Launched from the biggest plane in the world - MAKS Molniya Escape Velocity 2022-04-01 | The An-225 Launched Space Shuttle - MAKS Molniya3d Model by Citizensnip: artstation.com/citizensnipThanks for checking out my new channel, Can't wait to see where this new channel takes us into the future :)
The insane Saturn V shuttle idea that almost happened Escape Velocity 2024-07-22 | Welcome to our channel! In this video, we explore the fascinating and often overlooked concept of the Saturn V Shuttle program, a bold idea that aimed to use the mighty Saturn V rocket as a booster for the Space Shuttle.What You'll Learn:The origins of the Saturn V Shuttle program conceptHow the Saturn V would have been adapted for the ShuttleTechnical challenges and proposed solutionsReasons why the program was never fully realizedThe impact of this concept on future space exploration projectsWhy Watch?The Saturn V Shuttle program represents a unique chapter in space history, showcasing the innovative thinking and ambitious plans of NASA's engineers. By examining this concept, we gain insight into the evolution of space launch systems and the continuous quest for more efficient and powerful methods of reaching space.
The INSANE plan to build a MEGA pyramid in Tokyo... Escape Velocity 2023-07-27 | The Tokyo Pyramid Project, also known as the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, is an ambitious and futuristic architectural concept that aims to revolutionize urban living in Tokyo, Japan. Inspired by ancient Egyptian pyramids, this awe-inspiring structure is proposed to be built in Tokyo Bay, symbolizing the city's determination to tackle its growing population and space challenges in an innovative and sustainable manner.At its core, the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid is envisioned to be a self-sustaining megastructure, featuring cutting-edge technology and green design principles. The proposed pyramid will be a colossal marvel, standing at a staggering height of (insert proposed height) meters, making it one of the tallest structures on the planet.The primary objective of this grand project is to provide an answer to Tokyo's overcrowding issues. With a burgeoning population, space constraints have become a pressing concern for the city's urban planners. The pyramid aims to tackle this problem by offering a multi-tiered, vertical city with residential, commercial, and recreational spaces distributed across its numerous levels.Energy efficiency and environmental sustainability are fundamental aspects of the Tokyo Pyramid Project. The pyramid's exterior will be covered with advanced solar panels to harness the sun's energy efficiently. Additionally, innovative waste recycling systems and green spaces integrated into the design will promote eco-friendly living and reduce the project's carbon footprint.The proposed pyramid will serve as a dynamic hub for various activities, from housing thousands of residents to accommodating state-of-the-art research and development facilities, educational institutions, entertainment zones, and much more. The structure's unique design will allow for efficient transportation systems, ensuring smooth mobility within the vertical city.It's essential to note that the Tokyo Pyramid Project is currently in the conceptual phase, and its realization is subject to overcoming numerous engineering, logistical, and financial challenges. Nevertheless, the project has garnered significant attention and admiration from architects, city planners, and futurists worldwide for its audacity and vision.As we embark on this incredible journey, we invite you to stay tuned for further updates and developments about the Tokyo Pyramid Project. Together, we aim to redefine urban living and create a thriving metropolis for generations to come. Subscribe and follow our channel for the latest news and insights into this groundbreaking venture.#TokyoPyramidProject #ShimizuMegaCityPyramid #FutureCity #InnovationInArchitecture
The insane idea to build a dome over New York Escape Velocity 2023-06-11 | New York ... but not as you know it. Walking down 5th avenue, You look up to the manhatten skyline, but instead of seeing stars, you see only the twinkingly lights of the Mid-town dome. Welcome to an alternative cyberpunk new york that never happened. Back in the 1960s, an architect named Buckminster Fuller proposed building a massive geodesic dome over midtown Manhattan, which would have completely transformed the skyline of New York City. Today, we're going to explore the history behind this plan and why it ultimately failed.(BREAK)The proposed plan was to cover midtown Manhattan with a massive geodesic dome. It would have been tall enough for the biggest skyscrapers and wide enough that most of central new york would have lived under its lofty borders. This dome would have been made out of lightweight materials, been transparent and it would have covered an area of over 17 square miles - from the East River to the Hudson River, from 21st Street to 64th Street. The idea behind the dome was to create a climate-controlled environment that would protect the city from the harsh New York winters and summers.The dome would have been supported by a network of cables and steel beams, and it would have been anchored to the ground by massive concrete pillars. And we mean truely massive here, each one would have been the size of the statue of liberity and been out in the river and the bay. The dome would have been 200 feet tall at its highest point, and it would have covered some of the most iconic buildings in New York City, including the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center - then at the time some of the tallest buildings in the world. Ironically it seems that the economics of this dome made sense the bigger it was, hence the size was considered conservative with additional ideas floated for other parts of new york.The dome itself would have its own internal climate that would have been controllable, allowing the powers that be to make it rain or shine inside, and generate electricity from the sheer amount of air convection inside - powering the city indefinity to come.When it rained externally, vast gutters would capture the downpour and channel the liquid to a vast holding reservoir under central park. Unlimited fresh water, and no more water shortages that were common in the 1960s in New York. And boy you know this idea generated a lot of buzz in the 1960s. In true 1960s science fiction frenzy, People were fascinated by the idea of a dome covering Manhattan, and many saw it as a way to protect the city from the elements while also creating a futuristic new look for New York. A retro fallout esk cyberpunk look that honestly I'm quite jealous of!(futurama welcome to the world of tomorrow)So how did we get here? Well we need to start with the somewhat crackpot, somewhat excentric inventor of the idea - Buckminster Fuller!(BREAK)Buckminster Fuller was a visionary inventor, architect, and philosopher who left an indelible mark on the 20th century. born in 1895 in Milton, Massachusetts. He had a fascinating life that spanned multiple disciplines, but he's perhaps best known for his work in architecture and design - particularlly the geodesic dome!This thunder dome was a lightweight structure made from interconnected triangles that's incredibly strong and energy-efficient. He believed that this type of structure could be used to solve some of the world's most pressing problems, like housing shortages and environmental issues.You know what else has housing shortages and enviromental issues? The big apple!As Buckminster said, You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." This quote encapsulates his philosophy of using innovation and design to create a better world - a world that included a better new york. Teaming up with Shoji Sadao , the pair claimed that a dome would reduce energy expentiture of the city to 20% as well as the aformentioned issues of storms and housing. As for the cost, fuller said that “the cost of snow removal in New York City would pay for the dome in 10 years." The only thing was to causally figure out the material science and construction could begin right away.As part of the pitch for this project, Buckminster Fuller and architect Shoji Sadao collaborated on designing the massive "Montreal Biosphère," which served as the U.S. Pavilion at Expo 67 in Montreal. The concept was proven, it would work and new york was ready to change in a big way!The concept inspired the science fiction writer Ben Bova's story "Manhattan Dome" in the September 1968 issue of Amazing Stories, subsequently expanded into the 1976 novella City of Darkness. A Fuller dome over Manhattan also appeared in John Brunner's 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar.However, and I bet you didn't see this coming, the plan ultimately failed for a number of reasons.
The Insane Plan To Nuke From Orbit - United States Kinetic Bombardment Escape Velocity 2023-01-24 | Rods From God - The most destructive weapon that humanity can create isn't nuclear... not antimatter... not even biological - its dropping rocks from That's right, nothing beats the annihilation power of dropping matter from orbit onto unsuspecting landmasses below. it causes no radiation, it cannot be detected until its too late and it causes no radiation. It is so versatile and incredible that its a miracle no country has yet deployed a kinetic bombardment system. Or have they?Today on escape velocity we will be discussing the incredible destructive power of orbital bombardment, and how the US might have put such a system in orbit called Project Thor. Be prepared to witness the power of the rods from god!The idea of dropping a heavy weight from above is a concept as old as time itself, with examples from siege warfare from the medieval period, to small munitions dropped from planes and balloons in world war 1. But it wasn't until the Korean war that it became its own type of ballistic - called a kinetic projectile. Called a lazy dog bomb, or a flechette, it was a simple piece of sheet metal folded over itself into the shape of a conventional bomb. When dropped on enemy troops it would have the same effect as a large caliber machine gun that could penetrate 9 inches of concrete- all thanks to gravity!This concept sparked the minds of those working with the US nuclear program at Boeing, as it solved one of the major flaws of strategic defense. The fight against gravity!After all, if the soviets launch nuclear rockets toward the united states, the defense system would have to launch itself to get up to the incoming rockets. However, if the defensive systems were already in orbit and could launch using gravity and simply fall down to intercept the ussr's weapons before they could deploy any decoys or get within striking distance. This system was dubbed 'smart rocks' and ticked all the boxes. As part of Regans star wars defense program, it would put the US countermeasures in low earth orbit away from any EMP strikes, hard to target with conventional weapons and have no radar signatures. Plus once up there, it would require very little fuel to maintain. During the presidency of George H.W. Bush, it would evolve into a program called Brilliant pebbles, and be used as a cornerstone of the US defence network. However, there were some flaws with the idea. The system itself would be more expensive to build and put into use, than the enemy's ability to launch an interception strike and take out the platform. Namely, if the enemy can handle it better than you can dish out, then it is useless. Combined with the cost of a ground-based deterrence as well, it ended up being a multi-billion dollar program that would only last 10 years- with a complex decommissioning phase. You wouldn't accidentally want any of these space rocks to miss the landing zone as you broke apart the station. Or... do you?You see, so far we have been discussing the use of these kinetic weapons as defensive tools to intercept Russian nukes. But what if they were instead used as offensive weapons?And that is exactly what the US government came up with in 2003, with an airforce project called the Hypervelocity Rod Bundle!The idea was simple. A space station would have a few long rods made of incredibly dense material, such as tungsten, which they would drop onto enemy targets as the station flew over - with a few adjustments during flight. This 6-meter, or 20-foot-long rod, would drop at a speed of Mach 10 through the atmosphere, going from launch to impact in only 12-15 minutes. Upon impact, it would transfer all its orbital kinetic energy into the explosion, with a yield similar to a small tactical nuclear bomb, or 11.5 tons of tnt - without the radiation!This is fantastically economical when compared to the weight of the rod - around 8.2 metric tonsThe shape of the kinetic projectile was chsen to be an elongated rod to increase its penetrative abilities - to be able to hit mountain nuclear bunkers with ease and be a true bunker buster. With such a fast closing velocity and a tiny radar cross section - not even any emissions, it would be nearly impossible to detect and defend against. If say the United States had a series of 8-10 of these stations in orbit, they would be able to strike any location in 15 minutes from the command - half the time a traditional ICBM takes. In order to secure the station, the stations themselves would be equipped with sensors to detect any anti-ballistic weapons, or anti-satelight weapons to move out of the way in time. If not, it would also have some anti-missile rockets or a large megawatt laser onboard that could melt the warheads. The whole insane project was given the nickname "rods from god" and would render nearly all other forms of warfare obsolete. Well, kind of- you see there are some flaws.
Could we build the HALO ringworld today? Escape Velocity 2022-12-20 | When people think ringworlds, they think science fiction. But did you know that ringworlds were actually designed in the 70s and we could have it today? Lets explore!
What If Russia Was First To The Moon - Soviet LK Lander! Escape Velocity 2022-11-16 | In 1967. Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Komarov and Yuri Gagarin exit the LK lander and become the first people to walk on the surface of the Moon. People across the vast USSR, and their allies abroad, watch in awe and cheer in celebration at this achievement - while Washington fumes and NASA… is called to congress.This never happened of course, but mankind was closer to this scenario than you could imagine and the red moon almost happened.Join me today on a journey through the stars and how the Soviet ambitions to be the first on the Moon almost destroyed the entire Soviet space program.In the 1960s there was an initiative for a joint US and Soviet program to put the man on the Moon. But with the death of JFK and change in the Soviet leadership this idea was abandoned.Instead, a competition began. The Soviets made their priority to put the man on the Moon first, afraid of the awakening of the NASA and their potential.So,the legendary engineer Sergey Korolyev was put in charge of this project and made a proclamation. the year 1967 was to be remembered as a new milestone in Soviet history - the first man on the moon!But, fate had other plans. Our focus today will be the LK lander, or translated from Russian the Lunar-craft. The entire rocket which was to put the Soviets on the Moon consisted of following:Three stage N1 superheavy booster rocket Soyuz L1-LOK – a modified Soyuz spacecraft (not to be confused with the Soyuz carrier rocket)And the LK lander The story behind the N1 is a topic for another video, but the important thing here is that payload capacity for LEO (low earth orbit), was around 50t less than the Saturn V, standing at around 95tons.Because of the siginicatly less carry weight, it required for some serious management of everything onboard for every aspect of the mission. Coincidentally, Korolyev chose the same principle as the Apollo mission to get to the Moon, called the Lunar orbit rendevouz – the main spacecraft and lander would enter the Moons orbit, separate with the lander going down to the surface, while the spacecraft remained in orbit till the mission was completed. The crew onboard the lander would then launch back to space, dock on the spacecraft and come back home. All in one piece - hopefully!This actual mission path was first proposed by a very interesting figure – Yuri Kondratyuk, all the way back in 1919! So perhaps it was less the russian’s and rather NASA who was on the back foot at this stage of the raceThe spacecraft to carry the cosmonaughts to the moon would be called the LOK – the modified Soyuz which would carry the lander would have an additional stage, or Blok G as Soviets call it, which would take the craft into the Moon orbit and later back home, and Blok D which would take the LK to the surface and back. Now that we have everything sorted out, let’s look into the landing process and how it differs from the Apollo’s Lunar module.
How the Soviet Union built the road to the stars - The R7 Rocket Escape Velocity 2022-08-31 | Play Conflict of Nations for FREE on PC, iOS or Android:💥con.onelink.me/kZW6/EscapeVelocityReceive a Unique Starter Pack, available only for the next 30 days!Thanks for watching my little videoThe R-7 family of rockets is probably the most famous and the most important series of rockets in the Soviet and even human history. Engineering behind this rocket brought the first satellite and human into space and led to the development of Soyuz rocket which has been the workhorse of Soviet, Russian and even international space community for many decades. Today we’ll talk about the space pioneers, engineers, cosmonauts, politics and betrayal. How many lives were lost throughout the years and how the Soyuz almost never came to be.Strap in for a wild ride through history and see how the humans found the way to the stars.The main advantage the US had over USSR in the 50s is the means to deliver the nuclear payload. Moscow wasn’t as far away from US air bases as the DC, or pretty much any other US city was, from the Soviet ones.So, the Soviets started developing new ballistic missiles with their experiences from the captured German V-1 and V-2 rockets and documents.When Nikita Khrushchev came to power, he made it a number 1 priority to develop new ballistic missiles capable of delivering the end of the world.R-1 was a direct copy of V-2, and R-2 was a larger R-1 with bigger range, but in early 50s, Sergey Karalyov, the father of Soviet space program, was put in charge of developing the new rocket which could put the scales in balance. And so, started the development of Semyorka R-7. Requirements set for this project were range of 8000km and a payload capacity of 3t. Soviet nuclear warheads at the time were very bulky and heavy and this is a very important fact that we’ll get to in a minute. The rocket itself was unique in design.A 2-stage beast powered by a total of 5 engines.The core engine was RD-108 supported by 4 vernier thrusters with further 4 boosters mounted around the first stage carrying RD-107 engines and 2 vernier thrusters each powering this massive rocket.All engines would be started upon launch and after around a minute and a half, boosters would detach from the rocket and form the legendary Karalyov’s cross.Four boosters were positioned at an angle and fixed on 2 points to the main body. When the fuel was spent and they were ready to detach, first the bottom anchor point would release, pushing the boosters upwards, and only then the upper anchor would release and push the boosters away from the rocket. And then… the space ballet occurs. An amazing visual effect could be spotted even from the ground, where the boosters would continue to fall and move away from the rocket, symmetrically.Back to the rocket, or more precisely to the thing under the hood – the engine.The engines powering the thing were a true masterpiece of the era. They were powered by a mix of liquid oxygen and kerosene, and the innovation here was the fuel mixture control, allowing the engines to spend oxygen and kerosene in the same proportions between boosters and therefore maximizing the power and the utility of each booster before separation, along with making the flight path corrections much easier due to symmetrical weight distribution.Man behind these legendary engines was Valentin Glushko, and he would go on to lead the Soviet space program in the future, but more on that later. With the design sound and all the eyes facing towards the stars, it was the time for the first flight.
Nazi Sun Gun - Using The Sun To Melt Armies Escape Velocity 2022-07-20 | Get FOR FREE Morning Brew here:morningbrewdaily.com /escapevelocityNew York wakes to a second sunrise - but this one burns hotter than the surface of the sun - it sets fire to the grass, boils the river and even melts steel beams. And worse of all, there is no defense to this nazi mega project. You might have heard of this project before, but believe me when you see this video will reliase that hiter was far more insane than you ever imagined. With solar factories, farms and dormentaries onboard, it was more ambitious than any space station today, and would have truely propelled the humanity to the stars. Or totally wiped the united states and its allies from the earth. Join me today for the incredible Nazi fever dream, the sun gun!In 1923, a german rocket scientist came up with an ambitious idea. What if nighttime… didn’t have to happen? What if crops around the world could grow 24, what if steam engines could operate without fuel - what if… enemy cities could be vapourised. Yes thats right - while the origin of this concept was clouded in peace, but it had a sinister objective - to construct an orbital weapons platofrm capable of eliinating armies, boiling oceans and igniting huge forest fires. It would be called the Heliobeam or its far more catcher name - the Sun gun!This thing was huge. Measuring at least over a kilometer big, or 0.62 miles, this giant concave mirror would reflect the suns rays to a sharp point - how sharp depending on the angle of the mirror. And it was far more than just a mirror as well. It would have been constructed in stages by rockets over a decade - very optimistic timeline - with crews living in space as they put the giant mirror together. The space station would have required greenhouses to grow food - living quarters, warehouses - all in zero gravity - something that we have to admit was a little out of reach conceptually with scientist at the time.But I’m getting ahead of myself, lets get back to the madman behind the idea.Like all crazy nazi ideas, there was a equally crazy scientist behind it - Hermann OberthHermann was one the founding fathers of rocketry in the world, launching his first test rocket at 14 and joining the ranks of the nazi space and rocket programs with the likes of V2 inventor, Wernher von Braun.You have to imagine that while he was working on his test rockets as a boy, he would notice how the sunlight would reflect off the surface of his shiny materials, and illuminate the shadows. He also apparently noticed how the shiny material would greatly annoy his elders, remarking in one interview ““My space mirror is like the hand mirrors that schoolboys use to flash circles of sunlight on the ceiling of their classroom. A sudden beam flashed on the teacher’s face may bring unpleasant reactions.”The idea was floated around academic circles as a way to reflect light to help generate power at night, act as a weather tower and radio relay site, but as rocket technology in the 1920s and 30s was so limited, and that the economy was in tatters in germany - it never took off, and is where our story ends…Or it would have, if infaliable Hitler didn’t see the idea and pushed it forwardIn 1941, Hiter commissioned a study into the sun gun idea, with a staggering budget of three million Reichsmarks - which todays US dollars is around 150 million - not bad for a initial proposal!They fleshed out the proposal. The space station would sit at around 8,000 kilometers, or 5,100 miles above Earth. The scientists calculated that a huge reflector, made of metallic sodium and with an area of 3.5 square miles, would be large enough to do the job. It would be contructued of prefab sections that owuld allow easy construction in orbit. Onboard, the crew would use magnetic shoes to move around in the zero or light rotating gravity, and they would replenish their food and oxygen with vast greenhouses filled with pumpkin plants - chosen for their hungry applitite for CO2. This would all be powered by the sun of course! No not solar panels, they were not invented yet, but actually steam driven dynamos that would capture the suns heat. Of course. The mirror would be rotated into position using rocket thrusters, and when not in use, rotated to face away from the earth.So why was it never built?
Where would NASA be with unlimited budget? Escape Velocity 2022-06-13 | Disclaimer... this video is going to be very depressing. I'm going to outline the ambitious plans from Nasa, in 1963, for humai nties conquest of the solar system - and beyond. Stuff like titan moon bases, and factories in orbit. You have been warned, as a space lover, that this episode will leave you wondering if we are in the wrong timeline. oh and watch till the end to see the updated time lineSpecial thanks to Scott to Aerospace Projects Review, who provided the materials for this video. Go check out his website for more fantastic content like this, such as crazy space craft and plane concepts that never got built.In 1963, NASA had big plans, they had the moon in their sight and the forward-thinking scientists were already starting to wonder - what next?After all, the moon was simply a stepping stone to a future unimagined before by humanity. Plus, if they did get to the moon first and beat the soviets, its very likely there would be a round 2, round 3 or many more rounds of firsts, were russia could get the upper hand. Something the mcarthy red under the bed wanted to avoid. So, imagine your the team at Convair pitching to Nasa by looking at a solar system map, pluto included, and coming with all sorts of crazy ambitious ideas. I'd love to see a comment at the end of the video if your ideas were included. Anyway, heres the list. Convair had grouped its plans into three catagories, Conservative, Intermediate and Ambitious. Depending of course, how much tax payer dollars they could swindle, I mean, aquire, from the hard working american. I say that because as well know, it is very likely these projects owuld massively blow out like the Conviar B-58.The convair team predicted 1 mission in the 70s, 6 between 1985 and 2000 for the most conservative estimates. Intermediate saw 3 missions in the 70s, and 12 by 2000, and ambitious, hold on to your helmets, saw 6 missions in the 70s and 22 by the year 2000. Man doesn't that make you sad, we didn't get even one manned mission past earth orbit in that entire time. These missions would have been spread over various planetary bodies depending on the suitable timeframes and how the differnet planets lined up. For example Uranus and Nepture would have been visited from the Jupiter base, or by using using the gas giants gravitational pull. Lets break that down, exactly when and were we would have gone:For the conservative missions, there would be a powered flyby of mars by 1974, an orbit of Venus and Mars in 1984 and 85 respectively, and a proposed quick trip to Mercury in the same year, either by robot or man. There would be a surface mission to mars by 1994 and a mission to jupiter by the eve of 2000.For the intermediate mission, given a bit more cash, in addition to the previous plans, they would do a fly by mission to venus, a mars landing by 1982 instead of 1994, and a flyby of jupiter by 1987. There would be a londer term base built on mars in 1993, and a short term base in juipter, the moon Callisto in 1996. The ambitious goals saw them travelling mucht the same in the 70s, but its the 1980s where it gets totally wild. The mars base would be establised in 1986, with a fly by on jupiter by 1986. Then in 1990 there would be a short landing in Jupiter, with futher fly by missions to Uranus and Neptune. Then there would be a permant moon base built on Callisto Jupiter and a landing by the edge of 2000. This makes the book 2001 Space Oddysey not even science fiction, as humanity would have beat its timeline - bonkers!Even the most conservative version saw NASA having a permant presecne in the early 70s - after all, why would you just got to the moon a few times and never return? As if that would happen!Futher documents from a few years later showed that there would be permant and mobile lunar bases by 1982, as well as a lunar space port by 1986 for deep space travel. For low earth orbit, they also assumed that in the late 60s there would be orbital labratories, followed by a permant space station in 1972. In 1976, there would have been a larger installation above our heads where, shocking, astronaughts could sleep - yes this is what we have only achieved today. By 1986 there would be factories in orbit, hospitals and even a new mission control. A last note was the usage and development of controlled thermonuclear reaction drives by the mid 90s, and nuclear pulse drives soon after. Other missions saw flights to astroids, comets and much more. It looks like the age of exploartion on crack and something that would have propelled humanity to the stars. So forgive the french - but what the hell happened?
How To Fly An Entire Moon Base In One Go - Saturn V 2.0 - Convair Nexus Escape Velocity 2022-05-11 | In the early 1960s, as NASA was planning to go to the moon with the Saturn 5, engineers got to work planning out the possibility of a permant human presence on the moon. A 100 man moon base that would not only require 33,000 pounds of materials per earth year to run, but 3 and a half million pounds to construct - 70 times than that of the then planned Orbital Space Shuttle. Thus a new chemical fuel mega-rocket would need to be created. a Saturn 2.0 if you would, that would be able to launch a vast mass of payload into space - perhaps even nuclear upper stages. The pitch was thrown out by the NASA future projects office in 1962, and Conviar answered the call. Unlike the other projects under development, such as advanced versions of the saturn V or the Nova Booster - which we will cover in the future, Convair saw the millions of pounds of payload capacity as a challenge. And just like the manly men they are, they designed a rocket that could do it all at once. This was the Convair NexusIt would be a single stage to orbit vechelce that could carry one million poinds of payload. and was designed to be reuseable. Thanks to thinking big, the rocket would have incredible economic advantages - it would be roughly the same cost to design as a smaller rocket like the saturn v, although without the complexity that comes with multiple stages.Plus the bigger rocket could carry more pounds of payload, negating the need for multiple launches and multiple rockets. Less launches, less launch facilites, and crew required, and thus a cheaper cost. And these reasons made Convair very excited indeed. So what exactly was the nexus like?The nexus was a pretty squat rocket, with a tapered rocket stage up to the payload. This wide base gave it plenty of space for a large internal fuel tank of liquid hydrogen. This tank was in the shape of a cone rather than a sphere or cylinder, which allowed for seperate oxygen tanks, 24 of them, at the base - in a ring around the engines. Down in the base there was also flaps to help control re-entry, but we will get to that in a moment. These fuel tanks supported a number of inficidualal high-pressy hudrogen oxygen rocket engines that could be developed from a number of programs at the time - allowing the rocket much needed flexability. Just in case there was to be issues with the performance, there was a capacity to include 12 solid rocket motors attached to boosters form the titan 3c to give an additional 1000 ft per second. It wasn't ruled out to use nuclear engines for these boosters either. Speaking on nuclear, There was also a plan to change the upper stage to a nuclear pulse engine - a la Orion Rocket. Thats right, nuclear bomb detonations. To still make the Nexus reusable, it would detach and immedietly fire retro rockets to get as far away as possible. But you bet we will deep dive into the orion program in another video because that is simply totally insane, so be sure to subscribe for that one. There were two main nexus designs under consideration, one that could carry a million pounds and one double the size for double the mission. The economies of scale made sense but the bigger one would have required those boosters almost definitely, despite a lower effective specific inpulse. For launching, a new launch site was proposed, almost massive compared to the size of the current one used for the saturn v and the space shuttle - around 700 miles. Because it was so loud, it was believed that ferrying the rocket out to sea would be better - especially because the launch itself would generate window shattering shockwaves. Oh and btw, it wouldn't use a land crawler to get around, but a barge - it was too heavy and it thought it would be better to ride around on water.Once these rockets had reached orbit, they would have to re-enter the earths atmostphere. And boy this parts wild. The nexus rocket wasn't going to rely on parachuts, nor would it use rockets like the space x rockets we have today - no it would simply rely on its vast surface area to slow itself down. As it was now an empty rocket, it was larger than it was heavier and thus the aerothermal heating would be spreader out of a larger area. The dome of the rocket would be built out of titanimum and be thicker near the leading edges up to around five feet thick. Getting near the water, the foward dome of the rocket would fire rockets to bring the whole mass to a stop - thats 9 million pounds of thurst. The rockets would also boil the surface of the ocean just before impact, turning it into a bubbling foaming mess that would better distrpute over the surface of the craft. As for the titamium shell, it would be uttler smashed when it hit the water, but it could be easily replaced. Convair did apparently look into parachuts, but the rockets were chosen as they were simpler and had less points of failure.
The Very First Rocket Ship - `1950s Von Braun Escape Velocity 2022-04-29 | Welcome to the new channel! Subscribe if you want to see more stuff just like this This is just the first in many on Von Braun's rocket designs and other space craft, so buckle down and prepare to stay a while :)In 1955, Disney aired a special called Man In Space - In it Von Braun showed off what was to be, the then, future of space travel, with the ferry rocket being front and center. but did you know that this rocket was actually DUMBED DOWN by disney?Thats right, as imaginative as the house of the mouse might be in the world of fantasy - they actually hid Von Brauns original rocket vision.A rocket of insane propotions, that was so tall and collosal that it looks like its right out of the war of the worlds - from the martian side *i know that the Martians didn't actually use rockets depending on which version you read but its a good imagery*A fleet of ten would be built to construct a orbitial platform for a 50 man moon base, with escape pods on the side and the ability to be reused within a week of landing.Today on Escape Velocity, we will examine the original von braun spacecraft, with no other name, than the very first - Rocket ShipWernher Von Braun was a very controversial figure, but one who undoubtedly saw humanities future among the stars - and was willing to help develop technology to get there - even if the initial rockets would be aimed at Moscow rather than the moon. Formally a nazi in name and creator of the V2, his work on rockets during the war secured him a role as the defacto leader ofg the US amrys missile program. With his new found source of funds and celebrity status, he pushed for more civil applications of his rockets, and to turn what was mostly science fiction into near future reality.In a 1952 article in Colliers Magazine, he outlined an ambitious timetable for mans future in space. It featured milestones such as the construction of a rotating space station by 1967, large space going freighters to head to the moon by 1977, and a moon base with 50 personnel by the same year, with the trip to mars to follow. Truely ambitious and will be the focus of future videos on this channel - so hit that subscribe button if you want to hang around for that. All of these plans relied on a reusable launch vehicle, a space craft that could do multiple trips consistently and reliably, and be far larger than anything the Americans had seen before. And remember, this is 1952 and 1953 - almost a decade before the saturn V would be built. And this would be far bigger in almost every way. And boy did it look good. It was called simply - the rocket ship. It did have some simulartiy to previouis designs by Von Braun, such as the A-11 and A-12, and had appeared in some publications before hand, but this version was the pinnicle of his design career.
Catching A Rocket With The Worlds Biggest Helicopter - Hillers Air Tug Escape Velocity 2022-04-09 | Don't miss an episode! Subscribe today!3d Model here: cgtrader.com/3d-models/aircraft/helicopter/hiller-air-tug-heavy-helicopterA giant helicopter, with a rotor diameter bigger than the length of a football field. It would be capable not only of transporting a Saturn five S-1C first stage to the launch site - but of actually catching it in midair as it fell on a parachute - ready to be reused. This is one of the biggest mind boggoling space concepts that was never built - developing a reusable rocket technology - but in the 60s. Today on our new space channel, we will be covering one of my favorite, yet unkown, insane plans, an aircraft built to play catch with a moon rocket - the Hillers Air Tug. It was monstrous huge, with a rotor diameter over 400 feet, or 120 meters for our European friends. These rotors would have jet engines on the tips, that would allow the rotors to make one rotation per second - which is very fast for something so dam wide - but i'll get to the physics problem in just a second. Its vast engine would be situatied vertically in its rotor stem, and it would have two curving sides to help stablise the rocket in flight. This size would have a huge eight of 450,000 pounds (200,000 kilograms) and with his huge rotors, be able to carry 550,000 pounds (250,000 kilograms) - a total, for those playing along at home, with a gross weight of 1 million pounds - impressive ideed. According to Hiller, it was technically not a helicopter but rather a Rotary Wing System for Booster Recovery - but if it looks like a helicopter and goes woom woom woom like a helicopter - then it is, with the added nick name the Air Tug.The helicopter design of course, made it also avaliable for other operations well outside simple booster recovery, such as operating as a sky crane, or a aerial transport for cargo both in the military and civil markets. Perhaps this helicopter would have gotten revenge for the hillers contract loss to the Hughes OH-6A Cay-use helicopter to the army, a light scout helicoper used throughout the vietnam war. So... how exactly did this helicopter, or flying tug boat, - catch - a rocket in midflight... well hold on, because this ride is about to get real bumpy - yee ha!When the rocket was fired, the helicopter would take to the skies from a nearby airbase. It would fly to the zone that the booster, the S-1C, would land, and lotier in the area for up to six hours with its large fuel tanks - hovering at around 15,000 to 20,000 feet (4,500–6,000 meters). When the booster seperated and began its decent, it would deploy a sort of double tandum parachut, the upper section would have a hook. The air tug would approach the decending rocket, and meet it at around 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). At this point the rocket would be descending along a glide path with more forawrd than doward velocity, making it perfect for a intercept by the helicopter. The Air Tug would fly the same glide path, matching the speed and trejectory, it would dploy a grabbling hook, and with help from a viewing plafrom on the side, it would snag the upper parachut, or pickup chute. Then the helicopter would slowly slow its decent, taking on more and more of the boosters weight, and centering the rocket directly underneath it, assuming the same center of gravity. once it was sufficently slow enough and the heclipter was carrying the full load, the boosters parachouts would deflate and the fuslage suspended 700 feet below the helicopter. If the first pass was unsuccessful, sufficient time would remain for two more attempts before the booster was too near the ocean's surface for another try.But its not over there - the helicopter would then reel in the booster using its powerful winch - which again, was onboard somewhere, and rotate the booster horizontal under the helicopters u shaped fuslage - fitting snuggly and more aerodynamically sound. The air tug would then return to base for the booster to be prepped for another launch, or other operations. Expensive as such a helicopter would have been at the time to develop, the huge aircraft would have paid for itself with the first several recoveries.So simple in theory, but there was one major flaw with the concept.
