Taking A Summer Break

I'm taking a break this summer.  Will be back in the fall.

Mass Logistics To Space Idea

ISS partners keep a flow of small pressurized cargo craft coming to the station for just 6 crew and experiments. Progress, ATV, HTV, Dragon, and soon Cynus make up such a fleet. The ATV is the biggest carrying a max of 16,900 lbs or 7,667 kg. On land, we stack huge metal boxes carrying all kinds of cargo on ships, trains, and trucks.  These are shipped around the land supplying communities with effectively whatever they need. Commonly these are 40ft long cargo containers and can carry a max of 68,008 lbs or 30,848 kg. Imagine if commercial space takes off, and many space stations orbit around Earth, the moon, and deep space are made and manned. Having around 24 people in each station who need food, clothes, equipment sent to them and waste taken from them. How would you supply that amount of cargo? SpaceX's Falcon Heavy can lift to orbit almost the gross weight/mass of two 40 ft cargo boxes. So, I figure it could carry the cargo of one of these cargo boxes in a purpose made reusable stretch cargo capsule.  It would be a vehicle of mass logistics transportation.   What would such a craft look like and what would its operation be like?

Stretch Capsule concept made from Apollo CM pic

Why stretch anything?  The airline industry have stretched the bodies of its planes for many years to expand their payload capacity.  I remember first learning about stretched aircraft  with the DC-9.  It would seem reasonable to assume that commercial space companies sought out a solution for an increased capacity without reinventing the wheel all the way.  SpaceX's Dragon is touted as a reusable capsule.  They also want to make it to be capable of propulsive landings on the ground from orbit.  Thinking about those capabilities, you could stretch the capsule lengthwise (see pic above) to increase cargo capacity per trip.

Falcon Heavy (right) with Falcon family

A stretched capsule could launch from a heavy lifting rocket like the Falcon Heavy housed in a fairing.  Upon arrival, it could dock or be captured and berthed to a station.  The hatch on one end of the capsule would minimize space issues while attached to a station.  I don't imagine that it would be used for crew but only for pressurized cargo.  The station's Astronauts (Cosmonauts, or Taikonauts - if you like) would unload it and load it back up with whatever needs to be taken back down to Earth.  That could include experiments and even waste.  I've been considering the environmental impact of expending waste by burning it in the atmosphere.  Dealing with the waste on the ground might be more beneficial.  The capsule would detach from the station and de-orbit on its own merit.  The long heat sheild and the integrity of the cross sectional shape of the capsule would allow for a similar atmospheric re-entry as the Dragon.  Stretching the capsule longways also allows room for extra parachutes.  Dragon stores its parachutes on the side of the craft in a compartment.  The stretched capsule could have two or more compartments for parachutes.  Then comes the propulsive landing which would have a number of thrusters along the sides of the craft.  Several landing legs would also support this operation.

 The stretch capsule could be an intriguing idea for future engineers and space operations.  I think the alternative is to build newer and bigger capsules mostly from scratch.  It's not just the capsule that has to be designed but the manufacturing process as well.  I think a stretched solution would use the existing manufacturing process with some added parts.  In the end, this is just one idea out of many.

Solar Impulse At St Louis

On one of the nicest evenings in recent memory in St Louis County, Solar Impulse silently eased its way to Lambert Airport from Texas.  It was a cool night without a cloud in the sky.  It was perfect.

I had just purchased a Fujifilm FinePix camera on discount from Amazon.com.  I had some initial practice with it at night from my home.  I took a couple of pictures of stars, clouds, birds, and sunrise.  The landscape was flooded with trees which served as a type of boarder anytime you look at the sky.

It was Monday evening, and I knew the plane was coming.  The local paper website, St Louis Post Dispatch, had an article saying it was on its way.  Unfortunately it would arrive right after tornadic weather hit the airport.  Even with these events in mind, I felt excited.  Pulling up the Solar Impulse website, I could track Bertrand Piccard's progression through the midwestern countryside.  He yet seemed far away.

A skilled pilot, Betrand was a member of a family of explorers.  So much so that Jean Luc Picard character in Star Trek was modeled after the twins Jean and Auguste Piccard.  Bertrand was Auguste's grandson. 

The chat on the site was active and the mood was joyous.  Much was about the ground crew was doing as seen in the live video stream.  I logged in to join the conversation, though my mind was on the things that were about to occur.

I noticed that the map showed Bertrand would fly in a holding pattern right near my home.  My mind raced.  He was still some miles out.  At around Washington he crossed the Missouri River, then followed it.  I realized he was on his way.  I sent an email to the ground crew who passes on messages to Bertrand and saying, "Smile after you cross I-64 and you follow Missouri river a bit.  I will take your picture.  Your will be flying by my home."

I employed my wife to track the craft on the net while I gathered the FinePix, binoculars, and tripod and headed outside.  My wife texted me updates, "Get ready. Plane just shift down south angle over mo river."

I scanned the skies.  There were several things out that night and the visibility was excellent.  Planes, birds, stars; it was all there.  My only worry was the tree line.  Will it allow me to see Solar Impulse at all?

Then, I made out a red light and a green light just coming slowly over the trees.  The lights were quite far apart, then I realized.  That's it.

I nervously tried to take photos of it, but it would not show up on my camera view.  I ended up pointing at it and shooting and hoping for the best.  My wife came out.

She indicated a better spot for me to shoot.  The plane was in an obvious holding pattern going round in circles.  I set up in the new spot and then I heard my wife yell.  Bertrand had put on the lights.  I think he got my email. :-))

Now it was easy to get a picture.

It looked like some kind of slow moving extraterrestrial thing in the night sky.  It was so quiet.

We later went inside and almost 2 hours later Bertrand landed at Lambert.  The news said they had to use an inflatable hangar to house the craft since the designated hangar had been damaged by tornadoes.

On Friday afternoon my wife and I went to see the plane in person.  It was in a large aluminum framed tent and several visitors were there along with the ground crew.

I got over 100 pictures in of the plane and of the posters they had around.  Its massive wingspan was tremendous.  The cockpit was open and there was a stuffed animal mascot in it.  While the basic design of the craft was not new, the materials and technologies that went into it were new.

Solar Impulse as a project was to give awareness of alternative energies.  It was the first solar plane to fly day and night without consuming any fossil fuel.  I'm very glad my wife and I got to see it.

Autogyro: Forgotten Tech Still Shows Signs Of Potential

Autogyros seem to be a forgotten tech thanks to the advent of the very versatile helicopter.  In modern times the autogyro has improved from Cierva's original design.  Two man crafts now feature initial powered rotation of the rotors, aft facing propeller that provides partial vector thrusting with the rudder.  Now the technology is being pushed further.  Let's check out a couple of 'sporty' autogyros on the market that would make James Bond green with envy, and let's look at two future developments in the making.

The autogyro is going the way of the sports car.  Calidus and Arrow Copter are currently on the market and show off their sexy bodies like no other rotary wing craft.  They both are tandem two seaters and feature enclosed cockpit with a bubble canopy.  Calidus has nice rounded curves and sleek lines while Arrow Copter sprawls out its elevator and rear landing gear almost like a bird of prey extends its wings, tail, and talons.  They are quite cool.  The beauty of a sleek and sexy autogyros lie in where they likes to fly.  They like to fly just above the tree tops, and they do very well there.  While planes can fly in that region, they can't maneuver as quickly in tight spaces as autogyros can.  Following the terrain is quite dangerous for planes.  Military planes require sophisticated radar mapping equipment to fly near the ground.  Autogyros can swivel in tight turns, can fly slow, and cost less in maintenance than a helicopter.  They can take off in around 500 ft of runway space though they don't need a runway.  A flat field will do.  They land in a fraction of that distance.  Both of these models have a max. speed of just over 100 mph.  They should do great in hilly or lake ridden landscapes.  I gathered this information by watching many videos of gyroplanes and reading specs on them.  Though it is said that autogyros are safer than helicopters, all aircraft can and do crash.  All safety precautions should be taken.



There are now 2 significant developments.  There is a flying car with the Pal-V, and there is a plane hybrid with Carter Aviation Technologies.  The Pal-V is a roadable autogyro.  That is it is street legal and flies like an autogyro.  It seems to drive more like an enclosed motorcycle than a car since it leans into turns on its 3 wheels.  The conversion from road vehicle to aircraft involves a combination of automatic motions and manual hands-on motions.  You can cross rivers, lakes, mountains (or hills), and valleys by flying over them and then park it at home.  That's pretty neat.

Carter Aviation Technologies have developed and perfected the slowed rotor concept to create a hybrid autogyro and plane.  The result is a craft that can virtually takeoff and land vertically yet have the flight efficiency and range of an airplane.  It's a real vertical takeoff and vertical landing craft (VTVL).  Carter Aviation redesigned the main rotor and added weights on the tips.  This allows for jump vertical takeoffs by pre-rotating the rotors.   The craft converts from autogyro to plane just by tilting the mast.  Then, it flies like a plane and you can get some great mileage or range out of your fuel.  With larger craft, Carter Aviation plans on using twin propellers with variable angle props which would allow the craft to hover like a helicopter.  This is truly a major breakthrough for the autogyro.



Autogyros are developing and have come far since Cierva made his debut flight in 1924.   Some on the market are sporty, sexy, and fun.  New innovations should help the future of this venerable craft.  Perhaps one day we will look at autogyros the way we look at helicopters personal planes.  It can be the safer go anywhere personal craft.  Engineering is awesome.