RF Safe-Stop Shuts Down Car Engines With Radio Pulse

An anonymous reader writes with news of a device built by a company in the U.K. which uses pulses of electromagnetic energy to disrupt the electronic systems of modern cars, causing them to shut down and cut the engine. Here's a description of how it works: "At one end of a disused runway, E2V assembled a varied collection of second-hand cars and motorbikes in order to test the prototype against a range of vehicles. In demonstrations seen by the BBC a car drove towards the device at about 15mph (24km/h). As the vehicle entered the range of the RF Safe-stop, its dashboard warning lights and dials behaved erratically, the engine stopped and the car rolled gently to a halt. Digital audio and video recording devices in the vehicle were also affected.''It's a small radar transmitter,' said Andy Wood, product manager for the machine. 'The RF [radio frequency] is pulsed from the unit just as it would be in radar, it couples into the wiring in the car and that disrupts and confuses the electronics in the car causing the engine to stall.'

http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/12/03/1919230/rf-safe-stop-shuts-down-car-engines-with-radio-pulse

Where to Buy :

guided wave radar transmitter :)
http://dir.indiamart.com/impcat/radar-level-transmitter.HTML


 

AK47_-_AKM_Technical_Drawings__Russian_.pdf by Elsa Cristina David

TURN INTO CAD FIle for 3D printing on metal printers like the CNC milling printer

Defense Distributed: Successful test fire of first 3D printed pistol (video)

Defense Distributed has released a video of the successful test firing by hand of their first complete 3D printed pistol, the "Liberator". The Liberator has only one metal part, the firing pin, made from a common nail. In the video, Cody Wilson is shown firing the pistol by hand, to dramatically illustrate his faith in the design. The Liberator is a single shot pistol in .380 (9X17) caliber. While firearms have been made in home workshops ever since they have been in existence, the ability to download computer files and have a computer controlled machine print all the parts to a functioning firearm has caught the public attention.  Dean Weingarten, Defense Distributed Distributor

NON DETECTABLE GLOCK 7

welcome back to war! Today's subject, ceramic guns non detectable! Ok, everybody knows here I've been trought the Glock 7, everybody wants to ge the hands on smile emoticon Now, we already have a 3D design for a Glock piece, but we didn't have teh right material, which the Glock 7 is made of, so here it is:

Making Cermet II Materials

What follows are some explanations of how to make advanced carbide.  These are pretty short explanations but they will give an idea of all that is possible. 

Obviously we use different techniques for different grades and applications.  We have compiled a great deal of infomation on Carbide and Advanced Materials in our Tool Tipping Index.  
How It Works 
Carbide wear is due to micro-fracturing, macro-fracturing, grain pull out, corrosion of the binder, adhesion between the carbide and the material being cut, and tribological functions which are similar to a naturally occurring electro-etching. 
Cermet II technology uses a variety of carbides such a titanium carbide, tungsten carbide, Tantalum carbide, Niobium carbide and others.  Steel is iron with a very small amount of carbide but it is very different than plain iron.  The addition of a very small amount of the right material can make a huge difference in carbide performance as well. 
Cermet II grades also use unique binder formulations.  Cobalt is a good binder material and is used in standard grades.  It was the first binder used and is still easiest to use.  However cobalt is pure metal and is subject to chemical attack.  Part of the secret of our Cermet II grades is to chemically alloy special binders with a proprietary metalloid which makes the cobalt binder non-reactive so it doesn’t corrode.  It also greatly strengthens the binder so grinds aren’t pulled out. 
Cermet II grades have special binder properties so that they behave more as a solid piece of material than as a cemented piece of material.  Think of a steel alloy as compared to concrete.  
Grain Size 
The most important reason for this widening of the spectrum of available WC grades is that, besides those variations achieved by cobalt contents and some carbide additives, the properties of WC-Co hardmetals such as hardness, toughness, strength, modulus of elasticity, abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity can be widely varied by means of the WC grain size. While the spectrum of available WC grain sizes ranged from 2.0 to 5.0 µm in the early days of the hardmetal industry in the mid 1920’s, the grain sizes of WC powders now used in hardmetals range from 0.15 µm to 50 µm, or even 150 µm for some very special applications.  
Grain Size 
The history of tungsten carbide powder metallurgy, and especially that of the hardmetal industry, is characterized by a steadily widening range of available grain sizes for processing in the industry; while, at the same time, the grain size distribution for each grade of WC powder became narrower and narrower. 
The most important reason for this widening of the spectrum of available WC grades is that, besides those variations achieved by cobalt contents and some carbide additives, the properties of WC-Co hardmetals such as hardness, toughness, strength, abrasion resistance and thermal conductivity can be widely varied by means of the WC grain size. While the spectrum of available WC grain sizes ranged from 2.0 to 5.0 µm in the early days of the hardmetal industry in the mid 1920’s, the grain sizes of WC powders now used in hardmetals range from 0.5 µm to 50 µm, or even 150 µm for some very special applications. 
The first submicron hardmetals were launched on the market in the late 1970s and, since this time, the micro-structures of such hardmetals have become finer and finer. The main interest in hardmetals with such finer grain sizes derives from the understanding that hardness and wear resistance increase with decreasing WC grain size. 
With optimum grade selection, sub micron grain size tungsten carbide can be sharpened to a razor edge without the inherent brittleness frequently associated with conventional carbide. Although not as shock-resistant as steel, carbide is extremely wear-resistant, with hardness equivalent to Rc 75-80. Blade life of at least 50X conventional blade steels can be expected if chipping and breakage is avoided. 
Advanced Manufacturing Techniques 
Better, cleaner powder has been achieved through improved solvent extraction in tungsten chemistry as well as new techniques in hydrogen reduction and carburization to improve the purity and uniformity of tungsten and tungsten carbide powder. 
New powder milling, spray drying and sintering techniques have resulted in improved hardmetal properties and performance. Notably, the continuous improvement of vacuum sintering technology and, starting from the late 1980’s, hot isostatic pressure sintering (SinterHIP) led to new standards in hardmetal quality. 
http://www.carbideprocessors.com/pages/carbide-parts/making-cermet-material.html

The design for thermonuclear ignition that Klaus Fuchs turned over to his Soviet control in March 1948. The detonator (box) on the left represents a gun-type fission bomb consisting of a projectile and target of highly enriched uranium (71 kg of 70% pure U235), which when joined form a supercritical mass and produce an explosive chain reaction. The projectile is carried forward by its momentum, striking the beryllium-oxide (BeO) capsule on the right, which contains a liquid 5...0:50 D–T mixture, compressing it by a factor of about 3, as represented by the outer circle. The radiation produced in the fission bomb heats up the BeO capsule, producing completely ionized BeO gas, which exerts pressure on the completely ionized D–T gas, compressing the capsule further to an overall factor of about 10, as represented by the inner circle.
The detonator is а fission bomb of the gun type. The active material is 71 kg of 40% pure U233 [sic].3 The plug (48.64 kg) sits in the projectile, which is shot bу the gun into the target, the remaining 22-24 kg sits in the target. The tamper is ВеО. The fission gadget has аn efficiency of 5% (calculated). The tamper, which is transparent for the radiation from the fission bomb, is surrounded bу an opaque shell which retains the radiation in the tamper and also shields the booster and main charge against radiation. […]
The primer contains 346 gm of liquid D-Т in 50:50 mixture, situated in the tamper. It is first compressed bу the projectile to 3-fold density. This precompression may not bе necessary. As the tamper and primer аге heated bу the radiation, the primer is further compressed, possibly to 10-fold density. (Radiation transport equalises the temperature in primer and tamper, and gives therefore rise to а pressure differential.) The compression opens the “gap” for the ignition of the primer. The primer is likely to have а very high efficiency (~80 %) of energy release.
The booster beyond the radiation shield contains D with about 4% Т. It is ignited bу the neutrons from the primer. Beyond the booster is the main charge of pure D, а cylinder of about 30 сm radius to contain the neutrons and arbitrary length.

So what’s happening here is that the big piece of uranium is being shot against another piece

and this is how to stabilize the spheres, Van Graaf generator  

Silica Aerogel (TEOS, Base-Catalyzed)

Editor’s Note: This is an adaptation of the silica aerogel procedure from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory site about aerogels, which for a long time was the only procedure for making aerogels publicly available. That procedure, we’re sorry to say, does not work. Maybe you’ve tried it. If you have, you’ll have noticed that the solution stays separated as two layers and a gel never forms. That’s because there’s not enough alcohol. Maybe it was a typo. So we modified that procedure and present the modified version that works for us below.  If for some reason you have trouble with the procedure below, please leave a comment!

Materials

• Tetraethoxysilane (tetraethyl orthosilicate), Si(OC₂H₅)₄
• Absolute (200-proof) ethanol
• Deionized water
• Ammonium hydroxide, 28-30 wt % in water
• Ammonium fluoride, NH₄F

Optional

• Acetone

Gel Preparation

An Excel calculator for determining amounts of chemicals required by target volume (mL) or mass (g) is available.

1. Weigh 1.852 g NH₄F and add it to 100 mL of water. Add 20.50 g (22.78 mL) ammonium hydroxide solution. Store this in a bottle so you can reuse it later. This is the “ammonium fluoride/ammonium hydroxide stock solution”. If you already have stock solution prepared you can skip down to step 2.
2. Mix 4.7 g (5.0 mL) TEOS and 8.68 g (11.0 mL) ethanol in a beaker. This is the “alkoxide solution”.
3. Mix 7.0 g (7.0 mL) water and 8.68 g (11.0 mL) ethanol in another beaker. Add 0.364 g (0.371 mL, ~8-10 drops from a disposable pipette) of ammonium fluoride/ammonium hydroxide stock solution. This mixture is the “catalyst solution”.
4. Pour the catalyst solution into the alkoxide solution and stir. This is the “sol”.
5. Pour the sol into molds and allow gel to form. Gel time is approximately 8-15 min.

What Everything Does

TEOS is the source of the silica. Water is what hydrolyzes the TEOS so that it can polymerize. Ethanol is a co-solvent that is miscible with both TEOS and water to get both into the same phase so they can react. Ammonium hydroxide is a basic (alkaline) catalyst that helps to make the reactions go faster. Fluoride ion is a catalyst that helps hydrolysis happen more quickly.

What Doesn’t Work

• Not using ammonium fluoride. It actually makes a big difference with TEOS. Although fluoride also makes reactions with TMOS go faster, TMOS will work fine with just a basic catalyst without fluoride.
• Using denatured alcohol that contains anything other than methanol or isopropanol as a denaturant instead of absolute ethanol. Some hardware store alcohol works, some doesn’t.
• Using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) instead of ammonium hydroxide in equal molar concentration. NaOH is a strong base so if you use it you’ll need to use a lower molar concentration of it than for ammonium hydroxide.

Variables You Can Play With

• Try adjusting the amount of solvent used to adjust the density of the resulting aerogel.
• Try adjusting the amount of the catalysts in the stock solution or the amount of stock solution you add. This will change the gel time and possibly the clarity of the gel (more catalyst means faster gel time but possibly lower transparency).
• You can substitute sodium hydroxide, sodium carbonate, or potassium carbonate for ammonium hydroxide but you will have to experiment with the amount.
• You can substitute sodium fluoride for ammonium fluoride in equal molar concentration, although your gel time may be affected since you lose the buffering effect of the extra ammonium ions.

Gel Processing Conditions

1. Once the gel has set, place it under ethanol and allow the gel to age for at least 24 h.
2. Exchange into 200-proof ethanol or acetone at least four times over the course of several days to a week.
3. Supercritically dry. A suggested procedure would be to heat the CO₂ through its critical point (31.1°C and 72.9 bars) to ~45°C while maintaining a pressure of ~100 bars. Depressurize at a rate of ~7 bar h^-1.

What You Should Get

A transparent silica aerogel with a blue cast from Rayleigh scattering that appears yellowish when viewed in front of a light source from Mie scattering.

• Density 0.040 g cm^-3
• Surface area 700 m² g^-1

Useful Information

Tetraethoxysilane (tetraethyl orthosilicate):

• Molecular weight 208.33 g mol^-1
• Density 0.933 g mL^-1
• Smells a little bit like spearmint
• Sigma-Aldrich part number 131903

Ethanol:

• Molecular weight 46.07 g mol^-1
• Density 0.789 g mL^-1
• Sigma-Aldrich part number 459836 or 459844, or get Everclear from a liquor store

Ammonium fluoride:

• Molecular weight 37.04 g mol^-1
• Form is a fluffy, lightweight solid
• Sigma-Aldrich part number 216011

Ammonium hydroxide:

• Concentration is 28-30 wt % in water typically
• Molecular weight of NH₄OH is 35.05 g mol^-1, but this is not the molecular weight of the solution
• Density 0.9 g mL^-1
• Form is a pungent liquid that smells like cleaning ammonia, use in a vent hood
• Sigma-Aldrich part number 221228

http://www.aerogel.org/?p=1027

DIRTY BOMB - X RAY POWDER

So, today I finally reached a fantastic conclusion: any microcrystalline powder substance, which can be exposure to an x ray machine, can get so many radioactivity tha might be used for any dirty bomb. That opens the possibility of anyone can build the bomb. For any good dirty bomb its needed at least 500 microcuries, and that its possible to achieve with 100 gr of powder.

X-ray powder photograph A photograph produced by monochromatic X-irradiation of a sample of microcrystalline powder placed at the centre of a circular camera, e.g. a Debye-Scherrer camera. Diffracted X-rays are recorded on a strip of film wrapped around the circumference of the camera. The angular position of the diffracted X-rays on the film gives structural information about the sample. See also X-RAY DIFFRACTION CRYSTALLOGRAPHY

The Unwanted Blog

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Cyanotype Print 01: Nuclear Lightbulb

 art, cyanotype blueprints, drawings, new products, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  3 Comments

Jul122012

 

Cyanotype Print 01: Nuclear Light Bulb

A NASA diagram of a Nuclear Light Bulb, an advanced nuclear rocket that uses incandescent uranium plasma to irradiate hydrogen gas to provide thrust. NOTE: There is a mis-spelled word on the blueprint. It was mis-spelled by NASA way back when… it’s shown as it was published.

A hand made cyanotype blueprint on sturdy 12X18 watercolor paper. Each is unique, and likely to feature small imperfections.The blue will fade if left in the sun. If this happens, it can be darkened by placing it somewhere dark with good air flow to re-oxidize the ink. Alternatively. hydrogen peroxide, available from grocery stores, will instantly oxidize the ink and restore it to its full hue.

Nuclear Lightbulb, Part 3

 awesomeness, drawings, history, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  16 Comments

Jul282010

 

To continue…

A uranium plasma with a core temperature of 42,000 degrees Rankine (23,333 K) is simply incapable of being held by any solid structure. The highest melting point of any known substance is tantalum hafnium carbide, at 4488 K. The uranium plasma would simply evaporate any material it came into contact with.
So, the trick was to make sure the uranium plasma didn’t come into contact with any solid materials. To do this, a “radial inflow vortex” was to be employed. Within the cylindrical reactor chambers, the uranium plasma would be held within the center, away from direct contact with the walls, by a rapidly rotating sheath of neon gas. Injected tangentially along the walls, the neon gas would travel in a helical pattern up the length of the cylinder and would be extracted at the forward end, to be cooled and recycled back into the system. The rapid rotation of the neon gas would be translated to the uranium plasma, and the whole plug of gas would spin at a high rate. Centrifugal force would keep the system properly distributed… while normally it would seem that a uranium gas would be denser than neon, the fact was that at the fabulously high temperatures involved, the uranium would be lower density than the cooler neon, and thus would be suspended in the core, away from the walls.
While the core temperature of the uranium plasma was 42,000 R, the outer surface would be a comparatively chilly 15,000 R. This is of course still far in excess of what any material structure can handle. But the neon, already a gas, could handle 15,000 R; due to the vortext structure, the innermost surface of the neon layer, where it was in contact with the uranium, would also be at 15,000 R, but a steep temperature gradient dropped the temperature to a modest, and structurally possible, temperature of 2000 R at the walls. The thickness of the neon gas layer was estimated to be under 0.05 feet.
Each of the seven chambers would have a neon flow rate of 2.96 pounds per second, and an axial velocity of 1.95 feet per second and a tangential velocity of 10 feet per second, with a total dwell time of 3.8 seconds. The hot neon would extract energy from the reactor, of course, to the sum of 4,120 BTU/sec. The hot neon would be used, in part, to pre-warm the hydrogen fuel.
—————–

Schematic view of one of the seven chambers in the nuclear lightbulb engine (United Aircraft)
————–
Even with the neon buffer layer, a simple glass wall would not be sufficient to withstand the harsh environment. As well as simply being in contact with 2000 R neon gas, the transparent wall would also have a vast sleet of radiation passing through it… infra-red, gamma rays, neutrons, the whole spectrum. Once again there was the problem that no transparent material would possibly be able to survive the environment. Even the most optically transparent material will absorb some of the radiation passing through it… and this absorbed energy will be converted directly to heat. It would not take very long at all for the clearest substance to get incredibly hot… which, of course, was the goal with the hydrogen propellant. What was desired for the propellant was manifestly not desired for the structure.
So the transparent walls were to be made not out of monolithic sheets, but thin-walled tubes. High-purity fused silica was the baselined material of choice. Thought was given to single-crystal beryllium oxide and synthetic quartz as materials, as they had better transparency in the ultraviolet, but production of the required tubes using these materials was undemonstrated. To cool the tubes, hydrogen gas would be pumped through.
The cylindrical walls were built in three 120-degree radial segments. At the end of each segment was a manifold for injection or extraction of the hydrogen coolant, so the hydrogen did not travel very far around the circumference of the cylinder. This assured that the hydrogen did not have time to heat up to much, and that the silica glass would be maintained at a reasonably constant temperature of between 800 and 1100 Celcius (yes, the reports have units all over the place). Corning Type 7940 and General Electric Type 151 fused silicas typically had a purity of SiO2 of 99.997 percent, with Al2O3 being the primary impurity. Purity was essential… the greater the purity, the greater the transparency.
Since this was the late 1960’s, United Aircraft actually ran a number of physical experiments to demonstrate the feasibility of their designs and materials, rather than a series of colorful computer simulations. As operating a uranium plasma reaction was somewhat beyond the scope and funding of their contract with NASA, they instead used a 1.2 megawatt RF induction heater to generate an argon plasma of about 15,000 R in a subscale “reactor.” The subscale test setup used both axial tubes (with wall thicknesses down to 0.005inches) and circumferential tubes potted into the manifold with RTV silicone.
———–

Schematic view of test setup (United Aircraft)
————–

Test setup with annular tubing (United Aircraft)
————

Details of test hardware (United Aircraft)
——————–
In the tests, water rather than hydrogen was used as the coolant.
Test results were generally encouraging, but a number of issues were discovered. One of the more odd things that was noted in this and other testing was that the color of the glass tubes was a variable during the course of nuclear engine operation. Radiation damage to the glass would cause the glass to gradually become blue, then purple, then black. This is, of course, fatal to not only the functioning of the engine, but the survivability of the glass. Any amount of coloring would cause massive increase in radiation absorbtion, resulting in rapid overheating and structural failure. But over 800 Celcius, the  glass would thermally anneal… which would wipe out the coloration and restore transparency. Thus the need to keep the glass operating at a minimum of 800 C. But above 1100 C, devitrification of the glass would occur… it would continue to be perfectly servicable clear glass, but once it began to cool down after engine shutdown the surface of the glass would turn milky white due to a myriad of microscopic surface cracks. This would cause the glass to overheat if the engine was restarted. And thus the need to make sure that the glass did not rise above 1100 C.
————–
       
Photos of test hardware (United Aircraft)
______________
To Be Continued…

Nuclear Lightbulb, Part 2

 awesomeness, history, nukes, projects, rockets, science, spacecraft  6 Comments

Jul172010

 

The operating principle of the Nuclear Lightbulb is simple: a self-sustaining uranium plasma would be contained within a glass vessel; radiant energy would pass through the “bulb” and heat hydrogen gas surrounding it, which in turn would be contained within a metal chamber. The superheated gas would then pass through a nozzle and generate thrust in the normal fashion.

While simple to describe, almost nothin about this was simple to design. The engineering involved would have been monumental. And while the Nuclear Lightbulb is typically described in simple terms and illustrated with simple sketches, it turns out that a lot of work was done on this engine concept, (seemingly) mostly by the United Aircraft Corporation. The United Tech Research Lab produced a fairly detailed design for a reference engine, and did much more work – including many physical experiments – on the componant designs than is generally known. The reference engine had seven separate “bulbs,” each a cylinder 6 feet long by 2.3 feet in diameter. The engine operated at 500 atmospheres pressure.
First off, the uranium plasma. Generating the plasma would be fairly straightforward… simply get enough of the right fissile material into an enclosed volume of the right size, and nuclear chain reactions will do the job. In this case, a critical mass of 34.7 pounds of Uranium 233 spread between the seven chambers would cause the uranium to melt, vaporize and finally become a plasma.
Step one in the process would be to actually gather that much U233 within the chambers. Obviously it could not be stored as a solid block, but instead scattered and diffuse so that nuclear reactions would not begin until it was in the reactor. In order to accomplish this, three methods were proposed:
1) Store the uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride (UF6). The UF6 gas would be simply pumped or injected into the reactors like any other gas. Storage of the UF6 was not described, but it probably would have involved very large tanks of very low pressure (and thus low density) filled with a neutron absorbing foam. As the UF6 began to gather under increasing pressure and density, nuclear reactions would begin to take hold and the temperature would increase. At a pressure of 200 psi, the UF6 would totaly dissociate by 13,000 degrees Rankine, allowing the fluorine to be drawn off from the Uranium. The problem, of course, is that the byproduct would be fluorine gas at about 13,000 degrees Rankine. Fluorine is trouble enough at room temperature. While the gas would be cooled prior to contact with any solid structural material, fluorine that can be described in any way as “hot” is a terrifying notion.
2) Inject molten uranium. This, however, would require some means to melt the uranium, as well as inject it. The melting temperature of uranium is 1403 degrees Kelvin; while this is by no means impossibly hot to work with (metals such as tungsten and many ceramics have melting points far higher), it would still be a complication. While the plan was that the molten uranium would be injected into the reactor in the form of an aerosol suspended within a high temperature carrier gas such as neon, it was expected that the uranium would plate on the mechanical portions of the injector system.
3) A third option was similar to the molten uranium aerosol, but with the temperature lowered so that the uranium was still a solid. Here the uranium would be divided into an extremely fine dust… pumpable, injectable, would not plate out onto the structural surfaces. As the dust begins to build up within the reactor, nuclear chain reactions would cause it to heat, eventually becoming a plasma. Once the full critical mass was injected into the reactor and the system reached equilibrium, the plasma would reach an average temperature of 42,000 degrees Rankine (23,333 Kelvin). This superheated plasma would glow fiercely, providing the radiant energy needed to superheat the hydrogen propellant. But there is no material known, certainly no transparent material, that can withstand anything remotely like the temperature of the uranium plasma. A solution to containment, however, was found.
To be continued…

Nuclear Lightbulb, Part 1

 awesomeness, drawings, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  2 Comments

Jul102010

 

The NERVA nuclear rocket used a sorta-conventional nuclear reactor as its basis. As the reactor was brought up to power, the solid fuel elements would heat up; hydrogen would be sent through coolant channels. The hydrogen would of course heat up, cooling the reactor. When operated properly, the temperature in the reactor would reach a steady state; a temperature limited by the structural capabilities of the solid reactor materials.

The hotter the reactor, the hotter the hydrogen, and the better the rocket performance. However, the hotter it gets, the softer the reactor structural elements get; at some point it fails structurally, and perhaps even melts. So the temperature must be limited. And the temperature limits limit performance. NERVA was quite cool compared to the combustion temperature of a conventional hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine. However, the extremely low molecular weight of the pure hydrogen exhaust compared to the H2O exhaust of the chemical rocket makes up for that, providing about twice the specific impulse.
In order to greatly improve specific impulse, the temperature of the hydrogen must be increased; and to do that the temperature of the reactor must be increased. It quickly becomes impossible to have a solid-core reactor, and one must accept that the uranium will not be a solid. So rocket designers of the early 1960’s came up with the liquid-core nuclear rocket, with molten uranium; and then the gas-core rocket where the uranium is so hot it has actually vaporized. But the problem was containing the uranium. Typically centrifugal force (by spinning the rocket around its central axis) was employed; the uranium liquid or gas would, hopefully, be stuck to the outer wall of the rocket reaction chamber, while lighter hydrogen would migrate to the core, and then out the nozzle. The thickness of the uranium liquid or gas would be less than the distance from the chamber wall inwards to the nozzle, so the hope was that ther uranium wouldn’t be able to flow out the nozzle. A simple idea made extremely difficult in actual practice… massive, extremely hot nuclear reactors being spun at high rate around their central axis, with little to no vibration while being injected with liquid hydrogen? Not exactly the description of a straightforward engineering problem. With all the effort involved, uranium was still expected to leak out the nozzle, making the propulsion system both filthy (a minor concern in deep space) and wasteful of uranium (a serious concern).
Another solution was devised in the mid 1960’s that in principle would combine the best of both worlds… uranium brought up to plasma temperatures, and uranium contained physically so that it could not escape. This concept was known as the Nuclear Light Bulb.
TO BE CONTINUED…

       

Vellum cyanotype blueprint prototypes

 art, awesomeness, cyanotype blueprints, drawings, history, new products, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, nukes, projects, rockets, spacecraft  7 Comments

May152013

 

I’ve made many test runs and made considerable progress. I’ve also run out of supplies and need to improve the mechanical infrastructure. so I’ve decided to sell the “prototypes” I’ve made. These are indeed  prototypes, and more to the point they are prototypes of art, so they are imperfect and variable… but they’re nevertheless pretty spiffy. These are actual cyanotype blueprints on actual vellum, an they not only look right (based on the vintage blueprints I’ve actually gotten my mitts on), they *feel* right.  The failure rate is pretty high compare to the watercolor paper, but the results are much more authentic.

I currently only have a few of each. If you would like one or more of the following, send an email stating which ones to:   On a first come first served basis I’ll pass along a paypal invoice. Postage (tubes) will be $6 US, $12 everywhere else for any number.
I will update this post with revised availability numbers. When more supplies and improved infrastructure is on hand I’ll make new prints for those that requested them.
Here’s what I have (the 12X18’s were mae two at a time on 18X24 sheets an will be sliced apart):

Convair super Hustler~20X36; $70. On hand: 2 1 0

Saturn V, 1/72: messed up by being a mirror-image. D’oh. Would look good at a distance. This mirror image is $35; the final product will be $75. on hand: 1

Saturn Ib, 1/72: $40 On hand: 1

A-4 (V-2) layout drawing, 18X24 inches: $40. On hand: 4 3
A
A-4 (V-2) rocket engine, 18X24 inches. $40. On hand: 1

ICARUS, 12×18; $20. On hand: 1
Super NEXUS,12×18; $20. On hand: 0

A-4 (V-2) engine,12×18; $20. On hand: 1
A-4 (V-2) layout,12×18; $20. On hand: 1 0

10-meter Orion, 12×18; $20. On hand: 1
NERVA diagram, 12×18; $20. On hand: 1


Mercury prelaunch configuration, 12×18; $20. On hand: 2
Fat Man atom bomb, 12×18; $20. On hand: 2


Wasserfall layout, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0
Nuclear Light Bulb, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0

Mercury inboard views,12×18; $20. On hand: 1
Mercury capsule instruments, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0


Pioneer plaque, 12×18; $20. On hand: 2
Gemini capsule, 12×18; $20. On hand: 5

NERVA art, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0
4,000 ton Orion propulsion module, 12×18; $20. On hand: 1


XNJ-1 nuclear turbojet, 12×18; $20. On hand: 3
X-15A-3 delta-wing, 12×18; $20. On hand: 3 2 1

Gemini (see above)
F-1 engine components, 12×18; $20. On hand: 3

Republic ASP exterior, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0
Republic ASP interior, 12×18; $20. On hand: 0
 

Huh.

 blather  7 Comments

Aug112011

 

For no verifiably useful reason, I decided to take a look at my Blog Stats. Shows stuff like how many visits the blog gets, where people click links to come to it, which posts got how many visits, etc. One set of stats is “search terms” people use to come to the blog. Below is what’s listed for yesterday. Note that people don’t seem to be coming to the blog for fantastic photography of cats or lightning, or unbuilt aircraft & spacecraft projects, or political rants & news: no, people want Hot Redheads.

Every single data point tells me that if I want to make money, I’ve gotta turn The Unwanted Blog into a hardcore pornaterium.
———————–
These are terms people used to find your site.

Yesterday

Search	Views
redhead	35
awesome	20
unwanted blog	15
focke wulf fw 198	14
the unwanted blog	8
hot redhead	8
messerschmitt me-328 3-view	7
hot red head	6
juno 2 irbm	5
natf	5
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“S-F Spaceship Design”: Propulsion systems outline

 blather, books, Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, rockets, science, science fiction, spacecraft  27 Comments

Feb112010

 

I’ve been digging out the old files for the book project previously described HERE. By far the largest part of the book was/is going to be on propulsion systems. Now, this may be due to the fact that propulsion systems for spacecraft were my schtick, professionally; but I like to think that it’s actually because compared to the propulsion system, everything else (navigation, life support, power, etc.) is pretty secondary. Think of it this way… if tomorrow Microsoft announced that they had developed a perfect closed-system ecology perfect for long duration spaceflight, the general response would be a collective yawn. But if someone tomorrow announced that they figured out how to make a practical and affordable warp drive that could send you to the stars at ten times the speed of light, people around the world would start slapping together starships the day after. To hell with closed ecologies… just pack an assload of canned Spam.
<>  Anyway, one of the files I’ve got is the outline of the propulsion system section. My idea was to break all technologies into several technological “eras,” as described in the book’s Introduction:

This book will show how to design and use your Spaceship to a level of detail adequate to avoid the usual pitfalls of most science fiction. To do this, the technology levels are divided into the following types:
1) Now
2) Real Soon
3) On the Horizon
4) Beyond The Horizon
5) Magic
The “Now” class of spaceship is what can actually be built today, with equipment more or less off the shelf, or new designs that make no noticeable advancements on existing equipment. This would include such things as conventional staged, expendable launch vehicles (from small to very large), to space capsules, small spaceplanes, Shuttle-type vehicles, basic inter-orbit tugs, lunar landers and the like. All would be powered by such propulsion systems as chemically fueled rockets – liquid, solid and hybrid; some use of low thrust systems like ion engines and resistojets. These technologies, used wisely, allow for the early commercialization of near-Earth space and the limited manned exploration of the Moon, Mars and some nearby asteroids.
The “Real Soon” class of spaceship would include the use of technologies that have received considerable ground testing, but have not been used. These are devices and technologies that the engineers behind them are virtually certain will work, but will require development. Such spaceships would include fully reusable two stage to orbit launchers, early single stage to orbit vehicles, solar sails, Mars landers, and nuclear thermal rockets such as the NERVA. There are a few materials of note in the “Real Soon” category that would be of interest, such as high temperature ceramics and aerogels. The “Real Soon” designs would, somewhat arbitrarily, encompass those available beginning around 2010-2030, and are the sort of technologies that would allow for true commercialization of near-Earth space (including the Moon and, possibly, near-Earth asteroids) and the manned reconnaissance of the inner solar system.
The “On The Horizon” designs would include the use of technologies that have received only very preliminary testing, and are largely “vaporware.” This class would include such things as airbreathing single stage to orbit vehicles, nuclear pulse vehicles, gas-core nuclear vehicles, laser-propelled launchers, early fusion and antimatter drives. These technologies, which may become available around 2030-2060, would allow for the low-cost commercialization of near-Earth space (including the Moon), tourism to Mars, and the manned exploration and exploitation of the entire solar system, with early missions to the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belt.
The “Beyond The Horizon” vehicles would be where things start to get really interesting. These would include the use of technologies that scientists have only the barest preliminary theories of, and engineers are currently very uncertain as to how to even contemplate their use. However, it is in this area where the first interstellar propulsion systems become available. Pure antimatter “photon” drives, Bussard ramjets, advanced pure fusion drives and the like. “Beyond the horizon” technologies have the potential of making the entire solar system accessible as the steam engine made the world accessible. These technologies may become available in the second half of the 21st Century and beyond.
“Magic” technologies are those for which even a theoretical basis is almost totally lacking, or which current theory does not support. Warp drive, hyperdrive, jump drives, wormholes, time travel, gravity generators, zero-point energy generators all fall into this category. They have the potential of making the entire universe accessible. However, with the highly hypothetical nature of these technologies, putting even a vague handwavy date on them is not reasonable. They may be impossible; they may equally be demonstrated within a few years.
———————-
So, here’s the general outline of what the propulsion system was expected to look like:
———————-
Basics:
Spaceship Physics 101
The rocket equation – Read it, Learn it, Live it
Rocket engine design basics
Basic Rocketry
Thrust Vectoring
Jetevator
Jet tabs
Jet Steering
Secondary Liquid Injectant
Rotating Asymmetric Nozzle Extension
Supersonic Splitline
Differential Throttling
Relativistic Travel & Effects
Types of propulsion:
Available Now:
Siege Engines
Steam Rockets
Compressed Gas
Guns
Chemical Rockets
Solid rockets
Liquid rockets
Monopropellant
Bipropellant
Bimodal
Liquid engine design features
Shock diamonds
Hybrid Rockets
Hypersolids
Pressurant vs. pumps
Electrical Propulsion Systems
Ion engines
Hall Effect Thrusters
Resistojets
Arcjets
Turbojets
Ramjets
Balloons
Available Real Soon:
Advanced Chemical Rockets
Expansion-deflection nozzles
Aerospike nozzles
Plug cluster
Dual bell
Hypersolids
Goddard’s Turbo-Prop Rocket
Rotationally Augmented Thrusters
Nuclear Thermal Rockets
Nuclear ramjet
Solar Sails
Solar Photon Thruster
Laser /Microwave Sails
Solar Thermal engines
VASIMR
Rotary Slings
Rotavators
Slingatron
Pulley Drives

On The Horizon systems:
Scramjets
Ducted Rockets and Ejector Ramjets
Liquid Air Cycle Engines
Pulse detonation engines
Gas core nuclear
Nuclear/MHD “Torch”
LANTR
Nuclear lightbulb
Nuclear pulse (Orion)
Nuclear Pulse (Medusa)
Nuclear Pulse (Helios)
Laser Launch
M2P2
MagSail
Railguns
Mass Drivers
Antimatter: Fuel of the Future.
An Antimatter Primer
Antimatter Steam Rocket
Antimatter ramjets
Antimatter turbojets
Anti-Proton Initiated Fusion
Muon Catalyzed Fusion
Pellet Stream Propulsion
Sail Beam
Light Gas Balloon Tunnels
Hydrogen Balloon Ramjet Tunnels
Advanced Artillery
Scramjet Guns
Light Gas Guns
Compressed Gas
Combustion Driven Piston
Falling piston
Underwater gun
Thermal Bed Gun
Nuclear Reactor Gun
Nuclear Bomb Gun
Electric Discharge Gun
Beyond The Horizon:
Launch Loop
Matter/Antimatter Photon Rocket
Bussard Ramjet
Catalytic Ramjet
Ram Augmented Interstellar Rocket
Exotic Chemicals
Metastable Helium
Monatomic Hydrogen
N20 (Nitrogen-Twenty Buckysphere)
Magic:
Alcubierre Warp Drive
Krasnikov Tunnel
Quantum Teleportation
Vacuum Point Energy systems
Wormholes
Artificial Gravity
Inertialess Drives: General
Inertialess Drive: Negative Matter
Inertialess Drives: Dean Drive and others (i.e. BS)
Forwards’ Spin Drive
If I’ve missed anything, and I almost certainly have, feel free to drop a note.

 

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