fusion-powered starship - revisiting Daedalus 1970s design

[MANT!]

Pilgrim Observer was a plastic model kit based loosely on the Empire concepts (http://www.astronautix.com/craft/empronic.htm) from NASA.

It was never to be and not forgotten by NASA because it was never known to NASA.

The Empire and Von Braun's were proposed to NASA..they were rejected for budgetary concerns..

But again they were only concepts, like those "Return to the Moon and on to Mars or the Cycling Spacecraft concepts bandied about in the late 80s and early 90s that amounted to squat...

 

[sojourner]

^Correct. Pilgrim Observer is just a model kit. Never a proposal at NASA.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The Pilgrim kit is a nice source of parts for kitbashing - I've owned a number of them.

There've been many spacecraft models designed and built for television and movies that didn't have the level of detail or plausible design of that model kit.

 

[MANT!]

The Pilgrim kit is a nice source of parts for kitbashing - I've owned a number of them.

There've been many spacecraft models designed and built for television and movies that didn't have the level of detail or plausible design of that model kit.

Except for the spiral staircase inside the microgravity Main Control Center.. but it might be useful under boost.

http://www.ninfinger.org/models/kitplans/mpc9001-booklet.pdf

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Supposedly, you can mate the Pilgrim Observer kit with the Revell 1:96 scale Saturn V as a replacement for the third stage. You're probably going to need a bigger house, though. Dragon are coming out with a 1:72 scale Saturn V for $250 or thereabouts - 1.5m tall - you'd definitely need a big room for that sucker.

http://www.jumbliesmodels.com/model...meters-tall-dr50388&utm_campaign=froogle#1480

It's prebuilt - like their 1:400 scale version - at least you wouldn't need to scratch build or substitute a lot of the parts like with the Revell.

ETA: more pictures

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=254903714556580&set=pu.138484492865170&type=1&permPage=1

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=254903764556575&set=pu.138484492865170&type=1&permPage=1 (the 1:72 Apollo model that is apparently included with the Saturn V)

 

[MANT!]

Well I broke down and purchased a Pilgrim Observer..with a few small modifications it'll look good on my shelves..

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

To me, the Pilgrim Observer shares the same problem as the Discovery from 2001 - nuclear reactors but no cooling fins.

ETA: A small picture of Con Pederson's original concept model for the Discovery can be seen here: http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.03/4.03images/moritzpederson03.jpg (image from http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.03/4.03pages/moritzpederson.php3). That version was more like Arthur C Clarke's description in the novel.

 

[sojourner]

Yeah, discovery was originally going to have cooling fins, but they were afraid the audience would think they were wings and infer that Discovery could travel through an atmosphere.

 

[MANT!]

Can't find any mention of cooling fins in any NERVA proposals located..

http://astronautix.com/craft/vonn1969.htm
http://astronautix.com/craft/mm.htm
http://astronautix.com/craft/imis1968.htm
http://astronautix.com/craft/umpuglas.htm
http://astronautix.com/engines/nerva.htm


I think NERVA actually used it's fuel to cool the reactor, the Discovery used a "Plasma Drive" (similar to the Nuclear Ion Prometheus study in the early 2000s..) in which cooling fins are required as there is no liquid fuel to cool the reactor system.

 

[sojourner]

You still need cooling fins to dissipate heat from the rest of the spacecraft.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

... or as radiator panels affixed to the surface of the spacecraft, which are less efficient as you only have half the radiating surface area per unit of volume. The proposed JIMO configuration, which deployed some 400m² of radiator panels, was somewhat similar to Clarke's description of the layout of the Discovery - only not manned, of course.

 

[John O.]

I met Obousy at a recent DARPA con - didn't see this thread until now. I'm a big fan of the stuff Icarus Interstellar's doing primarily because it's getting good press and generating interest. But I'm not personally a fan of ICF which is the direction they're leaning in terms of proposing it as a feasible scheme to put more time & money into. Still, Daedalus is monstrously huge. I don't know that it's a feasible launch platform. "No bigger than a Nimitz class carrier" is BIG.

 

[sojourner]

Last time I checked Daedalus was built in orbit. Not a launch platform.

 

[MANT!]

Last time I checked Daedalus was built in orbit. Not a launch platform.

perhaps the confusion comes from the Daedalus's 2 stage design..