HELIOS by Krafft Ehricke

[magnus_z]

I do not know this U.S. space project


Let's Find Out About Mars (1966):

http://dreamsofspace.blogspot.ru/2013/09/lets-find-out-about-mars-1966.html

 

[blackstar]

Re: Manned Mars Mission 196??

I do not know this U.S. space project

There is other more professional artwork of that idea around.

It always struck me as pretty nutty.

 

[Michel Van]

Re: Manned Mars Mission 196??

in 1967 were manny mars mission proposals, but sadly not this one.
that first version "Helios" Krafft Ehricke
but that was for manned lunar mission not a Mars mission !

magnus_z, your victim of a illustrator and a book author....

Helios Concept

Its a two Stage Rocket to Moon, Liftoff mass of 800000 kg (1.763.698 pound) .
6 meter (19,6 foot) ø, 60 meter (196 foot) long, fist stage wingspan is 27 meter (88,58 foot) wide
first stage chemical engine manned Delta wing push the Crew and second stage in 45-50 km high (50 miles)
(it weight fully loaded 700000 kg empty 32000 kg 2 engine in total 1.2 million kilopound trust.)
separates and fly back to launch place
the crewcompartment separate form second stage on roll on 300 meter (1000 foot) long cable down
the Second stage ignites its NUCLEAR engine and pulls the crewcompartment toward the Moon
(total assembly weight 100000 kg)
the Reactor has power of 2600 Megawatt 100000 kilopound Trust, Acceleration of 1 G (9,81 meter/sec)

After a complex roll manover, the rocket land on the moon crewcompartment fist
the second stage 300 meter away from it...
Krafft Ehricke do not explane (in text) how they return!

who far hast to be a Astronaut to be save of a Open Nuclear Reactor ? (like running NERVA engine)
14000 Meter or 45.931 foot !!! remember cable is only 300 meter (1000 foot) long

the Second version of HELIOS in 1960 look like a Atlas rocket only bigger
Booster stage with Lox tanks and 4 engine only to take nuclear second stage to stratosphere.
Nuclear sustainer takes payload to orbit or escape trajectory.
Payload or Crew Save on top of the Rocket.

Source:
HELIOS (old Killer version)
Raumwaffen Econ verlag 1959 page 163-164 (german)
Space Weapons, A handbook of Military Astronautics. 1959 frederic A. Praeger Inc, publisher
HELIOS (1960 Version)
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/heliosa.htm

 

[Hobbes]

Re: Manned Mars Mission 196??

Interesting that the configuration is so similar to the Skycrane used on the Curiosity mission.

 

[magnus_z]

in 1967 were manny mars mission proposals, but sadly not this one.
that first version "Helios" Krafft Ehricke
but that was for manned lunar mission not a Mars mission !

magnus_z, your victim of a illustrator and a book author....

Helios Concept

Thank you very much!
Now I have found another:

Revell
Authentic Kit

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR
HELIOS
HISTORY OF THE CONVAIR HELIOS SPACE VEHICLE

HELIOS is a space vehicle proposed by Krafft A. Ehricke of CONVAIR (Astronautics) Division, General Dynamics Corporation, for making direct flights from the earth’s surface to the moon or nearby planets.

This vehicle derives its name from the first letters of the words describing its function, heteropowered earth-launched inter-orbital spacecraft. It is a chemical-nuclear powered ship consisting of two stages. The bottom stage is a chemically fuelled rocket-glider, carrying a pilot in an attached capsule, which can be jettisoned in case of emergency. The top stage carries a nuclear-powered rocket engine. Between the two stages is a corrugated adapter, which as well as holding the two stages together, houses the main crew quarters.

At takeoff, HELIOS would measure 200 feet in length, and weigh about 1,800,000 pounds. Wingspan of the bottom stage is 90 feet, and the diameter of the rocket body is 20 feet. Thrust delivered at takeoff totals 2,700,000 pounds, and is developed by two engines of 1,350,000 pounds each.

The bottom stage carries the vehicle to 170,000 feet at a speed of between 13 and 16,000 feet per second. At this point the glider stage breaks away, and glides safely back to earth. The top stage, carried on by the initial thrust, begins to separate from the adapter section before the nuclear engine is started. This separation is accomplished by small retro-rockets in the adapter section. At the end of the separation phase, the passenger gondola will be 1,000 feet behind the top stage, attached by cables which have unreeled from the main stage. At this point the nuclear engine is started, and the vehicle can proceed to its destination.

When the moon, or planet is reached, the vehicle is maneuvered into a vertical position, and using light thrust, gently lowers the gondola to the surface. Remote controls guide the main body some 1,000 feet away, where it in turn settles to the surface, keeping the crew safe from radiation.

HELIOS could deliver a 15,000 pound payload to the moon and still have enough fuel left to return to a Satellite orbit around the earth, where it would be intercepted by a vehicle similar to CONVAIR’S Space Shuttlecraft, which is also part of REVELL’S space series.

http://www.ninfinger.org/models/kitplans/revellh1829.pdf

 

[cluttonfred]

You all know that essentially this system was used to land the Curiosity rover on Mars last year, right?

http://youtu.be/P4boyXQuUIw?t=2m3s

PS--How to I get videos to embed rather than just post the link? I thought the system would parse it, but apparently not.

 

[Michel Van]

You all know that essentially this system was used to land the Curiosity rover on Mars last year, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw&feature=youtu.be&t=2m3s

PS--How to I get videos to embed rather than just post the link? I thought the system would parse it, but apparently not.

yes it's similar to Curiosity landing system, but with major differences
while at Curiosity the cemical thruster shoot away from rover

hang at HELIOS the Crew cabin under exhaust of a nuclear engine !
I not wanna sit under an nuclear engine running on full power,
not even at 14000 meter safety distance for this case (not 400 meter Ehricke had in mind)

also is Curiosity landing system a disposal one that crash land after use
while HELIOS imply that the Nuclear stage pull the Crew cabin back to earth
( Ehricke not explain the Return, in publication i have read about HELIOS)

 

[cluttonfred]

Absolutely right, I just meant the feature of lowering the payload down on cables for landing.

 

[OM]

I not wanna sit under an nuclear engine running on full power,
not even at 14000 meter safety distance for this case (not 400 meter Ehricke had in mind)

...ISTR this discussion coming up *way* back on WWIVnet's "Spaceways" discussion group circa 1990, and IIRC part of the design specs called for a rather thick lead shield on the top of the "spam can" to deal with the fast neutrons, and with some sort of ablative on top of that to capture and then flake off whatever other fallout particles and carry them free of the can much in the same way standard reentry heat shields worked with resins. The key idea behind the design being that the nuclear engine would have enough excess thrust to compensate for the weight of the lead shield. There were some back-of-the-napkin figuring done, but the consensus was split between Ehricke's engine having enough thrust to do the job without cooking the "spam in the can", and said engine not having enough thrust and *still* wind up frying the crew.


After that, I don't think anyone ever bothered to question whether those tow cables would hold up under such thrust without melting long before touchdown... :


:OM:

 

[RanulfC]

"The Nuclear Rocket" by James Dewar mentions another "HELIOS" by Ehricke that used a chemical booster first stage and a massive 15,000MW NTR using Ammonia for a serious heavy lifter vehicle and a smaller single/two-barrel model for lighter payloads.

It also mentions the Douglas RITA (Reusable Interplanetary Transport Atomic) do we have any information on that?

Randy

 

[Orionblamblam]

"The Nuclear Rocket" by James Dewar mentions another "HELIOS" by Ehricke that used a chemical booster first stage and a massive 15,000MW NTR using Ammonia for a serious heavy lifter vehicle and a smaller single/two-barrel model for lighter payloads.

"Helios" was sort of a catch-all name for a subset of the Post-Saturn studies from ca. 1963, with at least General Dynamics and Douglas proposing several designs. The basic point of it was that the booster would have a combo of both chemical and nuclear engines. A common idea was something like a giant-sized Atlas, with the central sustainer (or several sustainers) being nuclear, while the droppable outer booster engines were chemical. Others with single stage with a mix of chemical and nukes staying together. This "Helios" had nothing to do with the Helios the topic is aimed at, yet Ehricke worked on both.

It also mentions the Douglas RITA (Reusable Interplanetary Transport Atomic) do we have any information on that?

Yup. A conical vehicle with a single large nuclear engine.

 

[OM]

"Helios" was sort of a catch-all name for a subset of the Post-Saturn studies from ca. 1963

...So, in essence, it was a "Nova between Novas", so to speak?

 

[RanulfC]

"The Nuclear Rocket" by James Dewar mentions another "HELIOS" by Ehricke that used a chemical booster first stage and a massive 15,000MW NTR using Ammonia for a serious heavy lifter vehicle and a smaller single/two-barrel model for lighter payloads.

"Helios" was sort of a catch-all name for a subset of the Post-Saturn studies from ca. 1963, with at least General Dynamics and Douglas proposing several designs. The basic point of it was that the booster would have a combo of both chemical and nuclear engines. A common idea was something like a giant-sized Atlas, with the central sustainer (or several sustainers) being nuclear, while the droppable outer booster engines were chemical. Others with single stage with a mix of chemical and nukes staying together. This "Helios" had nothing to do with the Helios the topic is aimed at, yet Ehricke worked on both.

It also mentions the Douglas RITA (Reusable Interplanetary Transport Atomic) do we have any information on that?

Yup. A conical vehicle with a single large nuclear engine.

Yup this sounds familiar I think I asked you about this before, I sit corrected Thanks

Randy

 

[Orionblamblam]

...So, in essence, it was a "Nova between Novas", so to speak?

Not quite. There were several "classes" of post-Saturn being studied in 1963. One class was pure chemical; another was chemo-nuke. What linked 'em was ginormousness. I don't recall if I had any of the GD Helios stuff in the APR"Nexus" article, but all the good GD Helios stuff I have was in the same source docs. I know I'd planned on a Helios-specific article for some time in the future.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Ah, the good old days...

 

[Orionblamblam]

HELIOS by General Dynamics

I did a quick look into my stash and dug up a few of the GD Helios designs. More at some later point in the dim future. Sadly, this is the best quality I have... whoever scanned this stuff at NASA did so on B&W, not grayscale. Bah.

 

[Stargazer]

How to I get videos to embed rather than just post the link? I thought the system would parse it, but apparently not.

I personally do not encourage embedding and much prefer a link. Why? The main reason is that if the post is re-accessed (either by its own author or a moderator, as sometimes happens) then the embedding code and URL of the video are completely wiped out, erased, removed. Or perhaps providing both would be a solution?

 

[Orionblamblam]

Re: HELIOS by General Dynamics

Interesting that some of the Helios proposals had very much in common with the "NEXUS lofter" designs,

Designed at the same time, by the same people, for the same payloads and requirements, and included in the same reports.