https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)
It had 1x Unmanned flight orbiting Earth 2x.
Basically a Automated systems validation check flight.
Then the USSR Collapsed and the program ran out of $
Aviation Geeks unite?! Anybody else care about planes here?
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It had 1x Unmanned flight orbiting Earth 2x.
Basically a Automated systems validation check flight.
Then the USSR Collapsed and the program ran out of $
OK............ unmanned test flight. I honestly didn't know that.
uggh fuel transfers and COG.
Had Concorde under an older version of X-Plane and would be nicely crusing until the time came to adjust the balance.....
I have heard rumors, and when you deal with Buran that's mostly what you will find (no one outside of the Russian space program was even sure it was the original Buran that was destroyed later on in the hangar collapse, for years), that it landed hard on its one flight and suffered significant fuselage problems. Which was not a problem in itself, as it was a dry run, and Ptitchka was well along in production (the one recently vandalized)
It was still a pretty amazing flight and shows just what the USSR was capable at their pinnacle. It was a dead end, technologically, however.
Did the Soviets Actually Build a Better Space Shuttle? | Popular Mechanics
Alot of the issues with the Buran was more of funding and internal USSR issues that lead to a stoppage of work / R&D due to the breakup of the USSR.
The Buran engineers also used four main engines (instead of the shuttle's three) designed to provide most of the thrust during a ride to orbit. They placed these engines into a separate rocket stage, rather than on the winged orbiter itself, as was the case with the shuttle. This approach meant that the Soviet system would lose its main engines after each flight instead of returning them to Earth with the orbiter, making it less reusable. On the other hand, it meant that almost any conceivable cargo up to 95 tons, be it a space battle station, a lunar base module, or a Martian expeditionary vehicle, could be attached to the Buran's launch system. By contrast, the maximum payload of the space shuttle was limited by the 29-ton capacity of the orbiter's cargo bay.
Alot of the issues with the Space Shuttle was having the Rocket Engine & Fuel mounted on the STS.
With modern day reuseable rockets, we can move the fuel and the Primary Rocket Engines to the reusable core and let the New Space Shuttle be a glorified Glider with RCS thrusters only.
This way you can pack more cargo/tonnage on board.
NASA had disposable variants using the Shuttle engines. Shuttle C, SDLV etc were never built of course, to just lift raw cargo. From some standpoints the SLS is a reworking of shuttle hardware, upper stage nonwithstanding.
But getting back to the airplane bit, I wrote that Buran is a dead end because it did not seem to really offer some function that they needed, apart from "We did it too!" prestige that came with building a shuttle that saved time by copying all the aerodynamic work that Rockwell and NASA had had to do. I am not aware of any SpaceLab, SpaceHab, satellite removal missions or anything like that which the shuttle was useful for and which to date there isn't a replacement for.
They've been fine without a shuttle now for decades and we seem to be doing ok without ours too. (the mysterious Space Force X-37's are a different matter)
But, I don't say the Space Shuttle was a technological dead end as it has at least ended with the SLS. Now whether the SLS is a dead end is a subject for another topic.
What's the deal with the X37 It's a spaceplane but not much is public about it. I did find this
https://www.airspacemag.com/space/spaceplane-x-37-180957777/
It does spend a lot of time in orbit.
https://www.airspacemag.com/space/spaceplane-x-37-180957777/
It does spend a lot of time in orbit.
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This is what remained of the smaller, more Dyna-Soar like Orbital Space Plane (OSP).
Think unmanned Blue Gemini missions for this niche craft. Spooky stuff.
A scaled up HL-42 sized Dream Chaser could go atop Falcon Heavy….but top-mount mini-spaceplanes induce pitch loads…bending moments. That’s why X-37 is inside a normal shroud/fairing that come apart after punching out of the atmosphere. Air breathing spaceplane concepts have to slant up through to murk and get at least as hot leaving the atmosphere as on re-entry. Tough!
Better to pop straight up, shed tankage and cannon-ball back in a capsule..1960’s style…a step backwards. At least X-37 glides back.
Buran-like concepts was what I wanted—but with powered landings this time.
Buran itself was as dead-stick as Columbia though.
I think a lot of people confuse the Polyus deorbiting, N-1 explosions and the Nedelin disaster as one event somehow.
Remember the old Mars One Crew Manual? That called for their superbooster. One old book had N-1 as a fatter Saturn. The early 90’s was when everything was revealed. Now the Russians are tightening the info spigot even more. Sad, really. Rogozin has no help.
Think unmanned Blue Gemini missions for this niche craft. Spooky stuff.
A scaled up HL-42 sized Dream Chaser could go atop Falcon Heavy….but top-mount mini-spaceplanes induce pitch loads…bending moments. That’s why X-37 is inside a normal shroud/fairing that come apart after punching out of the atmosphere. Air breathing spaceplane concepts have to slant up through to murk and get at least as hot leaving the atmosphere as on re-entry. Tough!
Better to pop straight up, shed tankage and cannon-ball back in a capsule..1960’s style…a step backwards. At least X-37 glides back.
Buran-like concepts was what I wanted—but with powered landings this time.
Buran itself was as dead-stick as Columbia though.
I think a lot of people confuse the Polyus deorbiting, N-1 explosions and the Nedelin disaster as one event somehow.
Remember the old Mars One Crew Manual? That called for their superbooster. One old book had N-1 as a fatter Saturn. The early 90’s was when everything was revealed. Now the Russians are tightening the info spigot even more. Sad, really. Rogozin has no help.
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Isn't the X37 what we see in the opening theme of Enterprise? It looks sort of the same shape.
That’s a riff off the X-33 concept and its full sized Venture Star idea…John Eaves’ OV-165….a lot like the G.I. Joe Defiant shuttle…pointed the way towards the Emmette
Starlifter C2 by Michael Oberschneider looks great…as does Icarus by Russell Chong. Pascal Blanche has great space art at conceptships
Starlifter C2 by Michael Oberschneider looks great…as does Icarus by Russell Chong. Pascal Blanche has great space art at conceptships
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just to add what publius said, there was still some hype about X-33/Venture Star when Enterprise was first filmed and it was easy to still hope that something would come out of it. The X-33 had really difficult problems getting conformal composite tanks to work with the liquid hydrogen. They never solved the problem, but if they went with metal, even lithium-aluminum like the shuttle external tank eventually used, the already thin margins for Venture Star would not have worked. That was one of the problems with X-33 as it eventually was offered (and it was a lifting body so it's appropriate here, I guess). It crammed too much high tech into what it was testing. The earlier idea was great. But X-planes work well when they test one idea.
One by one, and in pretty rapid order the great space X-plane programs got cancelled or mothballed, then cancelled. X-33 was done before Daniel Golden was out as NASA admin. By the time the first episode of Enterprise showed OV-106, the idea of a lifting body space shuttle was already dead.
X-34 followed suit, having never flown. interestingly though, the FASTRAC engine program that went with X-37 was sold and the buyer, a small upstart company named SpaceX, would go on to use the tech to build the Merlin rocket motor. That worked out pretty well.
X-43/X-37 was continually revived until it found a home. And now the X-37b's do whatever it is they do. They must do it well. They sleep in the old Space Shuttle OPF buildings where Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endevour once were processed. Good company to keep.
X-38 was possibly the saddest tale. Cancelled just as it was ready to serve as a lifeboat for the ISS, for nothing better than budgetary reasons. It might have saved the lives of the Columbia astronauts. When it was retired, a pirate flag was flown as it was removed and put in storage, a rulebreaker until the end.
Sad rock song about the X-38.
One by one, and in pretty rapid order the great space X-plane programs got cancelled or mothballed, then cancelled. X-33 was done before Daniel Golden was out as NASA admin. By the time the first episode of Enterprise showed OV-106, the idea of a lifting body space shuttle was already dead.
X-34 followed suit, having never flown. interestingly though, the FASTRAC engine program that went with X-37 was sold and the buyer, a small upstart company named SpaceX, would go on to use the tech to build the Merlin rocket motor. That worked out pretty well.
X-43/X-37 was continually revived until it found a home. And now the X-37b's do whatever it is they do. They must do it well. They sleep in the old Space Shuttle OPF buildings where Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endevour once were processed. Good company to keep.
X-38 was possibly the saddest tale. Cancelled just as it was ready to serve as a lifeboat for the ISS, for nothing better than budgetary reasons. It might have saved the lives of the Columbia astronauts. When it was retired, a pirate flag was flown as it was removed and put in storage, a rulebreaker until the end.
Sad rock song about the X-38.
I remember seeing it parachute right atop a dirt road.
Well...it lives on as Dream Chaser....in a way.
This also makes me sad
https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/promise_denied.html
Looks like they still fly the F-117---in 4K
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=47427
kerosene from ag-waste
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-kerosene-bio-based-side-streams.html
Breaking CO2
https://phys.org/news/2021-10-strategy-efficient-stable-carbon-dioxide.html
Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is promising in CO2 conversion and renewable clean electricity energy storage. It can convert CO2 and H2O simultaneously into syngas or hydrocarbon fuel at the cathode, and produce high purity O2 at the anode.
Also helps the LOX shortage
Buran Book!
https://www.amazon.com/Baikonur-Vestiges-Soviet-Space-Program/dp/2361953773
Burans for sale?
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-to-trade-soviet-shuttle-for-historic-skull/
Tensions are continuing to escalate between a Kazakh businessman and Russian space officials over the fate of the second Buran-class orbiter, named Burya.
Well...it lives on as Dream Chaser....in a way.
This also makes me sad
https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/promise_denied.html
Looks like they still fly the F-117---in 4K
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=47427
kerosene from ag-waste
https://techxplore.com/news/2021-10-kerosene-bio-based-side-streams.html
Breaking CO2
https://phys.org/news/2021-10-strategy-efficient-stable-carbon-dioxide.html
Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) is promising in CO2 conversion and renewable clean electricity energy storage. It can convert CO2 and H2O simultaneously into syngas or hydrocarbon fuel at the cathode, and produce high purity O2 at the anode.
Also helps the LOX shortage
Buran Book!
https://www.amazon.com/Baikonur-Vestiges-Soviet-Space-Program/dp/2361953773
Burans for sale?
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...s-to-trade-soviet-shuttle-for-historic-skull/
Tensions are continuing to escalate between a Kazakh businessman and Russian space officials over the fate of the second Buran-class orbiter, named Burya.
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Hondajet
https://interestingengineering.com/the-hondajet-2600-has-an-unrivaled-47000-foot-flight-ceiling
Russian and China drones
https://interestingengineering.com/russias-s-70-unmanned-combat-craft-is-nearing-the-prototype-stage
https://interestingengineering.com/...ones-that-can-launch-decoys-at-enemy-warships
Tanker
https://interestingengineering.com/...built-the-perfect-tanker-for-the-us-air-force
Supersonic craft
https://wonderfulengineering.com/th...ontract-for-its-first-supersonic-uav-concept/
https://wonderfulengineering.com/na...ow-so-how-do-pilots-see-where-they-are-going/
https://wonderfulengineering.com/elon-musk-says-he-is-dying-to-make-a-electric-supersonic-jet/
https://interestingengineering.com/musk-is-dying-to-build-a-supersonic-evtol-jet
https://interestingengineering.com/...on-to-develop-electric-passenger-jets-by-2035
https://interestingengineering.com/...nes-midair-to-prove-neil-degrasse-tyson-wrong
drone package delivery
https://interestingengineering.com/bell-showcases-new-autonomous-supply-drop-drone
https://interestingengineering.com/...one-volocopter-nailed-its-first-public-flight
https://interestingengineering.com/...ccessfully-tested-its-new-bunker-breaker-bomb
Jet suit paramedic
https://interestingengineering.com/video/jet-suit-gives-paramedics-super-human-abilities
New Choppers
https://interestingengineering.com/...e-the-armys-new-attack-reconnaissance-chopper
https://interestingengineering.com/...r-could-fly-at-twice-the-speed-of-black-hawks
Not quite ready for take off
https://interestingengineering.com/...e-in-the-wings-jetliner-successfully-took-off
https://interestingengineering.com/...g-fighter-just-emerged-into-reality-in-russia
https://interestingengineering.com/the-hondajet-2600-has-an-unrivaled-47000-foot-flight-ceiling
Russian and China drones
https://interestingengineering.com/russias-s-70-unmanned-combat-craft-is-nearing-the-prototype-stage
https://interestingengineering.com/...ones-that-can-launch-decoys-at-enemy-warships
Tanker
https://interestingengineering.com/...built-the-perfect-tanker-for-the-us-air-force
Supersonic craft
https://wonderfulengineering.com/th...ontract-for-its-first-supersonic-uav-concept/
https://wonderfulengineering.com/na...ow-so-how-do-pilots-see-where-they-are-going/
https://wonderfulengineering.com/elon-musk-says-he-is-dying-to-make-a-electric-supersonic-jet/
https://interestingengineering.com/musk-is-dying-to-build-a-supersonic-evtol-jet
https://interestingengineering.com/...on-to-develop-electric-passenger-jets-by-2035
https://interestingengineering.com/...nes-midair-to-prove-neil-degrasse-tyson-wrong
drone package delivery
https://interestingengineering.com/bell-showcases-new-autonomous-supply-drop-drone
https://interestingengineering.com/...one-volocopter-nailed-its-first-public-flight
https://interestingengineering.com/...ccessfully-tested-its-new-bunker-breaker-bomb
Jet suit paramedic
https://interestingengineering.com/video/jet-suit-gives-paramedics-super-human-abilities
New Choppers
https://interestingengineering.com/...e-the-armys-new-attack-reconnaissance-chopper
https://interestingengineering.com/...r-could-fly-at-twice-the-speed-of-black-hawks
Not quite ready for take off
https://interestingengineering.com/...e-in-the-wings-jetliner-successfully-took-off
https://interestingengineering.com/...g-fighter-just-emerged-into-reality-in-russia
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Yeah that last one, I don't think it could happen.
Looks cool. But having said that this is very much a promotional video and probably a highly qualified pilot and controlled conditions.... I don't think the ordinary Jack or Jane or anyone could fly this that well, or that it will be a common sight in the sky.
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Flying sub?
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727671-000-from-sea-to-sky-submarines-that-fly/
Alabama's first Airbus takes off:
https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2021...reeze-airways-gets-its-first-alabama-jet.html
It also showed off an unusual cabin configuration central to its ambition of offering a better experience to more people: sacrificing its maximum capacity of 145 seats, this A220-300 offers 90 economy seats, 10 of which have extra legroom, and a whopping 36 business-class seats with more leg room, shoulder room and amenities...."This airplane is magical, and it absolutely has both the ability to fly these amazing missions, great takeoff performance, and phenomenal economics …It allows us to do things other airlines can only dream of doing.”
New engine plant north
https://www.madeinalabama.com/2021/...-v-6-engine-line-after-288-million-expansion/
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727671-000-from-sea-to-sky-submarines-that-fly/
Alabama's first Airbus takes off:
https://www.al.com/news/mobile/2021...reeze-airways-gets-its-first-alabama-jet.html
It also showed off an unusual cabin configuration central to its ambition of offering a better experience to more people: sacrificing its maximum capacity of 145 seats, this A220-300 offers 90 economy seats, 10 of which have extra legroom, and a whopping 36 business-class seats with more leg room, shoulder room and amenities...."This airplane is magical, and it absolutely has both the ability to fly these amazing missions, great takeoff performance, and phenomenal economics …It allows us to do things other airlines can only dream of doing.”
New engine plant north
https://www.madeinalabama.com/2021/...-v-6-engine-line-after-288-million-expansion/
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Be interesting to see how long they keep the configuration given the trend to try and squeeze as many people in as possible but if they want to use it for longer flights it could be a good option.
Iirc Airbus has been building aircraft in Alabama for a while. Recall it come it up with an Air Force contract (might have been the replacement for the KC-135s)
Would have been nice if the aircraft had been build in Canada but after boeing's bastardy and trying to kill it with lawsuits rather actually come with a new design to compete instead of reheating a 50y.o design.
