Tales of the Dynasoar

[tblaxland]

I would not trust Wikipedia on this one, I only know the gun was installed in two stations. Maybe some Russian sources know more than I do.

Surely, you would not doubt this fine document:

 

[Urwumpe]

Surely, you would not doubt this fine document:

Not before I read it twice, and asked the people Oberg cites. :lol: He lost a fair deal of credibility in a Columbia documentary, claiming that it could have been possible to rescue the astronauts.

 

[Andy44]

I just received a copy of[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dyna-Soar-Hypersonic-Strategic-Weapons-System/dp/1896522955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240439480&sr=1-1"] Dyna-Soar, Hypersonic Strategic Weapons System [/ame]2003, Apogee Books via UPS which I ordered a few days ago.

Nice! Lots of pictures and technical documents and diagrams, and a DVD with a bunch of test footage and USAF public relations videos. I especially like the photos of the full-size mock-up and and structural items from the factory. I didn't realize that these things ever got that close to being built.

The mock-up had an instrumented cockpit in it, and there are two photos of that, plus a good photo of the cockpit in the simulator that the pilots were training on.

The two cockpits are not the same, but they have some common features, such as a side-stick arrangement and a special CRT instrument in the center which has an energy diagram on it, similar to our own Re-entry MFD, apparently, but a little more graphical. The pilot could choose from dozens of landing sites and the instrument would tell him if he had enough energy to reach them, and how to fly to them, much like the Space Shuttle's GPC programs do, allowing the pilot to choose alternate landing sites in event of bad weather.

If anyone decides to do a VC for the Dyna-Soar, this book is a good reference. Would be awful nice to fly a whole re-entry and landing using authentic X-20 instruments alone.

 

[rpetty]

There is a great blog of aerospace vehicles with wonderful high res pictures of the X-20 Dyna Soar cockpit. Including side panels and instrument panel at:

http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=1441

 

[Sidereal]

Hi, all.

it's been awhile since i've orbited, and ran for the X-20 right off the bat.

The texturing & choice of speculative numbers are spot-on. i reallly like flying this bird.

the only thing i notice: when i'm in the lower atmosphere, it seems to lose speed like crazy. i almost have to do a vertical drop to before the runway threshold to retain my energy.

anyone else notice this? yes, the speedbrake is retracted.

thanks for the attention.

- adm -

 

[Andy44]

It glides just fine if you are using GPC MFD or Re-entry MFD and being mindful of your energy state. You want to pass over your landing field at about mach 1 and 60,000 ft (20 km), and then bank into the HAC (head alignment cylinder, basically a circular landing pattern). When you roll out onto final approach you want to descend at a -30 deg pitch angle. Note that this is 10 deg steeper than the Space Shuttle, so it does drop a little faster, but this allows you to keep your airspeed up as you flare for landing and deploy landing gear.

The key is to practice re-entries until you can arrive over your field at the right speed and altitude, which is a little higher than for the Space Shuttle.

I like to use HUD Data MFD so I can put various info on the HUD, such as vertical speed, vertical accelleration, Mach #, and altitude in ft. Since I learned to fly in the US, and since feet are smaller than meters, feet gives me a more intuitive feel for my approaches, and allows me to really grease the landings.

 

[RangerPL]

The Russian Almaz stations had, BTW, the same 30mm cannon installed, as most Russian fighters. Without big differences.

Some say that it was a 23mm, the same as the gun on the MiG-19.

 

[liber]

Here is intresting pdf of Boeing X-20A Dyna-Soar.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080408-031.pdf

 

[Andy44]

Question for Sputnik or anyone else who knows: I am trying to launch a Dynasoar on a Titan IVB booster, so I changed the scenario code module name to CVELTitanIVB and left the rest alone as follows:

Dynasoar:CVELTitanIVB
STATUS Landed Earth
POS -120.6265787 34.5804914 ;SLC-6 launch table coordinates - Delta IV, STS, MOL 
;BASE Vandenberg:1
HEADING 0.00
TGT_HEADING 185.0
FUEL 1.000
CONFIGURATION 0
SRM_TYPE 2
SECOND STAGE 1
UPPER STAGE 0
AUTO LEO 1
SHIFTFOCUS 1
THRUST_TERM 1
PADBIAS -24.0
FAIRING 0
PAYLOAD Interstage TenFtInterstage TenFtInterstage 0 0 -3.8 100.0 0 0.0 1.0
STAGE X-20 X20/burncycles_dynasoar X20/X20wTranstage 0 0 3.85 19442.0 0.0 1.0
PAYLOAD TelescopeBay X20/Scope X20/Scope 0 0 8.65 900.000 0 1
ENDSTAGE

Is this right? It looks like a bigger Titan than a III, but I'm not sure, and when I reach orbit insertion I only have about 1100+ m/s delta-V left in the Transtage, which IIRC is also what you get with a TitanIII. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[Aerosims]

You mean an AR-15 rifle? Wow, now that's roughing it!

As for X-20 not having an ASAT, it's not hard to imagine that the follow-on runs into trouble and so the X-20 gets an ASAT payload instead. After all, there's plenty of room in that payload bay for such a device.

The nice thing about a space-to-space missile is that is doesn't have to be aerodynamic or look like a conventional missile at all. Make it short and fat, with sensors and thrusters sticking out of it, maybe an antenna, and just make sure it has a healthy delta-V budget. No explosives, of course, kinetic kill would work. The X-20/Titan acts as the booster stage, so all you need is enough delta-V to finish an intercept, via plane change if necessary. (Not sure how you would get a firing solution, but the hardware would work, anyway).

Alternatively, the "ASAT missile" could be a robotic satellite payload with spray paint cans and other dastardly implements that just gets deployed by the X-20 and maneuvers to close quarters with the target. After doing it's job it does one final burn to push away and possibly long-term deorbit. This vehicle could be used for more benign inspection missions as well.

Hmmm....I am starting to consider an addon payload for the X-20, now...

Opening my documents from Boeing, i hope Dyna-Soar Shuttle for 4 people or some kind of nuke bomb, with Bombsight MFD off course.