Mission to Mars: Orion nuclear propulsion - Orbiter Space Flight Simulator

Project Orion was the first serious attempt to design a nuclear pulse rocket. The design effort was carried out at General Atomics in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The idea of Orion was to react small directional nuclear explosives against a large steel pusher plate attached to the spacecraft with shock absorbers. Efficient directional explosives maximized the momentum transfer, leading to specific impulses in the range of 6000 seconds. With refinements a theoretical maximum of 100000 seconds (1 MN·s/kg) might be possible. Thrusts were in the millions of short tonnes, allowing spacecraft larger than 8×106 short tonnes to be built with 1958 materials. The reference design was to be constructed of steel using submarine-style construction with a crew of more than 200 and a vehicle takeoff weight of several thousand tonnes. This low-tech single-stage reference design would reach Mars and back in four weeks from the Earth's surface (compare to 12 months for NASA's current chemically-powered reference mission). The same craft could visit Saturn's moons in a seven-month mission (compare to chemically-powered missions of about nine years). A number of engineering problems were found and solved over the course of the project, notably related to crew shielding and pusher-plate lifetime. The system appeared to be entirely workable when the project was shut down in 1965, the main reason being given that the Partial Test Ban Treaty made it illegal. There were also ethical issues ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neLA_IuRLI8&hl=en

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Last flight of "Redhead"

Gordon Israel and the Redhead Gordon Israel had gained a great deal of racing experience while helping Benny Howard design and build his stable of winning racing aircraft. Utilizing this experience, Gordon decided to create his own aircraft which, like the majority of the smaller racers, would be powered by a supercharged Menasco C6S of 544 cubic inches. The Menascos could be temperamental engines but they had an extremely low frontal area and could be "tweaked" to pump out a lot more horsepower - albeit with a downturn in reliability. Gordon's comments on the Redhead: "Neither Benny nor myself had any formal college training, I graduated from high school but Benny did not. I took some advanced math courses at Washington University night school. A lot of times I've regretted not taking more, because every once in a while you run into a problem where if you had some smarts you could work it out. It comes harder without having a formal education but if I can't finally grind it out I have some friends that can." "There was a theoretical background for airplane design in those days and we ran a pretty thorough stress analysis on PETE, the first little airplane we built. It was a 9g limit airplane. You just didn't worry about the structure when you were flying it, and the same thing was true of the REDHEAD with the 6 cylinder Menasco. I've still got the original hand written stress calculations I made on it, and although we didn't have full facilities, those, airplanes weren't ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vxtTmF2A-Q&hl=en

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Aero-TV: Modern Metal - Flight Design Introduce the MC

Experienced LSA Manufacturer Introduces All-New Metal Aircraft At the 2010 Sport Aviation Expo, Flight Design introduced enthusiastic media and dealer network partners to the all-new Flight Design MC. Created using aluminum, steel, and composites, the MC aircraft is one of the first LSA all-metal models to hit the market. Designed specifically with the light sport pilot in mind, engineers used state-of-the-art programs to create a rugged, yet comfortable aircraft for both private owners and flight schools. Using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Flight Design engineers constructed the MC using solid rivet construction featuring zinc chromate coating to provide extended corrosion resistance. The structure was subjected to both static and complete flight-testing, receiving both ASTM-FAA Light Sport Aircraft certification and German LFT-BfU certification. Several safety improvements are featured in the final aircraft including a welded steel safety cage with CAD design crumple zones to keep the cabin intact and four-point pilot harnesses. In addition, each aircraft comes standard with a ballistic parachute system. Though heavier than the standard composite aircraft, the MC features a long fuselage combined with a conventional stabilizer-elevator for exceptional dampening and pitch stability to provide smooth flight and easy landings. Urethane polymer shock absorbers in the nose gear provide high dampening; the composite main gear absorbs more than 50% of the energy on the first ...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBuNUEVpYAQ&hl=en

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