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There are quite a few insanely talented artist out there who are creating images of spacecraft designed with some scientific accuracy. This section is a showcase of their work. Click on the images for a larger version.
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Mike Billard is an engineer who is learning the art of 3D CGI graphics. The YF-19A Saber is a hypothetical outgrowth of the 1960's Dyna Soar project. Of course, the engineering detail are meticulous. He can be found on the SciFi Meshes forum under the handle Mikey-B
In the last four images below, the black X-20 mesh was created by an artist named Burncycle for the space simulation Orbiter.
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Artist Statement
These are space craft and missions that might have been: For every manned mission that has flown there are hundreds of conceptual designs and mission plans that never reached the hardware stage. I wanted to capture and depict in as realistic a manner as possible how these systems would have looked, and, where possible, I have included for comparison NASA artist conceptual drawings and diagrams.
Artist's Bio
William Black is a native of the Midwest, born January 15, 1964. Now retired after a professional career in the printing industry, currently William Black is working with coauthor Darrell Wollert in the production of a three volume science fiction future history. The Orion’s Arm stories tell the tale of human kind’s expansion through this arm of the galaxy and are centered on a solar system wide civilization based on spacecraft propulsion technology with its origins in Orion style pulsed plasma atomic rockets.
More information, selected text, and artwork from the Orion’s Arm future history project cam be found here, and here. More science fiction art by William Black can be found here.
All images created using Bryce 6 and Poser 7, post-production work in Photoshop.
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stunning images can be found on SciFi Meshes. He has studied this website while designing his ship.
The Cerberus Class Frigate was designed as an Air Force operated, armed multi- purpose deep space vehicle. Ships operate as part of the Deep Space Command network and carry out scientific, military, law-enforcement, transport and errand-of-mercy missions throughout the solar system.
The ship consists of a forward sensor module, crew module, a variable number of fuel modules and a reactor and propulsion module.
The name "Cerberus" denotes both the multi-mission capability of the spacecraft, as well as the physical resemblance of the mythical three headed dog formed by the forward radome, railgun and forward operations module protruding forward from the crew section.
The forward sensor module consists of a suite of extremely powerful digitally scanned array radar apertures housed in a ballistic-protective aeroshell, as well as housing various multi-spectrum optical trackers. While radar capabilities and ranges remain classified, it is widely accepted that the radar arrays can isolate millimeter sized objects at several tens of kilometers away. Forward radar capabilities are augmented by secondary arrays that project aft and perpendicular.
The crew section consists of one half of a pair of tetrahedral "blades" mounted to the central axis of the ship. The ship's CIC, Crew Hab, Airlock, Operations Deck and Gravity Module are mounted between 0 and 45 meters from the ship's central axis between a sandwich of kinetic and radiation shielding. When the ship is spun on it's axis, 1g can be maintained in the extreme interior surface of the upper gravity module at only 6 rpm, more than adequate for a military trained crew.
The opposite blade houses a magazine of kinetic projectiles and missiles that can be launched from a pair of forward/aft facing railguns. Interception ranges vary with target capabilities and maneuverability, but the guns have enough power to provide hyperbolic orbits given the right launch circumstances. The autoloader, magazine and guns comprise the bulk of the "Tactical Blade". Projectiles range from unguided tungsten rounds to multi stage guided-chemical rockets. Nuclear weapons are only carried with the direct authorization of the President of the United States as a political consideration, but are generally unnecessary given the destructive capabilities of the kinetic and energy weapons mounted aboard the ship.
Blade modules also house water and oxygen tanks, with loads pumped between blades to maintain center of gravity as crew move between upper (zero g) and lower (gravity) modules during spin. Each Cerberus "head" is assembled on Luna and launched into low lunar orbit via industrial magrail.
The fuel modules actually consist of four tanks centered around a multi-line structural spine housed within a hexagonal ballistic shell. External hard points on the fuel modules frequently house radiator modules or Autonomous Kill or Re-entry Vehicles too large to fit inside the missile magazine. Modules can be jettisoned and re-docked utilizing either the ship's RCS thrusters or robotic arm. Six or more modules provide enough propellant to reach Mars in an average of just under two months (during windows of close approach), the average local Jupiter mission will mount eight or more for added security.
The spine formed by the fuel modules also houses a track for the Remote Manipulator Arm, providing manipulator access to 100% of the exterior surface of the ship.
The nuclear propulsion and thrust module houses a 4 Triton-Class Oxygen Afterburning Nuclear Propulsion Units and two Hermes Liquid Oxygen/Hydrogen Chemical rockets for high-response tactical maneuvering. A single Hermes unit is also mounted on the tactical blade for emergency maneuvering. 4 large folding, gimbaled radiators can be deployed perpendicular to the ship's axis for additional heat dissipation. An RCS and gyro array provide rapid maneuvering capability.
In addition to the ship's offensive armament, Cerberus Class Frigates also mount an array of laser turrets for meteor and KEW point defense. Coupled with the ship's radar and battle management computers, Cerberus Frigates can be flown by just one crew member, though normal crew compliment can range between 6 and 14. The first ship was launched in 2123, and are projected upgrades and life extension programs will allow the crew modules to remain in the inventory until at least 2250.
Ships are named for various USAF, USN and USCG Rescue and Pararescue Members, emphasizing their space-rescue capabilities. On December 18, 2130, the USS Rowland Rainey suffered a direct collision when a glitch in the ship's battle management array failed to detect and allowed a 4m ferrous-iron asteroid fired from an unregulated Chinese space mining operation to collide with the ship. The ship suffered little damage and no casualties, a testament to the Frigates' survivability.
I'm not just a rocket science geek wanna-be, you know. In college I earned a degree in fine arts, so I'm actually also a species of artist. My on-line portfolio is here, more images are here, but below are my more technologically accurate images.
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Pat Flannery's works his magic with plastic models instead of computer graphics. The results are exceptional, and quite scientifically accurate. This is the NASA/ESA DISCOVERY, which was featured on the Starship Modeling website.
Take two MPC "Pilgrim Observer" kits,add four Revell "Space Operations Center"kits,two plastic "snowball" paperweights,some Micromachines,four bicycle reflectors, one model railway bridge,a Monogram "Orient Express",some Christmas tree ornaments, PVC pipe and a large iron rod.Pour in about 1/4 cup super glue and 1 cup assorted paints...shake well! Presto! One six foot three inch long model of a ion / fission drive space craft for the exploration of Saturn; in 1/144 scale, complete with manned landers for Titan riding on aeroshells,loads of atmospheric probes,manned landers for the smaller moons, a space tug, two EVA pods, and a transatmospheric vehicle. Also a real headache to move and clean. (you get a soft brush,lather the model up with thinned down dish soap, and take it into the shower!) Ship is the NASA/ESA DISCOVERY , 900 feet long and carrying a crew of 25 on a six year mission. Someday I'll build the nuclear pulse stage to boost it out of Earth orbit.
The top overall side view shows (Left to Right): bridge/command center,living quarters,atmosphere/water recycling and storage, docking and cargo area, more living quarters, avionics area, three slush hydrogen tanks, EVA crew low G acclimatization area, hanger bays for probes and landers, Titan landers, heavy fission powered lander, three aft slush hydrogen tanks, aft fuel and oxidizer tanks, nucleonic engineering area (uncrewed when nuclear motors running), radiation shield, closed cycle nuclear/electric power supply, three laminar flow fission engines and three auxiliary isotope electrical generators. The centrally mounted ion engines are used in cruise flight; the fission motors to enter and leave the orbit of Saturn, so as to minimize radiation exposure to the ship from Saturn's magnetosphere - the ship orbits Saturn in the Cassini division of the rings where the radiation is low. Four truss structures extend in a X arrangement from amidships- these support carbon fiber cables to rigidize the ships structure. The de-spun ion motor arrays also carry telescopes, communication antennae and synthetic imaging radar. The ion arrays are capable of sliding fore and aft on tracks so as to maintain a central position on the ship despite changes of position of axis due to depletion of consumables.
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The view from front shows the bridge (foreground), four living quarter and two food/supply arms extended in ship spinup position (the whole ship rotates around center when under ion drive, for "artificial gravity"), upper de-spun ion motors, the "gangway" to the transatmospheric vehicle which folds down unto the DISCOVERY in flight, and the red (hydrazine) and green (nitrogen tetroxide) tanks for the smaller ships that are carried. |
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The close up of the amidships section shows the Titan lander staging area with the landers riding on there "surfboard" heat shields, and to the right the heavy fission powered lander with its surface rovers for landings on the smaller moons. Orange objects are micrometeorite protective covers to shield the windows in transit to Saturn. |
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The next shot is a close up of nuclear space tug on opposite side of ship from picture 4-space tug and heavy lander are same design modified to perform different missions;space tug is on loan from USAF,who know a doozy of a photo op when they see it. (Air Force space tug silhouetted against Saturn-"THE SKY IS NO LIMIT..."). Hydrogen tanks are mounted 1top,1bottom,1port on forepart of ship and 1top,1bottom,1starboard on the aft part of ship |
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The bottom picture shows two astronauts EVA'ing to help dock the supply shuttle to the gangway ( the shuttle is not carried to Saturn) This is for scale comparison. |
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Daniel McIlvaney's impressive artwork can be found on SciFi Meshes, where he goes by the handle "TheUnlogicalOne". The first set of images are of a patrol ship, and second is of a destroyer. Mr. McIlvaney hastens to add that these are all works-in-progress, not finished works.
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 Astrodome with protective shield |
 Tetrahedral drone robot |
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 Transhab-style inflatable crew module |
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 Missile belt |
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 Laser turret |
 Missiles |
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 Transhab-style inflatable crew module |
Tero Niemi is a freelance Graphic Designer, 3D-Technician, Artist, Writer, Computer Programmer, Zero-G Pilot (Licensed), and Webmaster from Finland.
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This is an early version of artist Tero Niemi's interplanetary battleship. 1) Most of the ships mass is centered on the reactor/fuel section. This section is jointed (gimballed?), so the ship can control it's attitude very quickly without any thrusters. 2) Radiators fold in when the ship gets "scared". (Impact eminent.) During this period the heat control can be done by venting some of the coolant directly into vacuum. (Vented gas could be used as IR decoy?) 3) The camouflage shield is a bit controversial. I imagined it to be made from a very thin and reflective substance that can be cooled to a very low temperature. The idea was that ship could be near "invisible" into one direction. That is enough because of the limited speed of light. No point to hide, except for near targets that can hurt. No idea about weapons. This is probably a missile platform. Pellet cannon perhaps, or even a laser. A bag of (preheated?) nails to throw at incoming rockets? |
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A more detailed version, with a missile rack. |
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1) The reaction control system (thrusters) are poorly positioned (or angled) if the bomb part weights nearly as much as the engine part. There are basically two ways to fix this. First would be to use Apollo style thrusters on sides. Those things point forward/aft and they work fine near center of the mass, no problem. Second way would be moving the whole thruster section to the nose of the ship. Sideways pointing thrusters work there fine and I think that would be more efficient. I modelled the missile this way because I wanted to keep the shape clean. Nozzle bell -- lot of junk -- and a bomb. Poor excuse, I know :) but it is low poly model so I think it is Ok to cheat a bit for clarity... 2) Sensors are quite limited. The poor thing is practically blind! Angle of view should probably be something like 340 degrees instead of current 120. That would mean installing some sort of larger sensor pack in the front, but again, clean shape -- and I'm going to render these from rear angle, so any sensor details are actually wasted. |
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Unicornis family of spacecraft, all packed together. |
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The Unicornis unpacked into its component spacecraft. |
Number 6's awesome artwork can be found on SciFi Meshes, where he goes by the handle, well, "Number 6". The first set of images are of a Short Ranged Ship Concept, inspired by Werner von Braun's Moonship. The second is a recreation of the Discovery II.
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Charles Oines is an emergency stunt artist who has been producing game-related digital artwork since 1990 for a variety of high-profile game companies. Do go check out his portfolio. The artwork displayed below was created for the game Attack Vector: Tactical.
The spherical mesh is a species of fusion drive, the spikes are propulsion system heat radiators. The rectangular vanes are the power reactor and weapon system heat radiators. The forward part of the propulsion system is a lead and concrete radiation shadow shield.
Recently, Mr. Oines has mastered the art of creating 3D meshes suitable for rapid prototyping. He now offers a selection of starship miniatures suitable for starship wargames from his print-on-demand ship.
He also has a paper-and-cardboard starship wargame that offers valuable lessons in maneuvering spacecraft under Newtonian physics.
Rhys Taylor is a scientist who is also a master of the 3D modeling package Blender. His animation of a launching Orion drive spacecraft is quite famous, and has been seen by most people who type "Orion" into Google. His more recent project is a battle between US and Russian Orion drive ships out around Jupiter.
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