Lockheed Martin Venturestar spaceplane

[SuperZenozeno]

Hell, next they'll have chevron stations every 1million miles out there, now YT viewers just thk now like a BIG OIL SALES EXEC, he or she will thk, "WHERE TO NEXT FOR SALES REVENUE, "IN THE LOCAL SOLAR SYS", "bingo" slow time linear space travel uh for PETRO SALES REVENUE of course, while the filthy rich are using anti grav vehicals & possibly traveling thru time portals also, while the rest of US been coned into slow moving fuel engined linear space craft. : X 

[SuperZenozeno]

It reminds me of a futuristic bic lighter with wings, you see big petro WANTS YOU TO SEE THIS Instead of this verry same desighn w/ a anti grav motor instead of the petro based ancient not really fit for even linear or strait line space travel even when we must consider the various perils of traveling in naked space in a flyin bullet style projectille, MU HA HA HA HA HA THE SCAM BY BIG OIL STILL CONTINUES, BUT IT WON'T WORK IN COLD NAKED SPACE I'VE BEEN CHANNELED.

[moya138]

ITS JUST A BY PRODUCT , IF IT GETS INTO SPACE ITS ALREADY OUTDATED BY 80 YEARS.

[SuperZenozeno]

@moya138

That's absolutly right moya138, "ITS ALLREADY OUTDATED" when there's allready "ANTI GRAV FLYIN UNITS" allready made for a number of yrs tho the average joe & jane not prevy to, hell if the petro industrie have its way it'll show da public what they want for sales revenue & secretly the man behind the curtin is using a alltogether different source of propulsion, ah for there secretive uses of course like for instance escaping this world when the fecal matter hits the turbine they plan.

[moya138]

@SuperZenozeno They dont want it to fly, its just a concept at the moment.Ever thought who lockheed martin really is???.And i dont mean the lockheed martin that shows itself.Infact they are 2 lockheed martins no sorry 3 my mistake.

[Prich319]

It's a cancelled program. The LOX tanks can't be built for the minimum stresses with current technology.

[Stridus7]

Elvis left the planet

[StiviGun1]

Is this thing in the project state with LM, or is it just a proposed concept?

[Membrane556]

Venterstar was partly a political kill as it was Gore's pet project for NASA.

There were very several problems with the composite tanks but NG and later lockheed demonstrated O2 tanks that survived simulated flight test conditions and aluminum lithium alloy was actually found to be lighter for the hydrogen tanks.

[abd212004]

wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo rick flair theme song lol

[Hiddosch]

But is it faster then Chuck Norris?

[jordane11]

@Hiddosch THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FUNNY LIKE FIVE YEARS AGO>>> GET A NEW JOKE

[Clarknipolo]

@Hiddosch ajajajajajaajajajja

[billbitt96]

Lockheed Martin can't do this. What's the value of their stock right now? Nobody wants to manufacture here anymore. They can't even continue making normal airplanes hardly. Everybody is just too selfish and greedy and not taking risks to grow or be a pioneer like before how we started out much better! You think somebody will surprise us with the new space plane when they can't even fill the airliners now and they want to charge higher taxes whatever number they want?

[ti994apc]

Good idea, but we should have never trusted this to Lockheed Martin.

[2dazee]

cassie do it 

[JAG03064]

I expected something dramatic and radical. 50's technology  lifting body using vertical takeoff?! How dissapointing and inefficient....Rocket science?.... lmao

[curea229]

You're not a rocket engineer obviously.

[JAG03064]

@curea229 The village idiot could come up with a better idea than some outdated tech from the late 40's that obviously failed much like your comment asswipe.

[JAG03064]

@curea229 and If you are a rocket engineer scientist whatever you're not a very good one if you think this is practical I will sell you some swamp land in Florida.

[curea229]

@JAG03064 I'm an aerospace engineer. The Venturestar represented the latest technology in many areas, including materials, structures, propulsion, thermal protection, and many others. There wasn't much 40's or 50's about it. It may have turned out to be impractical due to low robustness of the SSTO concept and to unproved technologies, but that's unknown until you test it. Thus the X-33 technology demonstrator. Your initial comment was wrong, and didn't mention practicality in any case.

[JAG03064]

@curea229 The basic design is a lifting body correct? Therefore it is old school outdated technology from a by gone era. All I see is someone trying to retrofit an Edsel with composites and components nothing original. Then again most designs these days are stolen or rehashed because most of you so called college edjucated geniuses haven't the imagination to envision something more plausable. I guess it's just easier to steal it and redesign it

[curea229]

@JAG03064 Not sure I understand who is having their ideas stolen. Lifting body flight tests were first conducted by NASA in the 60's, not 40's or 50's. Is the US stealing its own concepts? The lifting body is actually a more modern concept than say, winged craft like the space shuttle, or the 'impractical' airline jets you travel in. So I really don't see what your gripe is.

If you see a lack of imagination you should propose credible ideas of your own.

[JAG03064]

@curea229 You're right the tests weren't conducted until the sixties, but the designs were on the drawing boards during the forties and fifties. Some of that tech was also stolen from the Germans. It sad when a privateer like Branson can some up with a more practical and economical appoach than a whole army of overpaid goverment engineers.

[curea229]

@JAG03064 Show me a 1940's design for a single stage to orbit lifting body vehicle. Aside from that, the B-2 flying wing idea originated much earlier. Not sure what the problem is. Branson didn't come up with Spaceship 2, Burt Rutan did. Rutan has contacts in both government and industry. And I doubt Von Braun, Goddard, Gilruth, Faget, and the rest were overpaid considering their hard work and enormous contributions.

This is a pretty ridiculous argument. People like to bitch I guess.

[JAG03064]

@curea229 It's easy to say when it's not just your money being spent on something you have no choice in I guess.

Arguement validated!

[curea229]

@JAG03064 I get that, the government has no problem wasting money. Starting expensive projects and then canceling them a few billions dollars later.

[netsight]

Unfortunately he stood by and watched his Jewish slave workforce build intercontinental missiles which consequently killed my late grandma's sister Ruth in South London in that period. If he was a true defector he would of left nazi Germany sooner! lean the truth,

his nazi confession: (wiki it ! )

"In November 1937 (other sources: December 1, 1932), von Braun joined the National Socialist German Workers Party. An Office of Military Government, United States document dated April 23, 1947"

[Camerataj79]

we are in the future!

[1moonlord2]

I was drawing pictures of spaceships that looked quiet the same when i was 6y old... x-D

[otters72]

omg, so was i, its amazing how long it takes for the great ideas to eventually show up

[05u16hep]

when will anyone learn that launchin a 3000 tonne rocket vertically is the biggest waist that human kind can possibly do! we need a "spaceplane" that can takeoff and land like a plane! the x-15 series was getting there, but then nasa hired a nazi and funding was stopped...

[Nidhogg13]

First of all... DON'T call Wernher von Braun a nazi. He defected to the US; he wasn't captured.

Second, there are many problems with putting both air-breathing engines and rocket engines on the same vehicle, such as the ability to carry enough fuel for both. The X-15 on a full load could only hit 1/4 of orbital velocity, using a rocket engine. A jet couldn't add much to that.

Barring a miracle, vertical launch will remain the best way to achieve orbital velocity for a long time.

[DVENDE]

your country hired a nazi to send them to space.you will have to live with that.

[Nidhogg13]

Wernher von Braun was a scientist who affiliated himself with the nazis for his own gain. He wanted to use government funding from them to do research on rockets with the final goal of sending a man into space. Von Braun cared nothing for nazi ideology.

[LOLDISNEYLAND]

yeah we all need to suck the corporate or government shlong to get anywhere in life.

[Nidhogg13]

Pretty blunt way of putting it but that about sums it up.

[sakoshooter48]

Whats your point?

[monokhem]

@DVENDE Live with it? It's one of the best things we have ever done. What did your country ever do that was better?

[manofsan]

Venturestar...

The adventure...

is canceled.

[szlamx]

Wish the Americans had lowered taxes accordingly.

[tunderman66]

Is it a dream? How can the plane jump directly form the ground to the space?

[LordFalconsword]

Not a dream, a sad nightmare. Politicians squeezed NASA until the killed the program. The SSTO (single stage to orbit) program required a few key technology developments, but less than the old shuttle. Chief among them was the Aerospike engine, tested in the 70's. This spacecraft would have revolutionized our manned effort. Instead, we're stepping BACKWARDS 40 years and returning to apollo. Why? More wasted equipment, and more jobs for politicians friends. From 50% reusable, to 0%. Disgraceful.

[szlamx]

Typical government bureaucracy. Fails in America, in Poland, on Mars as well. Long live private enterprise!

[Nidhogg13]

First, NASA's goal is now to move back to beyond earth orbit. You don't need a shuttle-type vehicle for that. It's unnecessarily heavy, making a capsule-type vehicle more practical. While it looks like a move backwards, the new spacecraft is capable of landing anywhere on the moon, and taking down the whole crew rather than leaving a man in orbit.

Second, The SRB's of Ares and the Orion capsule will be reusable. Learn a little about the rockets and spacecraft before shooting your mouth off.

[netsight]

lol I guess that's what the Russians have been saying for the pass 30 odd years with their Soyuz manned space program. The future in manned spaceflight will be based on economics not technology.

[moya138]

@Nidhogg13 Is that so maybe for nasa it is but???.its past its sell by date.

[SkyFox98]

It sucks if Venturestar had no problems, airline companies like JetBlue, and Virgin should be using it by now and Venture star would help NASA and esa to build a space habitat called Stanford torus.

[gun844]

why stanford?No, we goingto call it Europe torus.

[SkyFox98]

NASA might do Venture star again for trading from the earth to the moon using mass drivers by 2060.

[SkyFox98]

It looks like Lockheed Martin's concept of the star clipper, Venturestar should of use the main fuel tank not like the space shuttle's but like the Star Clipper which would of get the Venturestar in to orbit.

[SkyFox98]

Sorry but the reason why NASA canceled Venture star because its failed test flight proved that that SSTO is imposible.

[LordFalconsword]

Wrong, it never made it to test flights. Instead we get the asinine 'Apollo on steroids' crap.

It's irrelevant anyway, The Great Obama will cancel it all to pay for his socialist programs.

[joshatkins94]

Obama's not a socialist, and for what it's worth, his administration are actually considering speeding up Constellation.

[LordFalconsword]

Speeding up Constellation is like speeding up a '57 Chevy, fun to watch but ultimately a waste of time and money. BDB are not a solution, they're a desperate action by an agency that will become obsolete very soon.

[dilbert250]

Obama's socialist programs? Dude get ure head out of your ass

[LordFalconsword]

You first, or is just your head in the sand? Whatever.

[joshatkins94]

SSTO is not impossible.

[LordFalconsword]

BS. SSTO is not only possible, but the only solution to affordable orbital operations, short of a beanstalk. Don't be ignorant.

[Membrane556]

Too bad NASA couldn't find money to finish it even as a TSTO at first. Now we're stuck with Ares which will likely will be axed before Ares V flies which is the only good thing in the whole Constellation project.

I think this would have gotten us a lot closer to mars then Ares ever will just by the fact it would have reduced operating costs by a factor of five.

[stealthsr71]

eye think it looks like the same venture. the military version of the x33-a. mach 15 space plane...

[tonyrosam]

we need to write letters to burt rutan and the president of Virgin to pick this design back up, since the modeling , aerodynamics, and engine are all on paper already. Virgin + Venture star=

Virgin star??

[pflo777]

Why does it look so different to the other venture star renderings?

[theworacle]

This was to be the production spaceplane. It was to be much larger than the X-33 demonstrator, which would not have gone into orbit

[pflo777]

are there more renderings, linedrawings etc avalabel of the fnal design of venture star?

I somehow still cant believe they stopped the project. I still believe they keep on workiing on it, but with the status of a "black project"

[vharshyde]

The project dropped because, like most NASA projects, it ran out of money.

15 billion a month on war, and we cant afford a decent R&D budget on space travel.

[uncleezra1]

@vharshyde

Maybe that wil improve now that NASA is out of the sace trucking business and back to pure research and exploration.

[StellarBlue1]

@theworacle Ahh, are we talking Direct to Orbit (DTO) type craft here?  I mean, that is a fairly new one to me. I was thinking maybe 2030 before DTO Spacecraft..

[Arcmate]

Was the Aerospike engine viable? Did it work?

[theworacle]

The aerospike worked in ground tests, but they never got to test it for real. I do think some company flew a much smaller aerospike engine

[ti994apc]

@Arcmate

As far as I remembered that the Aerospike engines worked, but to make it work right, the final product negated any weight savings gained by not using bell nozzles.

[Membrane556]

Well blame Bush yes the X33 had issues with it's composite tanks story too long to post but it was not an unsolvable problem which later was solved by another company working on a different but similar project ironically not soon after the plug on venture star was pulled.

But the Bush admin thought it was a dead project they pulled the plug then later pulled the plug on SLI and came up with VSE leaving us in the mess we have now.

[airdriver]

And to think we could have had this replacing the space shuttle instead of Ares which is nothing more than Apollo revisited.

[ChuckManiac]

I'll book one for a round trip that's if I'm going to like past 90.