Since we have one for weapons, and I've seen a few spacecraft there, I decided to create a thread specifically for alternate spacecraft (rockets, ferry-craft, shuttles, space-stations, probes, rovers, space suits included, etc.). Go Ape.
Alternate Spacecraft Thread
- Thread starter Emperor Norton I
- Start date
Well, there was the direct ascent option for landing on Luna. The booster that would have launched it was called Nova. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_(rocket)
Great presentation on Project Orion. I was thinking about the sort of world that would see this sort of spacecraft created, and it's giving me some lovely ideas for a modernist dystopia I might want to turn into something.
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_dyson_on_project_orion.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_dyson_on_project_orion.html
Thande
Donor
There's a history of the US and USSR coming up with similar spacecraft concepts, most obviously with the space shuttles. Here's another example, one which never took off in OTL, that of the capsule on top of a large habitation module.
The U.S. one was Big Gemini:
and the Soviet one was the TKS, which did actually fly some unmanned missions in OTL.
It also went on to form the basis for the Zarya Module which is the heart of the International Space Station.
The U.S. one was Big Gemini:
and the Soviet one was the TKS, which did actually fly some unmanned missions in OTL.
It also went on to form the basis for the Zarya Module which is the heart of the International Space Station.
Hapsburg
Banned
After World War III, an intense space race between the three superpowers of America, China, and the British Commonwealth led to rapid exploration of much of the solar system, and the construction of habitats on the moon. The UN, at the same time, undertook a massive project to build orbital colonies of the Island 3 type.
In the early 2100's, with the threat of a colonial war between China and the Anglo-American bloc looming, the Americans and British undertook a joint military venture to build a fission-powered attack satellite, to give them an edge over Chinese capabilities on land. The result was this, the Damocles. Armed with forty missile tubes, and with powerful manoeuvring thrusters, it could strike anywhere in the world. Put into orbit in 2105, it essentially put to rest any talk of war on Luna or Earth.
The satellite's main weapon system, the Mk 1 Mod 0 "Sword of Damocles" Orbital Drop Ballistic Missile, could project a rocket-boosted tungsten spike from orbit to a surface target at speeds in excess of 9 kilometres per second. It would impact with kinetic force equal to that of a small nuclear weapon, yet was still technically a conventional munition. A fold-out SAM block would be able to target and destroy any incoming anti-satellite missile, rendering it as the ultimate arbiter of world peace. Two more Damocles systems would be built and placed in geosynchronous orbit.
After fifty years of maintaining peace during the colonisation of Luna, Mars, and the Lagrange Points, the three Damocles, along with all other weapons of mass destruction, would be transferred to UN control immediately prior to the signing of the Terran Confederation Charter.
The Damocles would later be described as among the first space combat ships.
Specifications:
Length: 70 meters
Width: 21 meters
Height(tube diameter): 11 meters
Mass: 1,900 tons
Armaments:
Mk 80 Anti-Air Missiles, in 12x5-tube fold-out box launcher (60 missiles total).
Mk 1 Mod 0 "Sword of Damocles" Orbital Drop Ballistic Missiles, in 8x5 launcher set (40 missiles total).
In the early 2100's, with the threat of a colonial war between China and the Anglo-American bloc looming, the Americans and British undertook a joint military venture to build a fission-powered attack satellite, to give them an edge over Chinese capabilities on land. The result was this, the Damocles. Armed with forty missile tubes, and with powerful manoeuvring thrusters, it could strike anywhere in the world. Put into orbit in 2105, it essentially put to rest any talk of war on Luna or Earth.
The satellite's main weapon system, the Mk 1 Mod 0 "Sword of Damocles" Orbital Drop Ballistic Missile, could project a rocket-boosted tungsten spike from orbit to a surface target at speeds in excess of 9 kilometres per second. It would impact with kinetic force equal to that of a small nuclear weapon, yet was still technically a conventional munition. A fold-out SAM block would be able to target and destroy any incoming anti-satellite missile, rendering it as the ultimate arbiter of world peace. Two more Damocles systems would be built and placed in geosynchronous orbit.
After fifty years of maintaining peace during the colonisation of Luna, Mars, and the Lagrange Points, the three Damocles, along with all other weapons of mass destruction, would be transferred to UN control immediately prior to the signing of the Terran Confederation Charter.
The Damocles would later be described as among the first space combat ships.
Specifications:
Length: 70 meters
Width: 21 meters
Height(tube diameter): 11 meters
Mass: 1,900 tons
Armaments:
Mk 80 Anti-Air Missiles, in 12x5-tube fold-out box launcher (60 missiles total).
Mk 1 Mod 0 "Sword of Damocles" Orbital Drop Ballistic Missiles, in 8x5 launcher set (40 missiles total).
Thande
Donor
Actually no, they just used a Titan 3M launcher. The Soviet TKS spacecraft was launched on a Proton.
Incidentally, there's a British company called Excalibur Almaz, based on the Isle of Man, that has bought the plans to TKS and Almaz, the military space station it was designed to resupply, and now plans to launch them on commercial launchers.
Ooh, that reminds me.
Von Braun's Ferry Ship
Man on the Moon, 1962
Von Braun Shuttle
Von Braun Lunar Lander
http://manconquersspace.com/
http://home.flash.net/~aajiv/bd/colliers.html
Von Braun's Ferry Ship
Man on the Moon, 1962
Von Braun Shuttle
Von Braun Lunar Lander
http://home.flash.net/~aajiv/bd/colliers.html
Really? But it looks so much...meatier than a regular capsule.
Blimey. Now that would be damn cool. It'll probally be a total bankrupt flop of a company within a few months but if it were to be....spacefaring Manx....
That spacecraft makes absolutely no sense!
Why would a spacecraft heading for the moon have wings like that?
I know the design was taken from the A-10?, but that was a bomb(er) designed to cruise at the edge of the atmosphere.
Those pictures are just an insult to Von Brauns intelligence.
EDIT Still the trailer has made me very curious for the full movie
Last edited:
Thande
Donor
Because when it returned to the Earth it was designed to do atmospheric re-entry by a long slow glide over 55% of the Earth's circumference.
I assume that before exiting the atmosphere it is planned to do the same, looking at those gigantic fins on the initial first stage?!
EDIT, wait, I think I even see a total of 3 stages with wings.
Last edited:
Actually, those are pure 1950's Von Braun (but note most unlikely to have been doable)
The first pics are of the ferry rocket that takes the Lunar crew to a station to transfer to the Lunar Ferry/Lander. The ferry rocket's 1st two stages have wings and parachute to guide/drop back to earth for recovery and reuse. The 3rd stage is a shuttle (w/ wings) it carries the crews only back and forth behind the space station, never goes beyond LEO.
The last pic is a good look the Lunar ship, only goes behind earth orbit and the moon.
Check out the homepage; http://manconquersspace.com/MCSEnter.html as well as NORTON's lik to Collier pics.