HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane by Dan Sharp

[Rhinocrates]

Ouch!

I'll wear my boots when reading it then.

 

[Archibald]

Am I allowed to spoil the book ?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG6EWihZ1iQ

 

[newsdeskdan]

Am I allowed to spoil the book ?

You could maybe discuss the contents as part of a review of the book? As far as I know, no one anywhere has reviewed it yet.

 

[Archibald]

Where do you prefer it ? on Amazon ?

 

[Hobbes]

I see the book has a fabric ribbon bookmark. Tip: to prevent the fabric from unraveling, apply a drop of CA glue to the end of the bookmark. This keeps the threads together.

 

[Archibald]

Well, poop. Amazon has decided that, the book being released only on February 12 (in France ?) no review allowed. Drats.

This item is not eligible to be reviewed.

 

[uk 75]

When I picked this up I half expected the book to have a label saying Moses Inc Mt Sinai.
Love the fact that it is the same size and shape as my treasured old Salamander books. But open it and you soon realise this is for serious adults.
This as I would expect from Dan Sharp has each page full of info and drawings or photos. If only more books could be like this ( some are, thanks Chris Gibson for similar and others here).
Once it is safely lodged where I can turn each page I will come back. But at the moment I am very content.

 

[Archibald]

I'm still fighting with that heavy beast of a book to find a vaguely comfortable reading position. I'm fast running out of options.

 

[scautomoton]

Some say, time slows down measurably in the vicinity of this book due to its mass....

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

I'm still fighting with the heavy beast of a book to find a vaguely comfortable reading position. I'm fast running out of options.

 

[GTX]

View attachment 755766

Or perhaps something like this but with laptop replaced with book holder:

 

[Hobbes]

I'm still fighting with that heavy beast of a book to find a vaguely comfortable reading position. I'm fast running out of options.

Place a pillow on your legs, then the book on top of the pillow.

 

[Rhinocrates]

Some say, time slows down measurably in the vicinity of this book due to its mass....

When I'm deeply engrossed in a book, the rest of the world can seem like it's on the other side of an event horizon.

 

[Rhinocrates]

I'm still fighting with that heavy beast of a book to find a vaguely comfortable reading position. I'm fast running out of options.

There are things variously described as laptop stands, bed trays etc. (though you can use them on a couch too). I have one like this.

The legs usually fold, so you can put it on a coffee or dining table.

 

[Arjen]

A 180 cm by 90 cm reading table with three 1,000 lumen LED lights suspended above. With a hand truck to move the heavier books around, because the wheelbarrow is sort of ungainly to push around indoors. Thrift shops are a rich source of books these days.
Spending comparatively modestly on stuff like shoes, perfume and cosmetics, shoes, clothing, shoes, telephones and their accessories, shoes, unidentifiable knick-knacks, and, oh, shoes compared to most of the shopping public here, we are left with adequate room for reading material, reading paraphernalia and the consumption of tea and cookies. It's largely a matter of priorities.

 

[Rhinocrates]

If you want to have multiple volumes on the go at once, consider this.

Bookwheel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[martinbayer]

Well, poop. Amazon has decided that, the book being released only on February 12 (in France ?) no review allowed. Drats.

Post one here then.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Post one here then.

I think I was suggesting that posting spoilers on here wouldn't be quite so... outright spoilery if they were embodied within a review (on here)!

 

[Owens Z]

Sounds like your big new book HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane is being well received in the UK so far, Mr Sharp. Congratulations. I am dismayed to find that Amazon has pushed back American availability to late April. We'll see.

 

[The K2]

Barnes & Noble release date is also Feb. 12 out here in the US:

HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane|Hardcover

The start of Space Shuttle operations in 1981 marked a new era in spaceflight – with the five orbiters launching numerous satellites, interplanetary probes and the Hubble Space Telescope. But Shuttle was only partially reusable, its external fuel tank being expendable and its solid rocket...

www.barnesandnoble.com

 

[seaplanepilot]

Hi Dan, Don't know if you ever use LinkedIn, but my former RR (and REL) colleague Richard Varvill has posted a discussion there today, that is sparky. I would have tagged you but can't see a profile for you.

 

[newsdeskdan]

Thanks Seaplanepilot. Even now it's rather hard to believe that Reaction Engines is gone.

 

[FighterJock]

I am still finding it hard to get over the fact that Reaction Engines is gone as well Dan.

 

[southwestforests]

the book being released only on February 12 (in France ?)

Just saw this on amazon here in the US,

This title will be released on April 30, 2025.

 

[Archibald]

"extraordinary black comic timing" He nailed it. The coincidence of dates is an heartbreak, as if things came back full circle... the worst possible way.
I also agree about aircraft-like operations. While SpaceX achievements with Starship are impressive (no question about this) , I'd like to make a point.
When he calculated the logistics of a Mars colony, Musk got that famous "megaton to orbit per year" number. I'm just wondering whether the architecture but, almost importantly, the environnement (from FAA to air traffic to booster sonic booms to falling debris) will resist the related flight rates.
Somebody at NASAspaceflight put it better than I could

The"megaton to orbit per year range" should raise eyebrows. If we are talking about 200 tonnes to LEO per launch, this would be 5,000 launches a year. Considering holidays and shutdowns happen, weare talking about launching day and night, all week, all year, aboutevery 2 hours ! Duration of the effort would have to be 20 years at a minimum, more likely 50 years. Is this even possible? Ok, we will ignore issues of noise and downrange threats, these can be managed by diktat.​

Another way of putting it: presently, Musk' Starship has a number of pads that counts in single digits. For the sake of comparison, in the USA alone are more than a hundred 13 000 ft long airstrips (courtsey of the SAC B-36s, B-47s and KC-135A veeeeeery long takeoff runs), and 2700 more - I forget the length, but paved ones, think its 3000 or 4000 ft (that number comes from Minuteman and Peacekeeper airborne dispersal studies, inside VSTOL cargoes like HS.681).

Neat things with runway-to-orbit: you can rapidly move your conops from one airstrip to another if things go down the drain with the neighbourghs. Remember, you have between 100 and 2700 places to go, average.

But we are veering off topic...

 

[flateric]

Neat things with runway-to-orbit: you can rapidly move your conops from one airstrip to another if things go down the drain with the neighbourghs. Remember, you have between 100 and 2700 places to go, average.

But we are veering off topic...

You can't move LH2 / LOX infrastructure effective and fast if things go down there.

 

[Archibald]

Well they seem bullish about hydrogen cars and planes so that may change... even if it doesn't mean I'm supporting those follies (no hydrogen car for me. NEVER.)

 

[red admiral]

Neat things with runway-to-orbit: you can rapidly move your conops from one airstrip to another if things go down the drain with the neighbourghs. Remember, you have between 100 and 2700 places to go, average.

But normal airports don't have rocket planes with 180-200dB noise levels taking off from them, alongside the fact that the "aircraft" carries highly energetic fuel and is basically a flying bomb. This is not going to be operating from Heathrow "like Concorde"

Filter out the airports with no population centres nearby and see how many are left. It's going to be far more limited than simply building more pads and barges for Vertical Launch Vertical Landing.

Getting back to Dan's book, the up front trade study in there (pg33) around different launch options is the only one I've seen to favour HTOHL approach. And there's definitely some questionable assumptions in there - the novel HOTOL engine was going to cost only 2% more than Vulcain on Ariane V to develop

And it only took <1 year of HOTOL development for some of the optimistic weights to be removed but also the ability to reach orbit along with it... SSTO is hard.

 

[BigD]

Got tired of Amazon US constantly pushing the release date further and further back, so I cancelled my pre-order and bought a copy on eBay from a UK based seller six days ago. Miraculously, my copy already showed up in Connecticut today, and I somehow managed to slightly damage the bottom of one of the pages while trying to remove the free end of the bookmark. Haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet, but the quick flip-through I performed would suggest it's easily the HOTOL equivalent of volume one of Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon. I know absolutely nothing about HOTOL beyond what the acronym would suggest, so this is basically going to be a front-to-back learning experience for me.

 

[The K2]

Sounds like your big new book HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane is being well received in the UK so far, Mr Sharp. Congratulations. I am dismayed to find that Amazon has pushed back American availability to late April. We'll see.

Barnes & Noble pushed the release date to April 30, just like Amazon

 

[aim9xray]

Obviously not crossing the North Atlantic at hypersonic speeds.
Delay due to U-Boat sightings?

 

[Owens Z]

Barnes & Noble release date is also Feb. 12 out here in the US:

HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane|Hardcover

The start of Space Shuttle operations in 1981 marked a new era in spaceflight – with the five orbiters launching numerous satellites, interplanetary probes and the Hubble Space Telescope. But Shuttle was only partially reusable, its external fuel tank being expendable and its solid rocket...

www.barnesandnoble.com

Barnes & Noble pushed the release date to April 30, just like Amazon

Obviously not crossing the North Atlantic at hypersonic speeds.
Delay due to U-Boat sightings?

Yes, sounds like a delay in the container ship voyage from the Maltese printer. It seems we American customers will have to be patient, unless like BigD we turn to eBay for a UK-originating copy. That BigD would dare to compare Mr Sharp's new HOTOL book to Dennis R. Jenkins's magisterial fourth edition, Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013 is an auspicious sign. We'll see.

 

[aim9xray]

Well, then it seems that Malta is besieged? Again?

 

[Owens Z]

Well, then it seems that Malta is besieged? Again?

If it was, then our intended copies of this new book would be sleeping with the fishes. They'll get here—someday.

 

[BigD]

My copy actually originated in Fairfield, Ohio, so apparently some copies managed to make it through the blockade.

 

[Mike Pryce]

But normal airports don't have rocket planes with 180-200dB noise levels taking off from them, alongside the fact that the "aircraft" carries highly energetic fuel and is basically a flying bomb. This is not going to be operating from Heathrow "like Concorde"

Filter out the airports with no population centres nearby and see how many are left. It's going to be far more limited than simply building more pads and barges for Vertical Launch Vertical Landing.

Getting back to Dan's book, the up front trade study in there (pg33) around different launch options is the only one I've seen to favour HTOHL approach. And there's definitely some questionable assumptions in there - the novel HOTOL engine was going to cost only 2% more than Vulcain on Ariane V to develop

And it only took <1 year of HOTOL development for some of the optimistic weights to be removed but also the ability to reach orbit along with it... SSTO is hard.

A few years back I asked Richard Varvill about the noise. The issue seemed to surprise him. I mentioned some work done by John Allen on artificial islands being needed and he said they would look into it.

 

[red admiral]

A few years back I asked Richard Varvill about the noise. The issue seemed to surprise him. I mentioned some work done by John Allen on artificial islands being needed and he said they would look into it.

Interesting, as I remember Richard breifing specifically around the noise issue for an RAeS conference > 10 years ago. This was for Skylon, but its indicative of similar size rocket powered Horizontal Take-Off spaceplanes.

 

[Owens Z]

Post one here then.

I think I was suggesting that posting spoilers on here wouldn't be quite so... outright spoilery if they were embodied within a review (on here)!

Archibald has not yet engaged with the suggestions that he post an itemized review of the brand-new book HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane here on this thread. Any other UK readers are welcome to do so, please.

Would-be American customers still await publication. Mr Sharp had stated that he "had a ridiculous number of period documents to work from—and practically every surviving member of the Hotol team available to answer questions". That his new book might even rival the insight and enthralling detail of Dennis R. Jenkins's magnum opus on Space Shuttle, like BigD says, makes me hungrier.

 

[Owens Z]

HOTOL: Britain's Spaceplane was printed by Gutenberg of Malta. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time there's been a problem of this nature with their work for Tempest. I will pass on Steve's image to the publisher.

Happily, I haven't seen any further issues from UK customers about the new book's binding after Foo Fighter's and Steve jb's comments about the inside front cover's paper being misglued by the Maltese printer, so maybe their two copies were just anomalies. When my copy arrives here in New York, I plan to first check the binding thoroughly, before digging in for a leisurely read.

I have been a fan of the HOTOL design(s) since I first learned about that British program in the 1980's. I subsequently heard that, due to center-of-mass vs center-of-lift mismatches that could not be overcome, the general post-program judgment was that a built HOTOL vehicle could not have worked. But I am eager to learn about the true story from Mr Sharp.

 

[Rhinocrates]

I pre-ordered from the publisher. It hasn't arrived yet in New Zealand yet but they did say that mail would be slow and take up to eight weeks outside the UK.