HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane by Dan Sharp

[publiusr]

There seems to be a new maglev on standard rails
www.ironlev.com

 

[newsdeskdan]

Progress update:

90,000w now written, eight chapters completed - covering the period 1982 to 1988. I expect that the final total word count will be in the region of 130,000w. So this isn't going to be a flimsy lightweight of a book.

I have 516 images, excluding new artworks by Chris Sandham-Bailey, but that's probably way too many - I'll likely have to pare it back to 300-400.

Still on track, I think, to hit the intended publication date of somewhere in September.

 

[Hobbes]

Really looking forward to this.

 

[Archibald]

"Good luck, we're all counting on you !"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRB24HUAKKs

 

[Spey_Phantom]

if its anything like the other secret projects books, then put me down for a copy

 

[newsdeskdan]

if its anything like the other secret projects books, then put me down for a copy

There aren't quite so many Hotol variants as there were, say, Mustard variants, but I think this might end up being the longest and most detailed book I've ever written.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Nine chapters now completed - covering the entire existence of the airbreathing Hotol from 1982 to mid-1989. Total = 104,459 words.
That's without the introduction and preface, which I always write at the end, the appendices, which will add at least another 10,000w, the index, bibliography etc.
This could, in theory, be released almost immediately (I'd still need to do the captions) as a book in its own right with about 430-450 images.

Next up, however, is Interim Hotol. I'm hoping to fit this into a single chapter but I have a LOT of source material to go at, spread out over about five years, so it may end up being a lot more than that.

 

[FighterJock]

Interim HOTOL sounds interesting Dan.

 

[Archibald]

Is it possible to pre-order from France ? I badly want that book !

 

[newsdeskdan]

Is it possible to pre-order from France ? I badly want that book !

I think it is - if you visit the Mortons Books website you should be able to pre-order it wherever you are. https://www.mortonsbooks.co.uk/product/search?search=hotol

 

[newsdeskdan]

Interim HOTOL sounds interesting Dan.

There are a lot of different Interim HOTOL designs - and a lot of Antonov-related material too.

 

[Archibald]

Never quite understood why did they added 2 more engines, total 8.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Never quite understood why did they added 2 more engines, total 8.

Engines - Interim HOTOL orbiter:
Variants of Interim HOTOL were designed with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 engines. I think 2 was the last design studied.

Engines - An-225 'first stage':
In order to carry Interim HOTOL up to the required altitude and speed for launch, the An-225's thrust-weight ratio needed to be increased. There were two options for this: 1) directly replace the six D-18T engines with six Rolls-Royce Trents or 2) increase the number of D-18Ts to eight. Option 1) was the more expensive of the two.

The An-225 would've also needed a strengthened fuselage structure and a new flight-navigation system which could be integrated with the Interim HOTOL radio system and other integrated support equipment.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Ten chapters now completed - covering the entire existence of the airbreathing Hotol from 1982 to mid-1989 PLUS Interim Hotol from mid-1989 to mid-1991. Total = 118,651 words.

The Interim Hotol project was announced as 'completed' on June 21, 1991, but work continued well after that point before eventually being absorbed into RADEM.

Just one more chapter of chronological narrative to go, plus a chapter on 'competitors', the introduction, preface, captions, appendices (quite a lot of work already done on these), index etc. and it's done.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Well, I pre ordered on hamazon with delivery obviously and should get it 4th or 5th october.

 

[Tuomasn]

Regarding images for the book, something that would be useful and cool would be a to-scale side or top view (or both!) comparison of all major HOTOL and Interim HOTOL configurations. Something like the attached but more complete, detailed, and captioned with the configuration letters. Would be an excellent way to visualize the design evolution.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Regarding images for the book, something that would be useful and cool would be a to-scale side or top view (or both!) comparison of all major HOTOL and Interim HOTOL configurations. Something like the attached but more complete, detailed, and captioned with the configuration letters. Would be an excellent way to visualize the design evolution.

The configurations you have in your drawing are A, B, D, F and G. I'm not planning to do a side by side size comparison of all configurations as a single illustration - they would have to be really small to put them all on one page or even a spread as there are a lot of variants. What I am going to include, though, as in British Secret Projects 5, is a table showing the known dimensions of as many of the variants featured in the book as possible.
Included so far are Hotol 1984 (BAe press release), Configurations A, B, C, D, F, G2, G3, H, J, J4.5 and K, Interim Hotol (Feb '90), Interim Hotol Orbiter 61, Orbiter 61 (Soviet), Orbiter 66 (12.2.91), Orbiter 66 (7.3.91), Orbiter 68 (23.5.91), Orbiter 68d, Orbiter 68e, Hotol 2M, Hotol M, P150-302, WLC-2 rocket/ramjet, WLC-2 pre-cooled turbojet/rocket, WLC-2 SSTO, WLC-3 SSTO, RADEM Hotol-Variant and RADEM Hotol-Variant (Tripropellant). There may be some Skylons in there too. And definitely some ALVs. The ALVs are wild.
Not all of these have a full set of dimensions available but with the aid of the drawings it should be possible to work out some of the missing dimensions.
What about Orbital Swallow/Swallow? I have a 3-view of it but no dimensions. What about Hotol Configuration E? There wasn't one. What about Interim Hotol Orbiters 62, 63, 64, 65 and 67? Those did in fact exist - and I do have drawings of them (and Orbiter 68c, but not 68a or 68b) - but they're concepts rather than fully fleshed out vehicles, so no hard and fast dimensional data is available, as far as I could determine anyway. What are the ALVs? What are Hotol 2M and M? What are the WLC variants? What's P150-302 (and P150-202)? All will be explained.
There are also designs for which only partial drawings are available, such as the nose intake Hotol, the top-mounted intakes Hotol, the Hotol with fuselage-length TPS panels etc.

 

[Tuomasn]

Thanks, fair enough! Maybe I'll have to try to work out one for myself by myself once the book is out Though I would be fine even with just the actual Hotol letter configurations, even in a tiny size.
Interesting to see that this second comparison drawing that I once found in web, probably originating from a magazine, is actually based on an official BAe one - they just removed all the useful information!

 

[newsdeskdan]

Eleven chapters now completed - covering the entire existence of the airbreathing Hotol from 1982 to mid-1989 PLUS Interim Hotol from mid-1989 to October 1994. Total = 130,319 words.

All chapters of the chronological narrative are now complete.

Just the chapter on 'competitors and contemporaries' to go (I've so far covered Hermes from 1976 to April 1986 in about 1,300w, with the rest of Hermes, Saenger, NASP, Hope-X, Hyperplane, Skylon etc. still to do), as well as the introduction, preface, captions, appendices (quite a lot of work already done on these), index etc. and it's done.

While my Skylon coverage isn't going to be that in-depth (Skylon has existed as a project longer than Hotol did - and probably needs a book in its own right), I am planning to include Configurations A4, C1, C2 and D1.

 

[flateric]

Dan - Did you have any success with finding more info on LART counterpart from MBB?

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mbb-erno-einstufiger-luftatmender-raketen-tr%C3%A4ger-lart.10348/post-285080

 

[martinbayer]

Dan - Did you have any success with finding more info on LART counterpart from MBB?

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/mbb-erno-einstufiger-luftatmender-raketen-tr%C3%A4ger-lart.10348/post-285080

If not, I think I have at least one brochure in my files, but it will take some digging...

 

[Archibald]

If not, I think I have at least one brochure in my files, but it will take some digging...

Oh please... !

 

[martinbayer]

Oh please... !

Patience, my young padawan...

 

[newsdeskdan]

Any further information on LART would be appreciated. In writing this book, my focus has been on getting the story of Hotol right - and describing the many different variants and projects directly associated with it (outlined above). It's a Hotol book - perhaps THE Hotol book since there aren't currently any others!

While I intend to provide an overview of other systems, it won't be in tremendous detail - just enough so you can see how they fit into the Hotol story. I asked the surviving Hotol team members, for example, if they remembered LART - and they didn't.

It would be incredible to get a full book on Saenger and all associated systems (Deutsche Raketen-flugzeuge und Raumtransporter-Projekte by Koelle, Sacher and Grallert, while it was written by the people who worked on Saenger, doesn't really tell its story - it's more of a technical paper disguised as a book, and it doesn't mention LART either as far as I can see).

Luc van den Abeelen did a great job with Spaceplane Hermes and JC Carbonel provides an excellent overview of Hermes in French Secret Projects 3, with more emphasis on associated and competing systems. But Saenger and NASP haven't yet been given comprehensive coverage (again, as far as I can tell). Ditto Hope-X.

And as I said, if Reaction Engines could be persuaded, it would be interesting to see a book solely on Skylon. They don't seem keen on that however and Alan Bond, though he's been massively helpful with my book, hasn't been with the company for a long while now.

 

[Rhinocrates]

Any further information on LART would be appreciated. In writing this book, my focus has been on getting the story of Hotol right - and describing the many different variants and projects directly associated with it (outlined above). It's a Hotol book - perhaps THE Hotol book since there aren't currently any others!

While I intend to provide an overview of other systems, it won't be in tremendous detail - just enough so you can see how they fit into the Hotol story. I asked the surviving Hotol team members, for example, if they remembered LART - and they didn't.

It would be incredible to get a full book on Saenger and all associated systems (Deutsche Raketen-flugzeuge und Raumtransporter-Projekte by Koelle, Sacher and Grallert, while it was written by the people who worked on Saenger, doesn't really tell its story - it's more of a technical paper disguised as a book, and it doesn't mention LART either as far as I can see).

Luc van den Abeelen did a great job with Spaceplane Hermes and JC Carbonel provides an excellent overview of Hermes in French Secret Projects 3, with more emphasis on associated and competing systems. But Saenger and NASP haven't yet been given comprehensive coverage (again, as far as I can tell). Ditto Hope-X.

And as I said, if Reaction Engines could be persuaded, it would be interesting to see a book solely on Skylon. They don't seem keen on that however and Alan Bond, though he's been massively helpful with my book, hasn't been with the company for a long while now.

A book on Reaction Engines itself might be an alternative to a book on Skylon alone. There are projects that are of interest, such as the Troy Mars mission that are not related to Skylon but need to be chronicled.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEKrYpD0tl0

Not to mention Icarus and Firefly, and I'm interested in Alan Bond's work on worldships. A 'To the Stars' themed book covering Daedalus to Icarus/Firefly, with digressions, is on my fantasy bookshelf.

PROJECT ICARUS – Son of Daedalus – Final Conclusions of the Starship Design Study - The British Interplanetary Society

Date: Saturday 30 September 2023, 09:00-1800 BST Venue: BIS HQ, London and Online PROJECT ICARUS – Son of Daedalus – Final Conclusions of the Starship Design Study On the 30th of September over 10 years ago, Project Icarus kicked off at the BIS HQ with a symposium which included key members of...

www.bis-space.com

Principium 22

This issue features - <ul> <li>To the Stars in a Century: Z-Pinch fusion & Firefly Icarus</li> <li>IAC 2018 Bremen - interstellar & i4is</li> <li>Breakthrough Propulsion Physics</li> <li>Book Review: Exoplanètes</li> <li>Interstellar News</li> <li>News Features <ul> <li>Moon, Mars...

i4is.org

[2005.04100] World ships: Feasibility and Rationale

 

[FighterJock]

Same here Rhinocrates, the To the Stars book would be a good idea covering Daedalus/Icarus and Firefly. Project Daedalus was after all one of the main reasons that I joined the BIS in the first place.

 

[Alan Davies]

I hope the book does well enough to justify a companion volume for Skylon!

 

[newsdeskdan]

I hope the book does well enough to justify a companion volume for Skylon!

I don't know whether Reaction Engines would be interested in that. Strange to think that 'start-up' Reaction Engines has now been in existence for far longer than British Aerospace was (discounting that company's illustrious forebears and direct successor which is of course very much still with us).

This Hotol book will include some Skylon material - Configurations A4, C1, C2 and D1. I also have some details of what Configuration B was, though no drawing since it was short-lived and was apparently never drawn.

 

[FighterJock]

Sad about there not being drawings of Skylon Configuration B, it would have been interesting to see it and to compare it to the original design.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Sad about there not being drawings of Skylon Configuration B, it would have been interesting to see it and to compare it to the original design.

I have to say that all (known) Skylon configurations were pretty similar. There were remarkably few visual changes from A4 to D1. The most noticeable is the shift from nose fin to tail fin. The take-off system was very different between A4/B and C1 but the drawings (at least the ones publicly released) don't show it.

 

[martinbayer]

If not, I think I have at least one brochure in my files, but it will take some digging...

Attached are the raw scans of all pages of the LART brochure.

 

[Archibald]

Thanks for the effort, much appreciated !

 

[newsdeskdan]

Attached are the raw scans of all pages of the LART brochure.

That's tremendous - thank you. I was about to post that the final chapter of the book - Hotol's major contemporaries - was now finished at around 13,900w (4000w on Hermes, 1600w on NASP, 4300w on Sänger and 4000w on Skylon - taking the overall word count without the introduction, appendices etc. up to 144,000w) but I might now have to squeeze some LART in.

I am, incidentally, leaving out HOPE-X, Hyperplane, Star-H, DC-X etc. because they don't really feature in the Hotol story - whereas Hermes, NASP, Sänger and Skylon are all much more Hotol-adjacent in one way or another.

LART, being effectively the German Hotol, probably deserves some coverage.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I converted the LART scans to pictures and rotated them.

 

[newsdeskdan]

I've now added some LART material and hence have completed the last full chapter of the book (pending any further info on any of the existing 12 chapters). Word count for those alone is 148,386w (all chapters have seen incremental word count increases since my last update as I've systematically refined and enhanced each one, relative to the others). I also have two appendices completed, which bring the total to 160,286w.

Comments, criticisms and additions from Hotol team members Gerald Wilson, Dr Bob Parkinson, Eric Webb and Steve Furniss - who have all seen the manuscript - as well as former Reaction Engines Limited director Mark Hempsell, have also been incorporated (no one wanted any major changes - comments were mainly in the form of name spellings, date clarifications, explanations of BAe's wind tunnel model naming convention etc.). Alan Bond politely declined the offer to read it ahead of publication.

I'm currently 1,000w into writing the Introduction (which I always write last!) and there will also be a Preface, Index, Bibliography, Who Was Who, Abbreviations and Acroymns list, and table of vehicle and configuration data. Some of this stuff, like the table, is already done.

Other than that, it's a case of placing all the images and writing captions for them; then I can move on to getting the pages designed.

 

[Foo Fighter]

Amazon are listing, and updating delivery to between October 25, 2024 - October 26, 2024.

Being Hamazon, they probably pluck those numbers out of the jock strap of a passing White Rhino.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Amazon are listing, and updating delivery to between October 25, 2024 - October 26, 2024.

Being Hamazon, they probably pluck those numbers out of the jock strap of a passing White Rhino.

Well yes. I haven't finished writing it yet, so it's not as though copies of the finished book are just sitting around in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be released on any particular date.

If I randomly decided to down tools and take a break for a few months (or if, heaven forbid, I suffered some sort of terrible unforeseen personal calamity), the book wouldn't be out till next year - and nothing and no one could prevent that from happening. As such the dates on Amazon are sort of meaningless.

I've been providing regular progress updates on here and will continue to do so. All I can say is 'stay tuned'.

 

[Foo Fighter]

I was making a small point about the ease with which certain organisations throw around so called news to suggest they are on the ball.

Especially, when there is no ball to be 'on'.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Completed:
Preface, Introduction, 12 Chapters, 3 Appendices and Index list (page numbers to be added when known)

Still to complete:
Who Was Who (done, with details of around 330 individuals mentioned in the book, but being checked by Dr Bob Parkinson and Mark Hempsell over the weekend to fill in some gaps - particularly where BAe Stevenage personnel are concerned)
Bibliography (as opposed to a list of sources - two very different things!)
Captions (this is really the last major job left to complete. Once the captions are in, page design work can commence)

 

[newsdeskdan]

Update: The book is complete and ready for page design.

However, it is currently undergoing a BAE Systems vetting process which could take some time. As such, I can't now say exactly when the book will actually be physically available.

Now moving on to the next thing...