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 Personnel sphere of Moonship, W. von Braun, F. Whipple, W. Ley (1953). Artwork by Fred Freeman.
Click for larger version.
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Readers in the US might not recognize the Tintin graphic novels, but everybody in Europe has read them. This nuclear powered rocket was quite well researched for the time. The main engine is apparently a NERVA style solid nuclear thermal rocket fueled with plutonium. The launch site has a breeder reactor used to cook uranium 238 into plutonium for fuel rods. The rocket lifts off and lands with an auxillary chemical rocket fueled by nitric acid and aniline, so as to prevent contaminating the ground with radiation.
The authors of the indispensable Spaceship Handbook did find one minor mistake. The astronauts lie prone on their acceleration couches, which is pretty much the worst position possible (second only to standing on their heads).
The authors of the Spaceship Handbook suggests that this was due to Mr. Rémy misinterpreting the diagram of the Werner von Braun moonship. In that diagram, the crew members who need to monitor the chart recorder are prone, but everybody in their acceleration stations are properly on their backs.
Anyway this is a minor flaw in a design that gets it right.
The Outrim Queen is featured in Outrim by J. Mauloni, a most scientifically accurate webcomic.
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This is from a book entitled The Answer to the Space Flight Challenge by Frank Tinsley (1958).
Noted rocket engineer G. Harry Stine designed this vehicle in the early 1950's. He figured that manned space stations would be controlled by the nation that built them. Therefore a scientific station could be transformed into martial moons at a trumpet call. Armed with atomic missiles, they could strike any spot on Earth.
The space scout is designed to deal with this menace, blowing up hostile stations with atomic missiles, before they can strike. Without it, the world stands unarmed and helpless before the threats of a technologically advanced dictator. At least according to Mr. Stine. In reality it would probably be more cost effective to just launch flight after flight of surface-to-orbit missiles until you took out the evil space station.
The spacecraft flies nose first in space, driven by the liquid fuel rocket engine. It flies tail first in the air, driven by the three jet engines. This means that the jet engine exhaust goes "upward", that is, in the opposite direction of the rocket exhaust.
The jet engines are mounted on "M" shaped supersonic wings fitted with conventional airplane control surfaces. Note that the control surfaces are on the upper edge of the wing, not the lower. The elongated nose cone of each jet engine doubles as a landing leg. Velbor points out that this is a poor design decision. A hard landing will transmit shock directly to the delicate mechanism of the jet engine turbines. They may explosively delaminate, shooting turbine blades at everything in line with the turbine plane. Which you may have noticed includes the fuel tanks.
The tail of the spacecraft is bulbous to increase the heat radiating surface area, and corrugated with liquid oxygen cooling pipes. In other words it is trying to do the same job as the heat shield on the base of the Apollo command module.
The three transparent blisters on the flight deck help the pilot to land by providing full ground visibility via a system of reflecting mirrors.
With the three man crew, two are always on duty while the third sleeps. In combat conditions all three are on duty. The craft is designed for a three-day mission, with a maximum life-support endurance of a week.
Mr. Stine later developed the design further into the "Mars Snooper." This added a petal like shields closing over the liquid fuel rocket engine bell during re-entry, and a more elongated passenger section. One difference is that this design uses a nuclear thermal rocket instead of a chemical one. The reactor also runs the jet engines, which are more like an air-fed nuclear ramjet. In 1971, the Estes model rocket company made a model rocket based on the Mars Snooper. My father had one. I always wondered why the tail fins were "M" shaped.
Note this ship also has the corrugatged bulbous tail with petals enclosing the engine bell. There is corrugation on the nose as well. The disks on the tail fins are landing pads, if you look closely you can see where the landing leg separates from the fin so that the leg can pivot downwards.
This is a design for a photon-drive spacecraft, boosted into orbit by a chemical rocket. Note that the designer is a tad unclear on the concept. The photon drive is fed gigawatts of electricty by the fusion reactor, while the poor ship relies upon a crude solar boiler for its internal power. Nowadays photon drives are considered impractical, due to their ridiculous power requirements (three hundred megawatts for one lousy Newton of thrust).
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This marvelous reconstruction is made by a talented CGI artist named Kiyoshi Hiura. His website is here. Below I have an Babelfish translation (from Japanese into Broken English) and a translation by Michael Bianco.
Looking “the traveling of movie, at 2001 outer space” internal constitution of the [deisukabari] number probably has just become how? Artificial gravity (centrifugal force) it stays and the residential area how probably has been settled somewhere? You think that with the person who had doubt it is many.
As for the design figure of the [deisukabari] number when it was abolished, with thing, as for accurate structure you do not understand in regrettable thing. Here the next rough information
* As for sphere of head about diameter 12m
* Artificial gravity (centrifugal force) it stays, as for diameter of the residential area about 10m
* As for diameter of pod about 2m
With, it presumed the internal constitution of the [deisukabari] number from each scene of the movie and tried drawing up the CG model.
How in the heck is the inside of the Discovery "deisukabari" (as seen in 2001 A Space Odyssey) configured? Where and how is the artificial gravity (centrifugal force) crew quarters situated? I think a lot of people have these questions.
Unfortunately, the plans for the Discovery have been lost, so we don't know the exact configuration. Here are the basic facts:
* The spherical bow/head of the ship has a diameter of about 12 meters
* The artificial gravity (centrifugal force) crew quarters has a diameter of about 10 meters
* The diameter of the pods are about 2 meters
I've conjectured on the internal configuration from these facts and from (watching) each scene of the film, and built this CG model.
Internal constitution figure
Diagram of the Internal Configuration
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It is the figure which was seen from port side. Picture of the Discovery as seen from the port side. |
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There is artificial gravity staying residential area in the form which parallels to the structure of muffler condition of the sphere rear. There is an air lock and equipment and material retention room in the floor of the pod bay. The equipment and material retention room is installed somewhat slantingly. It is the room of 8 prisms which remove the exchange part of AE35 unit. There is an air lock in the kind of form which strikes with the equipment and material retention room slantingly. Bowman there is no helmet with is the room which jumps. The artificial gravity crew quarters (light blue) lies along the scarf/muffler shape on the back half of the sphere [the author previously refers to the sphere module of the Discovery as a head; the scarf/muffler reference is apparently an extended metaphor, so a less literal but more accurate translation translation might be: ...crew quarters lies along/on the tapering neck at the rear of the sphere module]. On the pod bay floor are the airlock (dark blue) and the equipment storage room (green). The equipment storage room is set at a somewhat oblique angle. It is the octagonal room from which the crew retrieved the replacement AE35 unit. The airlock seems to run into the equipment storage room at an oblique angle. This is the room into which Bowman leapt without a helmet. |
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It is the figure which was seen from above. There is a room (in figure yellow) which, even the switch room it should call in rear of the cockpit there is a passage and an intersection section (purple) in that rear. In the intersection section the switch room, the passage from port, the passage to artificial gravity staying residential area and the passage to the control room of starboard lower part cross. Furthermore, there is also an entrance to the memory room of HAL in the switch room. This is a picture of the Discovery as seen from above. Behind the cockpit, there is what we could call the switch room (pictured as yellow) (ed note: Switch room is labeled "HAL logic room" in blueprint above), and behind this is a corridor and hub [literally intersection room] (purple). The hub is where the switch room and port- side corridor, the corridor leading to the crew quarters, and the starboard-side leading to the control room intersect. (ed note: hub is labeled "central air lock" in blueprint above) There is also the hatch leading to Hal's Memory Room in the switch room. (ed note: Mr. Kiyoshi seems to think that there is a purple corridor parallel to the HAL logic room, I am unconvinced that it exists.) |
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It is the figure which was seen from starboard side. This is a picture of the Discovery as seen from the starboard side. |
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There is the memory room of HAL in the starboard side cockpit floor. There is a control room in the pod bay floor. There is a ladder to the cockpit floor in the inner part of the control room. On the starboard side is the cockpit floor with HAL's memory room (red) being on this same floor. The pod bay floor has the control room (ed note: labeled "Pod Bay Control Room" in blueprint above). Next to the control room is a ladder which leads to the cockpit floor (ed note: labeled "Main Ladder" in blueprint above). |
Movement in movie
Movement seen in the film
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Bowman perceiving to the pool aviator being let flow, tries probably to go to the pod bay from the cockpit. In the picture, the seat it stands, " gets off " the ladder to the port rear. (Because it is kind of picture where the front is after to rear it is shape which " it gets off ") (From port as for movement to starboard side in picture it does not appear) When Bowman notices that Astronaut Poole is being swept out into space, he moves from the cockpit to the pod bay. As pictured, he stands up from his seat and descends a ladder that takes him portside and back. (The front [of the cockpit] appears to become up in this image, so going back/aft would appear as “going down”/”descending”) (ed note: in other scense, the front of the cockpit is shown as "forwards" instead of "up". This is because unsophisticated movie audience cannot understand that rockets are not boats) (The move from port to starboard is not shown) (ed note: The CG artist seems to think that there is a purple corridor parallel to the HAL logic room, I am unconvinced that it exists. I think that Bowman simply flew down the center of the HAL logic room.) |
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With the following scene it gets off the ladder which is connected to the starboard control room. And it goes to the pod bay. (Because it is difficult to see, it abbreviated pod) In the next scene, he is descending the ladder connected to the starboard side control room. Then, he proceeds to the pod bay. (The pods have been removed for clarity) |
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With the [ri] which is the [ku] of air lock thrust, Bowman who enters from the air lock goes through the pod bay, the ladder of the control room inner part rises entering the control room. It moves to the passage intersection section from the stairway. As for when he enters the airlock (ed note: without a helmet), Bowman, after entering the airlock, crosses/traverses the pod bay, enters the pod control room, and then climbs the ladder next to the control room. From these steps [ladder], he goes to the hub (ed note: central air lock). |
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With the following scene from the passage intersection section it appears in the switch room, takes the key, keeps entering to the memory room of HAL. In the next scene, we see the switch room (Hal logic room) from the hub (central air lock). Bowman takes a key and enters HAL's memory room. |
Diameter in sphere of the head was designated as 12m, but really there is about 13m because with, you think. We want 12.5m at least. In addition, as for diameter of pod that you think whether it is not about 1.9m. When structure and artificial gravity (centrifugal force) of muffler condition of the neck it stays and the residential area will be by chance, there is a possibility of having relationship. Perhaps it is settled in the muffler section. Structure of the passage intersection section it continues to be puzzle. Because the passage to artificial gravity staying residential area from the cockpit floor a little is below, the intersection section means to connect the mouth where height is different.
The front sphere's diameter was made to be 12m, but in fact I think it is about 13 meters. At the very least, we want to be 12.5m. Also, I'm thinking 'Shouldn't the diameter of the pods be about 1.9m instead of 2m' ? It is possible that the connection/relationship between the scarf shaped structure at the neck [of the forward module] and the crew quarters is incidental (ed note: it is unclear if the centrifuge is located in the scarf by chance or by design). It may or may not be situated in/on the scarf-like part. The configuration of the hub remains a mystery. The corridor to the artificial gravity crew quarters is a little below the floor of the cockpit, so the hub would be connected to corridors and hatches set at different heights (ed note: The centrifuge corridor has to be centered on the long axis of the Discovery, which is a little below the level of the cockpit deck. The hub will have to accomodate this. In the Castellant blueprint, the hub and the centrifuge corridor are connected by a sloping passage.)
In the movie 2010, the Discovery is rotating in a head-over-heels/somersault manner. This would entail having to stop the rotation of the artificial gravity crew quarters. However, which ever way you look at it, I think it would be impossible to use the artificial gravity crew quarters with this sort of orientation. Moving up out of the cockpit, moving between the cockpit and pod bay, and going down into the pod bay would all likewise be impossible. (ed note: I believe that Mr. Kiyoshi misunderstands. In 2010, the somersault motion of the Discovery is not by design. He is correct that it would make movement through the ship to be impossible. According to the novel, the Discovery is turning head-over-heels because the centrifuge has come to a halt and transfered its angular momentum to the entire ship. However, having said that, it seems to me that would make the ship spin on its long axis, not somersaulting.)
