Eurocopter’s X3 compound helicopter demonstrator continues its US demo tour, and they continue to share videos from said tour. I still think it looks a bit strange, but I suppose people said the same thing about helicopters and tilt-rotors when the were new concepts too. But they’re really going to have to do something about the prop location on a production model, IMHO.
In this video we learn that ‘X3′ is pronounced ‘X-Cube’. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that, I was mentally reading it as ‘X-Three’, of course.
Eurocopter isn’t the only vendor working on a compound helicopter, of course. Sikorsky continues to develop the S-97 Raider coaxial compound helicopter, based on their earlier X2 demonstrator. Each month they release a program update video, and the June release focuses on Esterline, one of the primary suppliers to the program.
Esterline is providing the Human/Machine Interface technology, which includes the cockpit flight displays and the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) fly-by-wire flight controls (the cyclic and collective), as well as the control surface actuators for the elevators and rudders.
NASA has posted video looks at five different vendors’ offerings for the Commercial Crew Program: SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), Boeing, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and ATK. They’re basically highlight reels for each of the offerings.
First up is the SpaceX Dragon, which is arguably the front runner in the CCP given it’s successful unmanned cargo mission to the ISS. The Dragon, of course, is designed to launch atop SpaceX’s own Falcon 9.
Next up is SNC’s Dream Chaser lifting body design. SNC isn’t producing a booster, the Dream Chaser is intended to launch atop a ULA Atlas V, though it could possibly be lofted by other man-rated boosters as well.
Next is the Boeing CST-100. While Boeing does have their own booster, the Delta IV (currently produced via the ULA joint venture with Lockheed Martin), there are currently no plans to man-rate it. At this time the CST-100 is planned to launch atop the Atlas V, though it may also use the Falcon 9.
Next is ULA with the Atlas V. Now, the Atlas V is an established launch platform for satellites and unmanned probes, but the CCP work will involve man-rating the launcher so that it can carry vehicles such as the Dream Chaser and CST-100 safely.
And lastly we have the ATK Liberty. Liberty looks an awful lot like the Ares I from NASA’s now-defunct Constellation program, and with good reason. ATK was developing the first stage of the Ares I, which was basically going to be a five segment evolution of the four segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster. When the Constellation program was cancelled, ATK was well along in the design and testing of their first stage, so they decided to go forward with the work on their own. As NASA was going to develop the second stage of the Ares I they needed to replace it. Rather than design something from scratch they turned to an existing design, the European Ariane 5. The second stage of Liberty is the core first stage of the Ariane 5, with modifications of course.
ATK has also decided to develop their own crew capsule, rather than using Boeing’s CST-100 or the NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion. ATK’s capsule will be based on a composite demonstrator they produced for NASA as part of the Orion project during Constellation. While it was decided not to use a composite structure for Orion, ATK has decided to use their experience building the demonstrator to produce their own capsule. So they’re looking to produce a complete end-to-end system, like SpaceX with the Falcon 9 and Dragon.
There is another participant that doesn’t seem to have a video, yet anyway, and that’s Blue Origin. They’re working on yet another capsule design, this one with a unique biconic shape, which they’re simply calling Space Vehicle. It will initially launch atop the Atlas V, but Blue Origin plans to produce their own Reusable Booster System in the future.
No, it isn’t a new horror film coming out this fall. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is scheduled to touch down at 22:31 PDT on August 5, 2012. From the time Curiosity enters the Martian atmosphere until touchdown only seven minutes will pass, but radio signals will take fourteen minutes to reach earth. So, as stated in the video “When we first get word that we’ve touched the top of the atmosphere, the vehicle has been alive, or dead, on the surface, for at least seven minutes.”
A lot has to happen during Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL), and all of it has to run completely autonomously. Everything needs to work go flawlessly, including the radical, new and untested, ‘skycrane’ landing technique. It is quite an audacious mission, and given all that has to go right during EDL and the fact that we won’t know if it worked, or not, until it is all over, it is understandable why EDL has been dubbed the Seven Minutes of Terror.
Check out the video, it is really well done. And nice use of the Inception music.
SpaceX continues to impress with their technological developments. Unlike most ‘new’ rocket engines, which are mainly evolutions of old designs (such as the J-2X), SpaceX’s Merlin is a clean sheet design. And it has evolved quite a bit since it was first introduced.
The original Merlin 1A had 77,000 pounds of thrust. It was used on the first couple of Falcon 1 flights. The Merlin 1B was an improved 1A with 85,000 pounds of thrust, but it was never flown. Instead the 1C replaced the 1A on the Falcon 1 and is used on the Falcon 9. The 1C initially had 78,000 pounds of thrust, but this was increased to 125,000 pounds. And now the Merlin 1D has achieved 147,000 pounds of thrust. This means the 1D has a thrust to weight ratio of 150:1, the highest ever achieved for a rocket engine. Nice work, SpaceX. The Merlin 1D will be used on Falcon 9 flights going forward.
Sorry I’m a little late posting this. I’m going on vacation next week so I’ve been busy with work trying to get everything squared away before I’m off.
Eurocopter’s X3 compound helicopter demonstrator continues its US demo tour, and they continue to share videos from said tour. I still think it looks a bit strange, but I suppose people said the same thing about helicopters and tilt-rotors when the were new concepts too. But they’re really going to have to do something about the prop location on a production model, IMHO.
Eurocopter isn’t the only vendor working on a compound helicopter, of course. Sikorsky continues to develop the S-97 Raider coaxial compound helicopter, based on their earlier X2 demonstrator. Each month they release a program update video, and the June release focuses on Esterline, one of the primary suppliers to the program.
