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JUPITER II - Ship Of The Week #22 5/19/2015

Jupiter II

  • Awesome!

    Votes: 23 69.7%
  • Rubbish!

    Votes: 5 15.2%
  • Meh...

    Votes: 5 15.2%

  • Total voters
    33
This recently published book includes blueprints that fits all three decks and Spacepod :

Lost In Space:Jupiter 2 Technical Guide by Christopher Krieg :vulcan:





 
I like this ship- I know the show was corny and the second level (and once a third level) could not possibly fit inside the hull. When I was growing up it reminded me of a house, complete with picture window up front and a door to the left, but it could go just about anywhere and made it seem feasible. I could relate to it as a kid better than the Enterprise with all those decks and hallways.

When I was a kid, I wanted to build a house that looked like the Jupiter II.
I thought I was the only one who wanted to do that. :techman:
 
What really cracks me up is how the feature film uses the TV-series version of the ship as a "booster" for the film version.

I mean, just look at the launch sequence in the movie. That's gotta be the most un-aerodynamic way to launch a saucer.... :lol:
 
Lenticular airships have been called for: http://www.airshipkothmann.com/

Attack craft: http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent/?file=PMsaucer
http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/LenticularRe-EntryVehiclePage.htm


Phil Bono came up with a highly notional Saturn V class HLLV saucer

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bonaucer.htm


ROOST and Astro
Credit: NASA

The 108-m diameter saucer would have delivered a million pounds of payload to low earth orbit.

Other lenticular vehicles were looked at. Look at Figure 12 and 13 here:
https://www.aiaa.org/uploadedfiles/...uttle_launches/shuttlevariationsfinalaiaa.pdf
 
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What really cracks me up is how the feature film uses the TV-series version of the ship as a "booster" for the film version.

I mean, just look at the launch sequence in the movie. That's gotta be the most un-aerodynamic way to launch a saucer.... :lol:

Given the severe industrial pollution of Earth in the movie, it's probably the only way the Jupiter would make it to orbit without dissolving first.
 
^ But look at the way the saucer is pointed during the launch. It's got the flat end pointed straight up. Wind resistance, here we come! :lol:
 
And yet she achieves orbit vertically, something we can't even do now since everything has to launch at a long slant.

Obviously the thrusters of the future are pretty powerful. Building the Hypergate would need ships leaving and returning to Earth continuously, so I suppose they'd have to be.
 
JUPITER II




Overpopulation is crowding the Earth! The human race must reach for the stars and colonize other worlds!


Leading the way are the brave members of the Robinson Family, who have set off on a journey into deep space. Their mission: land on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system and start a new life there.


They will make the journey in the Jupiter II spacecraft, a hyperdrive capbale ship which will function as their home and research station upon landing. The ship is equipped with the latest technology to provide for all the comforts of home, as well as two exploration vehicles - the Chariot for surface transit and the Space Pod for EVAs - and an Environmental Control Robot.


We’re tracking her now...wait! She’s off course, heading for a meteor shower...no! Her hyperdrive has activated too soon!


Is she lost?





LOST IN SPACE





The classic science fiction television series created by legendary producer Irwin Allen. Meant to be “Space Family Robinson” on television, the story centered on the Robinson family’s travails in space as they try to find their way to Alpha Centauri or back to Earth. Though begun as an ensemble, later episodes mainly focused on young Will Robinson, the saboteur Dr. Zachary Smith and the Robot.



“Danger! Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!”​



Very Cool, little family ship.:)
 
The Jupiter II was my second space craft, and my second favorite to the Enterprise. My first space craft was The United Planets Cruiser C-57D from Forbidden Planet. It was pretty cool, but could hold even less of the impossible parts shown then the Jupiter II. But who cared then? Between the three of them, they started an imagination process that has yet to stop in many decades!
I'm planning on ordering a die-cast metal Jupiter II from Amazon tonight.:)
:)
 




Sorry I messed up my quoting but these two images stand out for me. The pod leaving the ship was the only time you ever saw the ship in a proper scale. Here you can clearly see it has the 3 decks and why they never made this the proper model for model shots when it's flying is anyone's guess. That exit scene it all looks just right.

Didn't NASA want to sue them over the pod design?

Also the sound effects. That engine sound is just so haunting.
 
... The pod leaving the ship was the only time you ever saw the ship in a proper scale. Here you can clearly see it has the 3 decks and why they never made this the proper model for model shots when it's flying is anyone's guess. That exit scene it all looks just right...

Agree. This special effects Jupiter 2 model had the three decks with a spacepod bay scale proper. :techman: It worked and the ship looked impressive. If only all the models and the full-scale upperdeck set on the planet[sound stage] set had been built to this proper scale.
 
A wonderful space fantasy..the ship had everything an Interstellar RV should for the family..That's the way I saw it..the family camper crashes in the wilderness..with all the comforts of home handy...

The storylines jumped the shark with " the Space Croppers" and the show lost most of it's charm at that point..seasons 2 and 3 are generally unwatchable to me..

but damn, that family camper had it all...
 
Actually the crash footage which they seemed to use over and over again was so very well done for its day. It really did look like it was flying through the air..
 
Didn't NASA want to sue them over the pod design?

That's a bizarre question. Why would NASA want to sue them for anything?
I assume Coco Pops 1967 is referring to the Pod's slight resemblance to the ascent stage of the Apollo Lunar Module. But, aside from the outward-angled triangular windows, the real spacecraft and the fictional one look quite different.

Besides, if anyone was going to sue, it should have been Grumman Aircraft (now part of Northrop Grumman). They're the ones who designed and built the LM.
 
The resemblance is clear, but where's the grounds for a lawsuit? What's the motivation? More to the point, where's the evidence of a lawsuit?
 
It really did look like it was flying through the air.

That's because, in a sense, it was. For those two really iconic shots of the craft swooping past the Trona Pinnacles located in Death Valley, the effects team employed a technique developed by the Lydecker Brothers. The miniature, I assume the two foot version, slid along a set of wires positioned a bit off from horizontal, one end positioned higher than the other, on location in Death Valley. That way, whatever light illuminated the rock formations also lit the model.

This method was also used in the Commando Cody Saturday matinee serials. A "doll" dressed the same as the actor was filmed outdoors, sliding upon the wire arrangement described above.

Sincerely,

Bill
 
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