research
ASSET Program
Dale Reed's work in R/C Models
The M1 Story
Heavy Weight M2 Program
The Langley HL-10
Project PRIME 37
The Air Force X-24A
2Flight Dynamics Laboratory Efforts
The X-24B
Lockheed Star Clipper
X-33
Chapter 4 Engineering Issues
System Requirements
Aerodynamics
Minimizing Drag
Flight Control
Boost Stability
Base Drag Considerations
Aerothermodynamics
Shockwave Impingement
Propulsion
SLI Engines
ALCHEMIST
Chapter 5 Space Shuttle Concepts
Early 1960's Efforts
RAMJET Engines
SCAMJET
Stage and a Half, the Star Clipper and the FDL
MD-176
Space Shuttle Phase A
DOD Requirements
Phase B Studies
The Case for the Solid Rocket Motors
End Games
Final Acts
Chapter 6 Era of the Rockwell Shuttle
Shuttle Requirements
Mission Profile
Orbiter Ground Turn Around
First Flight 127
Shuttle Systems
Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME)
Solid Rocket Motor
OMS and RCS
Gliding Characteristics
Vehicle Economics
Columbia Report
RCC Mission Life
Cultural Concerns and Return to Flight a Nuclear Solution
Chapter 7 Role of the Model Makers
Research Programs
Dale Reed at Edwards
Experimentation in Aero-Modeling
George Gassaway X-1 Project
The Story so Far... (R/C Lifting Bodies)
The X-1
The X-15
The X20 Dyna-Soar
The X-24A / X-38
Aerodynamics (X-38 with a Para-wing)
The X-33
The Space Shuttle
The NASDA Hope-X
The HL-10
The Raptor 256
Lockheed Star Clipper
AELB
Appendix A Theory of the Panel Vortex Method
Consideration of the Horner Base Drag
NASA TM H-2287
The Effects of Wing Sweep
Solving for the Glide Speed
Chapter 8 Scale Drawings
The Bell X-1
The North American X-15
Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar
Northup X-24A
Lockheed Star Clipper
Lockheed Venture Star SSTO
Langley HL-10
NASDA HOPE-X
Andrews Gryphon (TSTO Shuttle)
North American Space Shuttle Orbiter
Aerosoft Raptor III
Aerosoft Experimental Lifting Body
Chapter 9 Replacing the Shuttle
Separating the Crew from the Cargo
Lessons from the X-38 Program
Improved Shuttle C for Cargo
Long Term Fly Back Boosters
Some Considerations on Schedules and Technology
Mission Models
Lunar Landing and Cargo Delivery
Gryphon, A TSTO System to LEO
Chapter 10 Fringe Benefits and New Spacecraft Concepts
Historical background of research projects that led to the current shuttle
