British space program

Hi frlmerrin

Aside from the ever-reliable Wikipedia ;)

In notes dating to 1779, Darwin made a sketch of a simple hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine, with gas tanks connected by plumbing and pumps to an elongated combustion chamber and expansion nozzle, a concept not to be seen again until one century later.

I read it in a biography a good few years ago - so long ago that I can't recall the title. Somebody also suggested Darwin Among the Machines by George Dyson, though I haven't read it myself. I guess Erasmus had to go for gaseous propellants because the technology to liquefy hydrogen and oxygen had yet to be invented.
 
So...3.5% of national budget devoted to the British "Royal Space Agency" by Britain (naturally), Canada, Australia, and India? 3.5% is a higher fraction of the national budgets of the involved nations than NASA received in all but three years of Apollo--and it'll actually be a higher fraction of GDP than NASA ever received because the UK's national budget is about 42% of its GDP, compared to about 15% for the US. I realize you're just handwaving it, essentially, but I did want to note that's a heck of a handwave to see those nations just decide to sign that pact, and that once that's done you've done half the work--that produces a budget more than half that of NASA in the same years (during which they built Shuttle, wound down Apollo, and developed Hubble and a solid four or so flagship interplanetary missions).

If I had a magic juice to make NASA's budget 3.5% of the national budget forever (a larger fraction of the budget than the entire budget of the Department of Transportation), it'd render a lot of debates on spaceflight moot--but I think it'd worth pointing out what a seismic shift is being covered there, particularly in the Commonwealth countries who are participating and who previously had either no or only extremely minor space efforts and yet are now more invested in it than the United States.
 
Hi frlmerrin

Aside from the ever-reliable Wikipedia ;)

I read it in a biography a good few years ago - so long ago that I can't recall the title. Somebody also suggested Darwin Among the Machines by George Dyson, though I haven't read it myself. I guess Erasmus had to go for gaseous propellants because the technology to liquefy hydrogen and oxygen had yet to be invented.
Color me a bit suspicious. According to Wikipedia's page on hydrogen, the fact that hydrogen burns with oxygen wasn't discovered until 1781, and then confirmed in 1783 (at which point it was finally named "hydrogen"). Given that, to design a hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine in 1779 would be about two to four years ahead of the actual discovery of hydrogen's properties by the people credited with identifying it as an element!

And yeah, the use of gaseous hydrogen was definitely because the process to liquefy it had to wait until 1898 and the invention of the vacuum flask. Without that, it's impractically low-density as a propellant.
 
No, I think hydrogen was found to be flammable in 1766 - what was discovered in 1781 was that the result of combustion was water. A minor point I know...
 
nice update on Royal Space Agency - British Space Program TL

now questions

Will Blue Streak survive ? for moment in TL they produce for ELDO for moment
could Royal Space Agency take over the Blue streak in ELDO is terminated ?
There Launch pad in Australia for Blue streak

on member i could imagine that with failure of ELDO in 1973/74, there Former Member could join Royal Space Agency.
since Australia was Associate member of ELDO


Black Arrow launch from St Kilda no big problem for Inhabitants if Rocket launch pad are on higher lands in North.
mean the new home are south bay of St Kilda

St%20Kilda%20.jpg

here what i mean the Settlement on right site at bay on left site are the Radar station and tracking system on left side of Bay
the launch site would be north hills.

another thing reuse
black_arrow.jpg

Some of the Black Arrow first stage were found in Australian dessert
i likely that fisherman of Outer Hebrides (near St Kilda) will find some Black Arrow first stage in Atlantic
i guess that RSA could study the reuse of Black Arrow first stage
 
i Look on some Picture of St Kilda
and notice the high slope of island

125978259-st-kilda-in-the-north-atlantic-ocean-outer-gettyimages.jpg


A Black Arrow could transported in pieces to launch side on reenforced road is cumbersome, a Blue streak can't not be transported to launch by that road
alternative the rocket could be assembly in Building at Bay and move on platform hill up to launch site
any allegory with Thunderbird one launch sequence is intent by me

seriously, i mean it !
 
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