December 21, 2008
More on The Paths not Taken
Over at the Unwanted Blog, where Scott Lowther has a selection of pictures from Project Meteor, a hugely ambitious program from 1956 that was as Lowther puts it...
Not so limited indeed...the station was half a mile long and the gravity deck (centrifuge) was 1500 feet in diameter. This was the size of an O'Neal colony...in 1956!
In theory, the optimum altitude for a station is around1050 miles up or so which is beyond all traces of the earths atmosphere, however what was not known prior to Explorer 1 is that that orbital sweet spot is smack blam in the middle of in the Van Allen Belts. Low earth orbit, though considered a hard vacuum, still has enough trace atmosphere to cause some over time drag, making satellites there non-permanent or high maintenance. However, given the investment in the thing and the plans concurrent project for reusable space launchers, this could have probably been made to work.
Lowther has a 59 page report describing the project in great detail for sale here along with several other forgotten chapters of aerospace history.
*Explanation of the irony in this statement can be found at this awesome site. dedicated to the "Colliers Space Program"
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This was somewhat similar to the “Colliers†space program as envisioned by von Braun and others… just not so small and limited.*
Not so limited indeed...the station was half a mile long and the gravity deck (centrifuge) was 1500 feet in diameter. This was the size of an O'Neal colony...in 1956!
srrsly guys...manuver carefully!
I was familliar with the interesting and forward thinking Meteor ferry rocket, from Ron Millers, The Dream Machines. However I had NO idea that it was tied to such an ambitious project. According to Lowther, the numbers largely work, this was a very serious proposal, but I suspect this...like other 1950's station proposals, would have run afoul of the then unknown Van Allen problem
*Explanation of the irony in this statement can be found at this awesome site. dedicated to the "Colliers Space Program"
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