Watch For Landing Rockets
This is a crude changelog of the website. Changes will be listed with the date in DDmmmYY format, a description of the change, and a text string that can be used to search for the change on the web page, using your browser's "find in this page" function.
I try to tweet updates at @atomicrockets.
I have not done this sooner because I am doing all this manually, not using any CMS. Translation: this is going to be a real pain in the posterior to keep up to date.
2010
10dec10: Added to Atomic Novels an entry for A. J. Stoner's novel Iceni Queen.
07dec10: Added a new page Online Calculators.
06dec10: Added to Advanced Design more notes on TransHab, a brief clarification in Life Boats, and some Wally Wood illustrations in Interior Arrangement.
06dec10: Added to Basic Design some Wally Wood illustrations in Structure.
06dec10: Added to Deck Plans another cheezy 1950's era space ship cutaway with ludicrous components.
04dec10: Added a new page Transhab Module Calculator.
04dec10: Added to Space Suits numerous additional images, space tug image made higher resolution, and some additional text.
03dec10: Added to Coil Guns Luke Campbell's method of calculating the length of the gun.
01dec10: Added a couple of notes to Rocketpunk and MacGuffinite
25nov10: Added a new page Rocketpunk and MacGuffinite.
14nov10: Added to Nuclear Shaped Charges additional details from a recent report.
10nov10: Added to Space Stations some images of a Soviet space station design copied by an SF book cover artist.
07nov10: Added to Realistic Designs a section about the Pilgrim Observer
07nov10: Added to Sidearms Energy Weapons Luke Campbell's designs for man-portable laser weapons
05nov10: Matthew Lam created new formatting for the website. You can find details about his work on this site here
11feb10: Added to Space War: Warship Design Ken Burnside's analysis on ship types.
06feb10: Added to Realistic Designs details about the starship from the movie Avatar.
2009
Nov - Dec
31dec09: Added to Sidearms Exotic details about the phaser for the Star Trek Phase II project.
19dec09:
- Added to Slower Than Light a note about Charles Pellegrino working as scientific consultant on James Cameron's Avatar movie.
- Added to Sidearms a new image.
17dec09:
- Added to Future Language lots of commentary by Jon Brase.
- Added to Space War: Intro and Space War: Tactics a link to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto article about orbital combat.
- Added to Landing some screen captures from the movie Galaxina.
15dec09:
- Added to Art Gallery some of my artwork I discovered in the manual for a 1984 Atari computer game.
- Added to Preliminary Notes an excerpt from the game manual for QUEST OF THE SPACE BEAGLE.
- Added to Artificial Gravity a new image from Space Angel.
28nov09: In Art Gallery updated the entry for artist Charles Oines.
27nov09: Added to Art Gallery a section for artist William Black.
22nov09:
- Added to Space War: Intro lots of links to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto.
- Added to Surface to Orbit a link to "When Rocket Science Meets The Dismal Science"
- Added to Engine a link to several of Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto essays.
- Added to Basic Design a link to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto essay on Spaceship Design.
- Added to Life Support a link to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto essay on Life Support.
- Added to Interstellar Colonization a link to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto essay on interplanetary colonization.
- Added to Sidearms: Slugthrowers Zathras9's notes on the Magnum Research Lone Eagle.
20nov09:
- In Gear updated the section on communciators.
- Added to Sidearms: Energy Weapons images of Clyde R. Jones' props for "Starships"
- Split Space War: Weapons and Sidearms into muliple pages, as they were getting too large to load on a Palm Pre cell phone.
- Added to Respecting Science a link to Teach The Controversy t-shirts.
14nov09: Added to Common Misconceptions some notes about maneuvering in space.
June - Oct
22sep09: Added to Respecting Science a commentary by Simon Jester about scientific accuracy.
08aug09: Added to Deck Plans another interpretation of the interior of the Discovery from 2001.
21jul09:
- Added to Space War: Weapons a section on nuclear shaped charges.
- Added to Engine List more details about the Orion Drive.
20jul09: Added to Art Gallery a section for artist Rhys Taylor.
18jul09: Added more content to Space Stations
15jul09: Started to add content to Space Stations
04jul09: Added a new page: Embarking
03jul09:
- Added to Deckplans a new section about G. Harry Stine's 3 man space scout.
- Added to Deckplans higher quality images of the Tinsley photon rocket.
28jun09: Added to Artificial Gravity some notes on the conservation of angular momentum by Guido Lißmann.
21jun09: Added to Control Deck images of attitude jet thermal panels.
20jun09:
- Added to Basic Design a comment by Michael Garrels about mesh floors.
- Added to Deck Plans a 1930's design.
- Added to Realistic Designs a design for a nuclear LANTR single stage to orbit.
- Added to Landing two new images.
- Added to Art Gallery the works of artist Mike Billard.
07jun09:
- Added to Basic Design an observation by David Chiasson about using knitted metal mesh for decks.
- Added to Worked Example a couple of new images of the Polaris.
March - May
28may09: Added a new page for twitter feeds.
16may09:
- Revamped Atomic Radiation and added more material in various spots.
- Added to Advanced Design a note on spacecraft density.
15may09:
10may09:
- Added to Worked Example a couple of images of the Polaris.
- Added to Advanced Design a note about the Apollo command module hatch.
- Added to Beginning Design a comment by Akima about using trampoline decks to save on mass.
- Added to Decks: Other some notes and images pertaining to cargo loading.
19apr09: Added to Space War: Defenses a comment by Jens Bartmann.
14apr09:
- Added a new section to Space War: Defenses
- Added to Respecting Science a quote from Mark Temple.
12apr09:
- Added to Engine List more juicy details about Zubrin's infamous nuclear salt water rocket.
- Added to Engine List an updated diagram of a nuclear lightbulb.
08apr09:
- Added to Advanced Design ship size diagram the spaceship Al Rafik.
- Added to Atomic Novels SF author Chris Willrich.
- Added to Art Gallery some of my own artwork.
06apr09: Added a diagram of a pre-fab space station to Artificial Gravity
02apr09: Added a new section Surface To Orbit
30mar09: Added to Life Support some comments by NASA astronaut Stephen Bowen about living in the International Space Station.
29mar09:
- Added to Space War: Weapns a link to On The Feasibility of an Impulsively Driven Gamma-ray Laser
- Added to Basic Design a link to Andrew Presby's engineering thesis Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion in Space Nuclear Reactor Power Systems.
Jan - Feb
26feb09: Added to Preliminary Notes Todd Boyce's explanation of the state of SF in Hollywood.
25feb09: Added to Space War: Weapons a section on Hafnium bombs.
22feb09:
- Added to Art Gallery Pat Flannery's plastic model of the NASA/Esa Discovery.
- Added to Engine list two images: image1, image2.
08feb09: Added a new section Future Games
01feb09: Added to Suggested Reading a link to the incredible book The Saucer Fleet
24jan09: Added to Life Support a small note about Shmoos.
20jan09:
- Added to Suggested Reading a link to Rogers Rocketships
- Added to Space War: Weapons more details to the section on Nanotechnology.
18jan09:
- Added to Respecting Science a marvelous quote from James Nicoll.
- Added to Space War: Defenses a heretical opinions by Isaac Kuo and Anthony Jackson about how it might be possible to add armor to heat radiators after all. This should cause a lot of screaming.
17jan09: Added to Space War: Weapons a small section on Nanotechnology.
15jan09: Added to Artificial Gravity a comment by Nick Dumas and Christopher Moore on the comment by Graham Baxter.
12jan09: Added to Artificial Gravity a comment by Graham Baxter on the Jovian Chronicle design.
10jan09:
- Added to Artificial Gravity another image from the Jovian Chronicles.
- Added to Sidearms comments by Thomas L. Nielsen.
- Added to Sidearms further comments by András Bónitz.
08jan09: Added to Sidearms the Palm Pistol.
2008
May - Dec
27nov08: Added to Sidearms some notes on the Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response rifle.
26nov08: Added to Sidearms even more notes from András Bónitz on futuristic rifles.
24nov08: Added to Future Language a mention of the Ithkuil language (thanks to David Freiberg aka The Forehead).
23nov08:
- Added to Slower Than Light a clarification on Charles Pellegrino's Valkyrie.
- Added to Sidearms some notes from András Bónitz on futuristic rifles.
- Added to Sidearms some notes from Josh P on the Korobov TKB-022.
18nov08: Added to Atomic Novels some sample passages from John Lumpkin's novel Through Struggle, The Stars.
16nov08:
- Added a new web page Atomic Novels.
- Added to Spacewar: Introduction a quote from Matthew Lineberger's novel The Last Great War.
- Added to Spacewar: Introduction a quote from John Lumpkin's novel Through Struggle, The Stars.
29oct08: Added to Sidearms an image of Kelly Freas' ray gun.
13jul08: Added to Spacewar: Defenses a correction to the section on carbon armor pointed out by Duane Oldsen.
12jul08:
- Added to Atomic Radiation some new equations.
- Added to Spacewar: Weapons a clarification on EMP.
- Added to Spacewar: Weapons a new equation.
25jun08: Added to Future Language a clarification about Lojban by Dennis Pejcha.
13jun08: Added a new section Thermodynamics
07jun08:
- Added to Spacewar: Defenses this image from Adam Burch.
- Added to Spacewar: Weapons this image from Adam Burch.
26may08: Added to Sidearms this image.
24may08: Added to Spacewar: Weapons Brian Smith-Winsemius's explaination of x-ray mirrors.
13may08: Added to Aliens Daniel Krouse's suggested excerpt from Peter Watts' Blindsight.
Jan - Apr
21apr08:
- Added to Ring Raiders Isaac Kuo's comments on Jupiter as a colony site.
- Added to Interstellar Empire Isaac Kuo's comments on Eric Jones's interstellar colonization model.
05feb08: Added to Advanced Design Myn.pheos' technique to use the Blender software to estimate a spacecraft's center of gravity and to place heat radiators.
03feb08: Added to Advanced Design a new section on Habitat Modules
02feb08: Added to Advanced Design an example of artist Myn.pheos using the Blender software to estimate the volume of a spacecraft.
30jan08:
- Added to Common Misconceptions a discussion on why spacecraft do not need windows.
- Added to Engine List image starfire.jpg.
28jan08: In Modeling History added a link to the computer game Aurora.
27jan08: In Common Misconceptions added some details.
25jan08: In Space War: Weapons added some details about nuclear warhead mass and density.
23jan08: In Artificial Gravity, Radiation, Worked Example and Deck Plans added select illustrative strips from the webcomic Outrim.
19jan08: In Sidearms added a mention of the US Army XM8 prototype modular rifle.
16jan08: In Space War: Weapons an analysis of R-bombs.
12jan08: In Faster Than Light expanded on the section "Establishing Limits."
07jan08: In Suggested Reading added a link to TV Tropes Wiki: Speculative Fiction
05jan08:
- Added a new section: Common Misconceptions
- Added to Suggested Reading a link to the game Voidstriker.
03jan08: Added to Astrogation Deck more details about mechanical computers.
01jan08:
- Added to Control Deck images cam7.jpg, cam8.jpg, cam9.jpg.
- Added to Astrogation Deck a link to Basic Fire Control Mechanisms and images cam4.jpg, cam5.jpg cam6.jpg.
2007
Nov - Dec
29dec07: Added to Sidearms a selection of weird real-world rifles.
28dec07:
- Added to What's The Mission? a discussion of the Oberth Maneuver.
- Added to Choose Your Engine a brief discussion of calculating exhaust velocity.
14dec07: Added to Gear images samsung-wrist-watch.jpg.
11dec07: Added to Faster Than Light David Harris' analysis on statite mines.
09dec07: Added to Interstellar Empire SHADOWasianMAN' poem about Rome.
02dec07:
- Added to Advanced Design images lifeboat5.jpg.
- Added to Spacewar: Defenses a link to a website about thermal dump panels in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.
- Added to Spacewar: Weapons a link to a website about combat wasps in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.
- Added to Spacewar: Weapons a section on Tractor Beams.
- Added to Spacewar: Defenses a couple of links to Stardestroyer.net scientific articles on force fields.
29nov07: Added to Future History the cultural chart from Omnitrend's Universe game.
22nov07: Added to Sidearms an amusing exerpt from a 1953 children's SF book about ray guns.
18nov07:
- Added to Sidearm Luke Campbell's description of laser rifle construction.
- Split off from Space War: Overview a new section called Space War: Warship Design.
- Added to Sidearm images raygun1.jpg, raygun5.jpg, raygun3.jpg, raygun4.jpg.
- Added to Space War: Overview an entry on the origin and evolution of space warships.
10nov07:
- In Space War: Weapons cleaned up the entries to the nuclear explosion size table.
- Added to Choose Your Engine some implications of the rocket equation.
09nov07:
- Added to Mission Delta V and Flight Times details about the mission table from the table's author.
- Added to Space War: Weapons more entries to the nuclear explosion size table.
03nov07:
- Added to Life Support an excerpt from Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus on the topic of yeast as a foodstuff.
- Added to Sidearms numerous new images (including blueprints of the old Galactica blaster), and expanded the dial-a-gun section.
June - Oct
27oct07: Added to Sidearms a section on multi-function weapons.
26oct07: Added to Sidearms a menu, and images electronbeam.jpg, electronBeam01.jpg, electronBeam02.jpg, electronBeam03.jpg, electronBeam04.jpg, electronBeam05.jpg,
25oct07: Added to Sidearms an analysis of particle beam hand guns.
24oct07: Added to Spacesuits illustrations of a bayonet and snap joint.
05aug07: Added to Realistic Designs a section on PARTS Plasma Accelerated Resuable Transport System.
28jul07: Added an entirely new section Modeling History.
20jul07: Added to main page and index page a Google Search of this website.
18jul07: Added to Art Gallery a selection of artwork from Number 6.
17jul07: Added to Art Gallery a selection of artwork from Adam Burch.
14jul07:
- Added to Interstellar Empire some disussion on the Human Development Index, the Misery index, and the Gini coefficient.
- Added to Space War: Weapons a link to a NASA report on nuclear powered lasers. (Thanks to Andrew for suggesting this link)
09jul07:
- Added to Space War: Weapons image Kzintilesson.jpg.
- Added to Art Gallery images Rafik.JPG, Rafik_Medina.jpg, Lafayette_Surrenders.jpg, Wasp.jpg.
07jul07:
- Added an entirely new section Art Gallery.
- Added to Space War: Detection image sulaco2.jpg.
29jun07: Added to Interstellar Empire a dissertation by Rick Robinson about extraterrestrial colonies.
24jun07:
- Added to Engine List an entry for Aluminum-Oxygen rocket by in-situ lunar resources.
- Added to Suggested Reading a link to the recommended novel Luna by Garon Whited.
16jun07: Added to Future History and Interstellar Empire a link between the Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World and David Maurer's Explanation of history.
15jun07:
- Added to Decks: Other Decks image stareaterCapsule.jpg.
- On Engine List replaced image solarMoth5.jpg with image solarMoth6.jpg.
- Added to Preliminary Notes and Space War: Weapons image nipandtuck.png.
- Added to Interstellar Empire image 0valuemap.png and a discussion of the Inglehart-Welzel Cultural Map of the World.
May
27may07:
- Added to Realistic Designs images spaceTug3.jpg and spaceTug4.jpg.
- Added to Other Decks a quote about damage control lockers and image dcLocker.jpg.
- Added to Advanced Design a quote about crew cabins and image coffin4.jpg.
- Added to Engineering Deck a quote about repair workshops.
26may07: Added to Gear a mention of rapid prototyping.
17may07:
- Added to Engine List images nuclearLightbulb2.gif and gascore3.png.
- Added to Respecting Science an excerpt from G. Harry Stine.
16may07:
- Added to Basic Design a section on WWII zinc chromate paint.
- Added to Advanced Design a illustrations of the Aries 1B from the movie 2001.
14may07:
- Added to Realistic Designs a new section "Miscellaneous".
- Added to Engine List image solarMoth5.jpg.
- Added to Engine Deck a section on Canadarm 2.
- Added to Realistic Designs a section on NASA's Space Tug.
13may07:
- Added an entirely new section Realistic Designs
- Added to Future Language an excerpt from Poul Anderson's Brain Wave and an excerpt from Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation.
12may07: Added to Engine List images discovery2a.jpg, discovery2b.jpg, discovery2c.jpg, discovery2d.jpg, discovery2e.jpg.
09may07: Added to Future Language a section about James Gunn's The Listeners.
07may07:
- Added to Future Language images lang00.jpg, lang01.jpg, lang02.jpg, lang03.jpg, lang04.jpg, lang05.jpg, lang06.jpg, lang07.jpg, lang08.jpg, lang09.jpg, and lang10.jpg.
- Added to Future History added excerpt from The Warlock of Rhada.
- Added to Future Language image fonts.jpg.
06may07:
- Added to Future Language Jon Brase's description of the Tengwar alphabet.
- Added to Future Measurement Mark Temple's observations on Battletech's time system.
- Added to Future Measurement Ralph Buttigieg's observations on longitude.
05may07:
- Added to Slower Than Light a quotation from Tau Zero.
- Added to Future History a quotation from Horatius.
02may07: Added to Future Language a section on the Pentateuch symbols.
01may07:
- Added to Title Page image atomicRocketLogo.jpg
- Added to Space War: Weapons a few more entries to the "joules in explosion of size X" chart.
23 Apr - 30 Apr
30apr07: Added to Respecting Science image replicator.jpg
29apr07:
- Added to Future Language images alt072.png, vree.jpg, curse.jpg; and a sample of year 3000 speech.
- Added to Respecting Science a section about Unintended Consequences.
- Added to Beginning Design a general rule about aerobraking. "The general rule is that aerobraking can kill a velocity approximately equal to the escape velocity of the planet where the aerobraking is performed"
- Added to Future History a comment about the perils of writing science fiction that becomes swiftly dated. "And naturally, the more specific the details of your future technology that you describe in your SF story, the bigger the risk that it is going to sound quite silly in the decades to come."
- Added to Suggested Reading a link to Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto blog. "Rick Robinson has a blog that is trying to revive the old Heinlein-esque atomic rocket style science fiction."
28apr07: Added a curmudgeonly rant to Preliminary Notes, "And all you young whipper-snappers who think that science fiction was invented in 1977 with the first Star Wars movie, I have to inform you that you are sadly mistaken."
27apr07: Pretty much finished first draft of Future Language
26apr07:
- Added to Aliens image littleLaugh.jpg
- Added to Life Support a discussion of the implications of the food chain in a closed ecological system.
25apr07:
- Added more material to Future Language
- Added to Decks: Other Decks images Image242.png and Image243.png
- Added to Future History images theFuture.jpg, 1922FutureView.jpg, and atomite.jpg. Added a discussion about the pitfalls of using buzz-words.
24apr07: Added an entirely new page: Future Language
23apr07:
- Added material to Faster Than Light about the FTL drive in StarForce Alpha Centauri.
- Added material to Faster Than Light about designing a stardrive using Effects instead of Causes.
- Added aditional material to Space War: Weapon to the section on the effects of a laser beam strike on the crew's habitat module.
- Added to Preliminary Notes additional material on Burnside's Zeroth Law.
- Added to Space War: Weapon a marvelously graphic and fact-filled description of the effects of a laser beam strike on the crew's habitat module.
1 Apr - 22 Apr
22apr07: Added to Beginning Spacecraft Design image shuttleHeatRadiator.jpg, "The life-system radiators on the Space Shuttle are inside the cargo bay doors".
21apr07:
- Added to What's The Mission? images hohmann01.jpg and hohmann02.jpg, "Hohmann orbit to a superior planet".
- Added to Landing In Lava two corrections suggested by Henry Cobb. Replaced "While landed, for extra safety, keep the gyros clutched and powered up." with "While landed, for extra safety, keep the reaction wheels clutched and powered up." Took "with the possible exception of a methane ocean on Titan" and added "Some of Jupiter's moons may have oceans of water, but these are covered by many miles of ice.".
- Added to Life Support a section on the hazards of spirulina algae, "(Spirulina is) High in nucleic acid".
- Added to Space Suits image spacesuit33.jpg, "Artwork by George Solonevich".
- Added to Advanced Spacecraft Design image ionicTB.jpg and image ionicCrop.jpg, "Fanciful design for an ion drive rocket.".
20apr07: Added to Engine List image torchChartS.jpg and image torchChart.jpg, "chart from "To The Stars" by Gordon Woodcock".
18apr07:
- Added to Landing In Lava image landing14.jpg, "So, based on the above figures".
- Added to Multi-Stage images stageChute01.jpg and stageChute02.jpg, "From The Exploration of the Moon". Also added a new link to the Plagiarism entry in the Index.
17apr07:
- Added to Beginning Spacecraft Design equation to calculate reactor radiation flux, "New reactors that have never been activated are not particularly radioactive.". Also added image reactor.jpg to same section.
- Added to Advanced Spacecraft Design a link to Eric Rozier's structural calculator, Eric Rozier has implemented the algorithm below as an on-line calculator.
16apr07:
- Added to Slower Than Light description of "digital crew" concept, "Still more extreme is the "digital crew" concept.". Also added image matrix.jpg to same section.
- Added an entire new web page Future Measurement with lots of new text and images.
- Added to Slower Than Light image starshipTiber2.jpg "Starship Egalitarian Republic from Buzz Aldrin", image starshipTiber1.jpg "Starship Wahkopem Zomos from Buzz Aldrin", image starshipAlabama.jpg "Starship Alabama from Alan Steele's Coyote".
12apr07: Added to Space War: Defenses a discussion of Eric Rozier's models for kinetic point defense and missile point defense, along with links to online calculators. Added images ciws.jpg, RAMmissile.jpg, and drazi.jpg to the same section.
10apr07: Added to Beginning Spacecraft Design Eric Rozier's analysis of droplet heat radiators, and his online calcuulator, Eric Rozier has an online calculator for droplet radiators here.
07apr07: Added to Sidearms image spacePirate2.jpg, "Artwork by Ron Turner".
02apr07: Added to Aliens image aliens11.jpg, "Life discovered in the ice-covered oceans of Europa".
Jan - Mar
30mar07:
- Added to Beginning Spacecraft Design image fireballJunior.jpg, "From Fireball XL5".
- Added to Space War: Weapons Thomas Rigby's analysis of the new US Navy's railgun prototype, "Lucky for me, a gentleman named Thomas Rigby appeared and set matters straight". Added image ddxRailgun.jpg to the same section.
29mar07: Added to Respecting Science image catgirls.gif, "Sorry, it's just too bad about all the dead cat-girls".
25mar07: Added to Future History rare excerpts from "Range" by Sprague de Camp and Interstellar Empire by John Brunner. Added images lancelot.jpg, defiantAgents.jpg, spacebuster.jpg, and pickup.jpg to the same section.
23mar07:
- Added to Space Suits images spacesuit32.jpg "From SPACE CADET by Robert Heinlein", and spacesuit31.jpg "From Ron Turner's Space Ace pop up book".
- Added to Preliminary Notes image caliper2.jpg "Artwork by Ron Turner".
- Added to Preliminary Notes the Official Space Cadet handbook and Ron Turner's Space Ace pop up book.
22mar07: Added to Reactionless Drives image challenger.jpg "The Challenger, from Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon".
19mar07: Added to Space War: Weapons image gun3.jpg "In practice, a series of small pulses". Also added a new link to the Plagiarism entry in the Index.
19mar07: Added to Landing In Lava image crash2.jpg "This can happen if you have the misfortune to be landing on a slope".
15mar07: Added to Respecting Science image Gerard_O_Neill.jpg "First off, from the standpoint of probability".
14mar07: Added to Decks: Control Deck a new section on Cams, along with several images.
10mar07: Added to Interstellar Empire image senate.jpg "Galactic Senate, Star Wars III".
08mar07: Added to Suggested Reading a set of thumb-nail images for the Meteoris, A stunning scratch-built plastic model of an atomic rocket .
26feb07: Added to Preliminary Notes an amusing image I photoshopped: technobabble.jpg; plus handwavium.jpg and unobtanium.jpg
25feb07: Added to Space War: Weapons a link to a DARPA study on space fighters and this image spacecruiser03.jpg "In the 1970's, DARPA was looking".
21feb07: Added to Space Suits a section about pinchers instead of gloves on space suits with several images, "Artwork by Earl Oliver Hurst".