SpaceX Reveals The Falcon Heavy, The Most Powerful Rocket Since The Mighty Saturn V

by Matt Burns
from http://www.crunchgear.com/

SpaceX teased the world last week with some rocket pr0n that hinted that the company was finally ready to reveal its Falcon Heavy mega rocket. Well, that’s what the company did minutes ago in a Washington DC press conference. World, meet the Falcon Heavy. She might take us back to the Moon.






The Falcon Heavy will be the most powerful and capable launch platform. At 52,000 kg the payload capability is nearly double that of the current heavy lifter, the Space Shuttle and its 24,400 kg carrying capacity. This super strength is thanks to a three banks of nine engines that combine to generate 17 MN (3,800,000 lb) of thrust at liftoff. SpaceX claims that the three core design makes the Falcon Heavy as powerful as a three stage rocket. (Like the Saturn V) Cross-feeding propellant from the side boosters leaves the center core the majority of the fuel even after the two boosters separate. This function is optional and can be disabled for lower-mass launches.

While impressive, it’s still half as powerful as the 44-year old Saturn V’s 7,648,000 lb record. Still, SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk stated that it’s powerful enough to send man back to the Moon and it very well do just that since the the Falcon Heavy complies with NASA’s human rating standards. The Falcon Heavy is expected to blast off for the first time in 2012. Space just got exciting again. [SpaceX]

25 Pictures Of Rockets Being Launched

From: http://www.bannedinhollywood.com/

The title is a little deceptive in that there are certainly other weapons being fired in some of these images. Nonetheless, I found these images stunning, and the title, fitting enough.

No comedy today folks… enjoy these 20 mindbending images.

Testing Largest Solid Rocket, NASA Outdoes All Homemade Flamethrower Videos

Posted by videodrome

From: http://motherboard.tv/

Today, on a hillside in Promontory, Utah, NASA and its contractor ATK Aerospace Systems successfully completed a two-minute, full-scale test of the largest and most powerful solid rocket motor ever designed for flight.

But the motor has nowhere to go. Borrowed from the nearly extinct Space Shuttle system, which uses solid rocket boosters to get to space, the latest rocket was originally intended for the Constellation program, whose future has been cast in doubt by the Obama administration. And now critics are raising more questions than ever about the wisdom of using solid rockets, which are considered expensive and inapplicable to other uses.

But they are generally lighter than liquid fuel, and they’re proven to work. As the New York Times explains, solid rockets have a long history, dating back to the gunpowder-packed rockets invented by the Chinese perhaps a millennium ago. Solid rocket fuel is a mix of aluminum, ammonium perchlorate, a polymer called polybutadiene acrylonitrile, epoxy and iron oxide poured into cylindrical steel casings 12 feet wide, where it hardens into the consistency of a pencil eraser. Burning the fuel expels hot gases that generate thrust. A lot of thrust.

And for a moment, all of these crazy kids shut up.

The World's Largest Amateur Rocket Is Almost as Tall as a V-2

From: http://gizmodo.com/

Unlike wood-based models, the Heat 1X is a real metal rocket. At more than 9 meters high, it's also the largest amateur rocket in the world. The guys building it are planning one almost as large as the V-2.

They call themselves Copenhagen Suborbitals, and they operate from an abandoned shipyard in the outskirts of the Danish capital. This group of nutters rolled out their Heat 1X engine last Sunday. The image above puts it next to their planned beasts and the first ballistic missile ever: The German V-2.

These are the same guys who built a submarine last year, which makes me fear they are probably planning to build a cruise missile and pacify some hostile territory. Like New Jersey. [Something Awful]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at jesus@gizmodo.com.

Red Tires and Rockets: 1928 Opel Motoclub is awesomely insane

from: http://www.autoblog.com/

by Jeremy Korzeniewski

Back in the early 1900s, Fritz von Opel, grandson of Opel founder Adam Opel, was enamored with rocket propulsion. As the company's director of testing and the man in charge publicity, Opel had quite an outlet to fulfill his rocket-powered fantasies. Hence, the 1928 Opel Motoclub you see above.

The example showcased so beautifully here doesn't happen to have rockets attached to it, but a number of Motoclubs apparently did, as seen on the right. The 500cc single-cylinder engine could reportedly push the silver-and-red Opel motorcycle up to about 75 miles per hour, after which a foot pedal lit the rockets, sending the bike to a calculated top speed of 132 mph.

Sadly (or perhaps fortunately?), the German government forbade Opel from conducting a world-record top speed attempt, fearing that such a run on two wheels couldn't possibly be safe. The good news, though, is that decent examples of the Opel Motoclub can still be found from time to time, minus the six solid-fuel rockets, of course. Sounds like a good DIY weekend project, no?

[Source: Bike EXIF]

Chinese Rocket Fly-by

Chinese Rocket Fly-by - Watch more Funny Videos

A Chinese made rocket is launched within just a few miles of this commercial airliner and is caught on tape by one of the passengers.

Plasma Rocket Could Travel to Mars in 39 Days

October 6th, 2009 by Lisa Zyga

In the VASIMR rocket, magnetic fields force the charged plasma out the back of the engine, producing thrust in the opposite direction. Image copyright: Ad Astra Rocket Company.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Last Wednesday, the Ad Astra Rocket Company tested what is currently the most powerful plasma rocket in the world. As the Webster, Texas, company announced, the VASIMR VX-200 engine ran at 201 kilowatts in a vacuum chamber, passing the 200-kilowatt mark for the first time. The test also marks the first time that a small-scale prototype of the company's VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) rocket engine has been demonstrated at full power

"It's the most powerful plasma rocket in the world right now," says Franklin Chang-Diaz, former NASA astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra. The company has signed an agreement with NASA to test a 200-kilowatt VASIMR engine on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. The engine could provide periodic boosts to the ISS, which gradually drops in altitude due to atmospheric drag. ISS boosts are currently provided by spacecraft with conventional thrusters, which consume about 7.5 tonnes of propellant per year. By cutting this amount down to 0.3 tonnes, Chang-Diaz estimates that VASIMR could save NASA millions of dollars per year.

But Ad Astra has bigger plans for VASIMR, such as high-speed missions to Mars. A 10- to 20-megawatt VASIMR engine could propel human missions to Mars in just 39 days, whereas conventional rockets would take six months or more. The shorter the trip, the less time astronauts would be exposed to space radiation, which is a significant hurdle for Mars missions. VASIMR could also be adapted to handle the high payloads of robotic missions, though at slower speeds than lighter human missions.

Chang-Diaz has been working on the development of the VASIMR concept since 1979, before founding Ad Astra in 2005 to further develop the project. The technology uses radio waves to heat gases such as hydrogen, argon, and neon, creating hot plasma. Magnetic fields force the charged plasma out the back of the engine, producing thrust in the opposite direction. Due to the high velocity that this method achieves, less fuel is required than in conventional engines. In addition, VASIMR has no physical electrodes in contact with the plasma, prolonging the engine's lifetime and enabling a higher power density than in other designs.

More information: www.AdAstraRocket.com

Aérotrain: A Rocket Powered Railways Experiment from the 60s

Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 8, 2009 in Tech |

The Aérotrain sounds like a plot device from a steampunk novel — a rocket powered railroad car designed to travel on a monorail. This amazing retro tech project was lead by engineer Jean Bertin in France from 1965 until 1977. Sadly Bertin passed away in 1975, and his technology was passed over in favor of high speed trains that used high-powered electrical motors. Shown above is a working prototype from 1967 that was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT12 engine. Below is an early concept model which was created in 1962 which used compressed air:

While the Aérotrain looks like a bit of a historical curiosity today, it does show that France was very focused on spending serious research and development funds in the 60s which has give them a very useful high speed railway system today. This never happened in the United states because 20th Century America had a deep love affair with the automobile — starting with Robert Moses with the New York parkway system in the 30s and reaching a high point with Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System of the 50s. However I wonder with the current green movement if we’ll see a return to high speed rail over here.

If you think about it an American high speed railway system could eliminate a great deal of domestic airplane travel which consumes a great deal of fuel and is hub based anyway. Such a project could also be a very positive job creation program from the federal government. Also if we look back to France in the 60s we should be inspired to see that it might be a good idea to not just take what already exists — but put some real effort into innovation.

Maybe this might mean creating single user (or family sized) railway vehicles? Or perhaps we might see a return to something like trolley cars inside of urban settings which could replace buses. When you look at the video footage below of Mr. Bertin’s handy work from 1969 you start to realize that even though we may hit some dead ends, that it’s never too late to rethink a basic mode of transportation: