View allAll Photos Tagged FUT
Une magnifique petite cité médiévale de l’East Sussex. Ce fut jadis un port mais la mer a reculé à près de 3 km! Invasions, contrebande, inondations et incendies ont marqué son histoire.
A magnificent little medieval town in East Sussex. It was once a port, but the sea has receded to almost 2 miles! Invasions, smuggling, floods and fires have left their mark on its history.
Bellegarde fut édifié au 14e s., probablement sur les fondations d'un château plus ancien, par Nicolas Braque, grand argentier royal. En 1692, le duc d'Antin, fils de Mme de Montespan en fit l'acquisition et le réaménagea. Le château reçut des hôtes de marque: Louis XIV, Louis XV, le Régent, le roi Stanislas et Voltaire.
Le château de Bellegarde présente un donjon de brique et de pierre flanqué de 4 échauguettes. Il est desservi par un bel escalier à double volée. Le château est entouré de douves en eau propices à la constitution de beaux effets miroir.
Au début du XVIIIe siècle, le domaine du Clavier appartenait à Pierre Piaud, sieur du Clavier, seigneur de Fontsausine.
En 1755, la maison du Clavier fut adjugée par décret interposé de la sénéchaussée de La Rochelle en faveur de Claude Beaupied du Mesnil, plus tard directeur des domaines corporels...
Vers 1786, Claude Beaupied du Mesnil avait dû faire rebâtir le logis puisqu'on précisait que la maison était nouvellement construite.
Le 17 mai 1858, Louise Hivert, héritière de la maison de cognac Hivert & Pellevoisoin, épouse au château du Clavier, Auguste Godet.
Auguste, remarqué pour ses qualités de négociant et son sens inné des affaires, présidera à la fusion des deux maisons, Godet et Hivert & Pellevoisin, pour en faire un acteur très important du marché.
C’est par cette alliance que va véritablement débuter l’histoire des « Cognac GODET » à La Rochelle.
Auguste Godet, petit à petit, se désintéressa du Cognac et préféra la botanique. Il se passionne plutôt pour l‘horticulture en créant un jardin d’hiver au Clavier.
Le Clavier devint alors magnifiquement entretenu par une armée de jardiniers qui avait la maîtrise des jardins d’hiver et des serres. Le Château bénéficiait d’une magnifique verrière et d’une terrasse avec vue sur la mer.
Il était composé au rez-de-chaussée d’un grand vestibule, salon, salle à manger, bibliothèque, bureau, cuisine office et salle de bains. A l’étage noble, il y avait cinq chambres de maître. Le deuxième comprenait des chambres de bonnes et greniers.
Malheureusement, la guerre fit perdre à la Famille Godet Le Domaine du Clavier, ces 48 hectares de vignes ainsi que la ferme du Bonnodeau située aux alentours.
Le Château fut alors réquisitionné par l’armée allemande, qui y créa une école de sous-officiers de la défense anti-aérienne. Ils avaient pour objectif de créer trois bases défensives à La Rochelle.
Ils construisirent 18 bunkers dans le parc face au Château, servant principalement de cachette pour leurs armes mais également d’archivage et de stockage nourriture. Les 3 bunkers le long de la route servaient à surveiller le Château en cas d’attaque.
A la fin de la guerre le Château brula …..
Après une remise en état, en 1949 le château devient une colonie de vacances pour les enfants de la société des carrelages Cerrabati, puis un lieu d’étape pour les gens du voyage.
De 1970 à 1975 le château du Clavier accueilli un laboratoire dentaire ou s’unit une société mutualiste. A l’époque l’endroit était mal desservit par les bus, et le laboratoire ferma prématurément.
En 1978, la commune de Lagord racheta le château.
Des personnes s’y installèrent sans autorisation et y ouvrirent un studio d’enregistrement pour le groupe de musique « Black Label » de Cristal Production.
Plus personne ne s’occupa du château pendant des années, il resta à l’abandon et finit par brûler une deuxième fois.
En 2010, Ludovic Bréant, l'actuel propriétaire du Château le rénova en fît un hôtel moderne et contemporain.
La tour fut érigée en 1925 pour une exposition internationale de la houille blanche et du tourisme. L’architecte Auguste Perret a conçu ce bâtiment d’une hauteur de 95 m en béton armé. L’accès au sommet était possible avec un escalier hélicoïdal et un ascenseur.
The tower was set up as 1925 for an international exhibition of the hydroelectricity and the tourism. The architect Auguste Perret conceived this building of a height of 95 m concrete armed. The access to the summit was possible with a helical staircase and an elevator.
Cette pièce fut une des premières pièces à recevoir son décor : c'était la Chambre du Maître,
Antoine III de Clermont. Décorée de très beau médaillons représentant les 7 Arts Libéraux :
- les trois matières littéraires qui constituent ce qu'on appelle le trivium : la logique, la rhétorique, la grammaire
- les quatre matières scientifiques qui constituent le quadrivium : la musique, la géométrie, l'arithmétique et l'astronomie
Les arts libéraux étaient les principales matières enseignées à l'école à l'Antiquité et au Moyen-âge.
Puis, on a rajouté un 8ème médaillon avec Apollon et les 9 muses, divinités qui inspiraient et
protégeaient les artistes dans la tradition gréco-romaine.
Ces médaillons sur enduit sec, sont attribués à l'école de Fontainebleau ; le fruit d'un travail
entre Le Primatice et son élève et exécuteur testamentaire Ruggiero de Ruggieri. Le huitième serait attribué au Maître de Flore, autre élève du Primatice.
Ces œuvres ont été peu restaurées et sont dans un état de conservation exemplaire, seuls les cadres et le fond du décor de grotesques ont été remaniés au 19ème siècle. Des perroquets ainsi qu'un singe ont été peints en sachant que la reine Catherine de Médicis, épouse d'Henri II, aimait s'entourer de ces animaux...
Le plafond du 16ème siècle est un damier de 9 caissons, il est sans doute un des plus beaux de ce château. Dans son état d'origine, il a certes souffert de quelques infiltrations mais il n'a pas été retouché. La richesse de la polychromie est typique de cette époque Renaissance, des éléments moulés ont été insérés pour accentuer l'effet de profondeur.
Enfin, Antoine III a fait rajouter des médaillons, plus précisément des cartouches en papier mâché, peints avec les 12 signes du zodiaque, le plus visible de tous étant celui du poisson au-dessus du lit ou le lion. Rares exemples de cartouches et rosaces en papier mâché datant du 16ème siècle qui sont actuellement répertoriés en France.
Avant de quitter la pièce, nous noterons la présence de cette importante cheminée à griffe de lion, dont le décor était à la mode au 16ème siècle. Sur sa face vous pouvez voir peinte une ruche enflammée que le feu ne parvient pas à consumer d'où l'inscription latine en dessous "URIT NON CONSUMIT" qui signifie elle brûle sans se consumer. Certain y voit une allusion à l'état du royaume déchiré par les guerres de religions, la référence au nouveau mode de gouvernement mis en place à partir de la régence de Catherine de Médicis, la reine des abeilles et son essaim ou tout simplement une allégorie pour dire la persévérance dans les épreuves...
Source :
“The first nation to build and launch a giant “million-pound thrust” rocket will be able to dominate space over the world with huge satellites like this one… a five-man “space laboratory”, 35 feet long, seven feet in diameter, weighing 65,000 pounds, taking a 6,000,000-pound thrust to put into orbit. Science experts agree that the million-pound rocket will be necessary to put a man-carrying satellite into space—a real lead in the weapons race.”
Reeks of Cold War concerns, doesn’t it?
And/Or:
“Development of multimillion-pound-thrust rocket engines, such as the Saturn, will enable the Space Agency to provide five-man space laboratory such as this. Seven feet in diameter and 35 feet long, this station and its shielding weighs 65,000 pounds. It will require a launching booster of 6 million pounds' thrust. Orbiting at 22,400 miles, the station will be used for astronomy, solar and ionosphere studies and as a communications relay station, a navigation aid, a human factors laboratory or as a weather forecasting station. Antiradiation shielding might account for as much as 20,000 to 40,000 pounds of the station weight.”
At/From:
dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2020/08/space-stations-1962.ht...
Specifically:
blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd6tS0...
Credit: John Sisson/”Dreams of Space – Books and Ephemera” blog
Based on the above description, if correct/accurate, this is one of the very few (I think) proposals for a manned space station in geostationary/geosynchronous orbit that I've seen/read of.
See also:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Early_Space_Station_Conce...
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Excellent artwork by the immensely talented, and sadly/inexplicably unheralded Sol Dember. I like how he incorporated his signature "into" the image. Unfortunately, I have no idea as to what most of the external extensions, attachments & appendages are. Other than, based on the second description, the nuclear power source being at the end of the tether.
Zero-g? Artificial gravity? If the latter, the astronauts’ orientation relative to the interior space station configuration seems to be sub-optimal. Then again, artwork of this time period didn’t necessarily depict folks in a weightless environment as looking like such either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It all just adds to the quaintness & enjoyment of the image IMHO.
Oh, is the left ~ ⅓ comprised of a caged “open-air” cargo bay? And it looks like there are two opposing & open sets of cargo bay doors to enclose it, if/as required. Cool.
Sort of looks like Monogram's "Moon Taxi" model. Or, vice-versa.
Finally, and merely for my own edification/peace of mind, I’m pretty sure the Rocketdyne photo numbering prefix of “ILS” is for “illustration”.
"This photograph shows how Krafft A. Ehricke pictures man going to the moon by nuclear rocket. The manned payload hangs 1000 feet below the nuclear power plant after having been boosted from Earth into space by a chemical rocket. Upon reaching the Moon, the nuclear rocket is set down some distance from where the capsule lands. This arrangement protects the crew from the radiation of the nuclear rocket. (Convair, General Dynamics Corp.)"
Above credit: Leo Boudreau/Man on the Moon from "Rocket to the Moon" by Erik Bergaust and Seabrook Hull (1958), 1st ed. See linked image below.
In my world, this image is rather iconic, especially WRT to the Ehricke & Sentovic collaboration, as it was (relatively speaking), extensively used for press purposes. As such, this rare remnant has obviously been around the block. Despite that, it’s still retained its gloss and is bright & crisp image.
Note the stylized lower-case “dp” next to Mr. Sentovic’s signature, surely by him. No idea what it means/refers to.
Last, but not least - John Michael Sentovic:
e05.code.blog/2022/01/03/artist-profile-john-sentovic/
Credit: Garrett O’Donoghue/“numbers station” blog. I love this guy.
Déesse du ciel, Nout symbolise le firmament et fut considérée comme la mère de tous les astres.
Selon ce mythe, elle est la fille de Shou dieu de l'air, de Tefnout déesse de l'humidité et la sœur jumelle et épouse de Geb, dieu de la terre. Ils forment ainsi les quatre éléments primordiaux. Elle est en outre la petite-fille du dieu-soleil Atoum.
Jaloux de leur union, Shou avait séparé Nout et Geb pour une durée de 360 jours. Nout réussit à gagner aux dés contre Thot, le dieu du temps, cinq jours supplémentaires (les jours épagomènes), qui firent passer le calendrier de 360 à 365 jours.
C'est durant ces cinq jours supplémentaires qu'elle s'unit à Geb et donna naissance à Osiris, Seth, Isis et Nephtys.
Certaines versions de la légende disent qu'elle enfanta Horus l'Ancien (à ne pas confondre avec Horus fils d'Osiris et d'Isis) le cinquième jour.
Nout remplit une fonction importante dans la cosmogonie égyptienne. Elle incarne le ciel ; sa colère est le tonnerre, ses larmes la pluie ; son corps symbolise la voûte céleste et sépare la terre du déluge qui l'entourait.
Selon les traditions, le corps de Nout se déploya au-dessus de la terre pour la protéger ; ses membres qui devaient toucher le sol symbolisent les quatre points cardinaux.
Elle fait de plus figure de mère des astres. Le Soleil disparaissait le soir dans sa bouche pour voyager la nuit dans son corps et au matin réapparaître dans son giron, à l'Est.
Au cours d'un cycle éternel, les étoiles traversaient également son corps pendant le jour.
Superbe moment passé avec @visitcotedazur lors de la Fête des violettes 2025 et du lancement du guide du petit futé intitulé Villages&vallees d’Azur.
Chaque premier week-end de mars, la Fête des Violettes annonce la fin de la saison pour les producteurs. Elle fut créée en 1952 par Victor Linton, un artiste d’origine écossaise installé à Tourrettes-sur-Loup, avec pour volonté de mettre à l’honneur les horticulteurs de la commune et leur savoir-faire
Au fil des années et grâce à son corso fleuri, la Fête des Violettes est devenue une véritable institution
Un moment à ne pas rater, privilégier les parkings aux entrées de la ville, une navette vous aménagera jusqu’aux festivités.
#TourrettessurLoup #FetedesViolettes #Violettes #corso #corsofleuri #AlpesMaritimes #CotedAzurFrance #Provence #RegionSud #villagesetvalleesdazur
@VisitCotedazur
@villagesvalleesdazur.tourisme
@violettesdetourrettes
@jerome_viaud
@fragonardparfumeurofficiel
@visitcotedazur
@confiserieflorianofficiel
@petitfute_coteazur
@bastideauxviolettes06
@lydia.chan.737
@cate06nice
@lesescapadesdagnes
L'ancien portail de l'église abbatiale fut réalisé entre 1137 et 1147, après l'incendie qui ravagea la ville de Dijon le 28 juin 1137. Il disparut en 1813, lors du réaménagement de l'église devenue cathédrale. Seuls les piedroits furent conservés et en partie refaits.
Nous avons connaissance du portail d'origine par une gravure du XVIIIe siècle de Dom Urbain Plancher, moine bénédictin. Au XIVe siècle, lors de la reconstruction, ce portail roman est mis en place à la porte occidentale de la nouvelle église gothique. Au tympan, on retrouve le Christ en majesté et la représentation allégorique de l'Église et de la Synagogue (Ecclesia et Synagoga).
On y trouve également les thèmes de la Nativité, l'Annonce aux bergers, les rois mages à cheval. Le tympan est encadré de quatre voussures sur lesquelles se trouvent les anges, Hérode et le massacre des Innocents, les vieillards de l'Apocalypse, ainsi que des rinceaux de feuillages avec des oiseaux et des sphinx. Sur le trumeau une sculpture de saint Bénigne. Sur les huit piédroits des statues colonnes de 2 mètres de haut, représentant de gauche à droite : Salomon, Aaron, saint Paul, Ezéchias, David, saint Pierre, Moïse, et la reine de Saba.
De ce portail, il ne reste plus aujourd'hui que cinq morceaux : la tête de saint Bénigne qui provient de la statue du trumeau, la tête de saint Pierre, deux violes qui faisaient partie d'un voussure, ainsi qu'un morceau de l'archivolte.
The old portal of the abbey church was built between 1137 and 1147, after the fire that ravaged the city of Dijon on June 28, 1137. It disappeared in 1813, during the redevelopment of the church that became a cathedral. Only the jambs were preserved and partly redone.
We know of the original portal from an 18th century engraving by Dom Urbain Plancher, a Benedictine monk. In the 14th century, during the reconstruction, this Romanesque portal was installed at the western door of the new Gothic church. On the tympanum, we find Christ in Majesty and the allegorical representation of the Church and the Synagogue (Ecclesia et Synagoga).
We also find the themes of the Nativity, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, the Three Wise Men on horseback. The tympanum is framed by four arches on which are the angels, Herod and the massacre of the Innocents, the elders of the Apocalypse, as well as foliage scrolls with birds and sphinxes. On the trumeau a sculpture of Saint Benignus. On the eight jambs are 2-meter-high column statues, representing from left to right: Solomon, Aaron, Saint Paul, Hezekiah, David, Saint Peter, Moses, and the Queen of Sheba.
Of this portal, only five pieces remain today: the head of Saint Benignus which comes from the statue of the trumeau, the head of Saint Peter, two viols which were part of an arch, as well as a piece of the archivolt.
Beau bâtiment issu à nouveau de la fin du XIXe siècle faisant honneur à la renaissance italienne. Elle fut commandité par la Caisse d'Épargne tchèque à l'occasion de ses 50 ans d'existence. Son nom provient du prince héritier Rodolphe d'Autriche ayant déjà une passerelle et un quai voisin à son nom. Il fut également présent lors de son inauguration. A l'origine cela devait être une galerie d'art et une salle de concert.
Mais évidemment, un si bel écrin ne laissant pas indifférent, les différents pouvoirs ultérieurs changèrent tour à tour le nom de la place bordant cet édifice remarquable (place Smetana, place Mozart, place de l'Armée rouge et finalement place Jan Palach (saurez-vous retrouver les époques)). Le bâtiment servit à des fins politiques comme Chambre des députés de l'Assemblée nationale tchécoslovaque et comme Quartier général du "Protecteur" du Reich et après guerre servit à la faculté de musique de l'Académie des arts du spectacle nouvellement crée.
Mais au final, à l'heure actuelle, il n'y a pas plus tant de changement de destination, puisqu'à nouveau il y a une galerie d'art ainsi qu'une grande salle de spectacle, mais cette dernière semble grandement monopolisée par la Philharmonie de Prague, y a pire ;)
Sources : Site d'archi praguoise (EN) && Monuments historiques (CZ) && Site du Rudolfinum sur son histoire (CZ) && Agence de voyage coté archi à propos du bâtiment (FR) && Wikipédia bâtiment (Multi) && Wikipédia Philharmonie (CZ) && Wikipédia prince au destin tragique (Multi)
All kinds of activity in lunar orbit.
A visual feast, possibly rendered by either Ludwik Źiemba, William Collopy or Anthony Saporito, or some combination thereof.
By extrapolation of other works, possibly on behalf of Lockheed Missiles & Space Company.
Cette ancienne verrerie de l'abbaye de Foigny devint une cense assez importante lorsque la forêt de Watigny fut défrichée.
En 1636, Jean de Weert, l'un des chefs de mercenaires qui dévastèrent la région pendant la guerre de Trente ans, l'incendia.
On la reconstruisit alors en la fortifiant, elle fut ainsi en état de résister aux Espagnols à l'époque de la Fronde.
Ce petit château a appartenu pendant longtemps à la famille Lefevre de la Cloperie.
Construit en brique et pierre, l'édifice est de plan rectangulaire, mais le petit côté regardant vers la route est à trois pans vers l'arrière, deux tourelles cylindriques marquent ses angles.
Le pan axial est en brique, sauf les angles traités en chaînages harpés et les encadrements des fenêtres et de leurs allèges et le soubassement; la fenêtre du rez de chaussée est un peine cintrée; la fenêtre de l'étage est moins haute que ses voisines car son allège présente un panneau sculpté de rinceaux; les claveaux de son arc sont recoupés par une archivolte.
Les tourelles sont en brique, sauf quelques cordons de pierre qui les ceinturent, celle de droite est couverte par une poivrière, celle de gauche par une pyramide d'ardoise couronnée par une boule.
www.chateau-fort-manoir-chateau.eu/chateaux-aisne-chateau...
www.chateau-fort-manoir-chateau.eu/googlemaps/chateau-de-...
www.google.com/maps/@49.9037882,4.2045873,3a,65.5y,291.69...
“Grumman space shuttle orbiter concept with external hydrogen tands on a reusable booster.”
Yep, that’s how it’s written. And not a mention that it’s the “H33” Boeing/Grumman concept. No caption at all would’ve been a marked improvement.
Beautiful work, although the Floridian peninsula seems to be suffering from tectonically induced Peyronie's disease.
Possibly the work of Craig Kavafes? Or one of the other Grumman artists from that time...Bud Parke, Jim Rodriguez? Somebody else? Maybe a Boeing artist? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
www.astronautix.com/s/shuttleh33.html
Credit: Astronautix website
In color:
Specifically:
e05.code.blog/tag/h-33/#jp-carousel-3159
Both above credit: numbers station blog
Sourced from:
Credit: Internet Archive website
Finally:
www.pmview.com/spaceodysseytwo/spacelvs/sld033.htm
Credit: PMView Pro website
Cette rue fut une source d'inspiration pour la maman d'Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, pour un de ses romans.
Pour info, ce ciel bleu digne d'un ciel méditerranéen n'a duré que le temps de remonter cette rue superbe cad une demie-heure! Ensuite, grêle!!! Timing parfait!
Victoria Street is a jamboree of colour & quirky shops, admired as the bonniest street in Edinburgh.
It’s reputed to be an inspiration for Diagon Alley (Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone), with a ribbon of cobbles curving upward, multiple levels hosting an eclectic throng of boutique shops and pointy roofs touching the sky it’s not hard to see why.
North American Aviation (NAA) artist’s concept of a post-Apollo(?) lunar base/colony, with an Astronaut in the foreground exploring the surface.
It’s very difficult to date this photograph. The space suit appears to be a Mercury-Gemini combination, with rope-on-hip. I expected the half-dome shelters to be helpful as far as dating the image…nope. Note what appear to be directional communications antennas possessed by all, specifically the one extending up from the Astronaut’s portable life support system, which would be a non-starter I’d think. The terrain, specifically the steep lunar peaks, would seem to place it earlier during my time-span guess. The crevasse, a popular lunar surface feature in early lunar depictions, also hints at this being by Gary Meyer. That, along with it being of NAA origin.
Then there’s the orbiting spacecraft. What the hell is that/are they? To me, it looks like a lifting body/shuttle-like craft just below and to the right of the rectangular primary/mothership, which also has an odd appendage at its forward end.
I like it, it’s bold, it’s the moon, humans are on it, and it’s a little enigmatic.
Finally, what actually struck me the most, the prophetic pose of the Astronaut. See the linked photograph below.
FRA :
Jusqu’au début du 20ème siècle le pont du Ram permettait à la route carrossable du San Bernardino de traverser la rivière Calancasca. Mais suite à de fortes inondations en 1908 et 1911 la route fut premièrement très endommagée, et surtout le lit de la rivière se déplaça un peu plus à l’est pour ne plus passer par l’emplacement du pont.
Le pont est resté inutilisé depuis, suite au déplacement de la route cantonale. Il constitue aujourd’hui une sorte de "témoin d’archéologie d’ingénierie" puisque ce pont, dans sa version visible aujourd’hui, remonte à 1822 et avait été restructuré sur un premier pont remontant sans doute au début du 16ème siècle.
ITA :
Fino all'inizio del XX secolo il ponte del Ram permetteva alla strada del San Bernardino di passare il fiume Calancasca. Tuttavia, in seguito alle forti alluvioni del 1908 e del 1911, la strada fu dapprima gravemente danneggiata, e soprattutto l'alveo del fiume si spostò un po' più a est, in modo da non passare più dal il sito del ponte.
Il ponte è rimasto inutilizzato da allora, a causa del spostamento della strada cantonale. Ormai costituisce una sorta di "testimonianza di archeologia ingegneristica" in quanto il ponte, nella versione oggi visibile, risale al 1822 ed era stato ristrutturato su un primo ponte probabilmente risalente all'inizio del XVI secolo.
ENG :
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the bridge of the Ram allowed the San Bernardino road to cross the Calancasca river. However, following heavy floods in 1908 and 1911, the road was first badly damaged, and mostly the river bed moved a little further east so it no longer passed through the location of the bridge.
The bridge has remained unused since then, following the displacement of the cantonal road. It constitutes nowadays a kind of "engineering archaeology witness" since this bridge, in its version visible today, dates back to 1822 and had been restructured on a first bridge probably dating back to the beginning of the 16th century.
“FUTURISTIC SPACE STATION WITH ION ROCKET SHIP IN ORBIT ABOVE ANTARCTICA
CONCEPT PAINTED BY WILLIAM C. HOUSE OF AEROJET-GENERAL”
11” x 13.875”.
A cropped version of the image is available at the excellent & informative ATOMIC ROCKETS website, specifically:
www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/spacestation...
William C. House - The Real Deal. Multiple extracts from disparate sources, sort of chronologically:
“One of the best known champions of the turborocket was William C. House, who proposed a cycle in 1949 while an employee of the Aerojet Engineering Corporation.* House examined a number of bipropellants including liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. He apparently proposed this combination to the Air Force in September 1953 and later, but nothing came of it (fig. 30, bottom):
history.nasa.gov/SP-4404/p123.jpg
“William C. House, director of NERVA (nuclear engine for rocket vehicle application) operations of the Aerojet-General Corporation, has been named a vice president of the company. He has been with Aeroject since 1949. Four months ago he received the Navy’s Meritorious Public Service Citation for his work on the Polaris missile.”
In 1956, the Awards Committee of the Aerospace Research Council selected Mr. House to become a Fellow Member of American Rocket Society, forerunner of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Some of the others selected that year: William H. Pickering, director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology; Simon Ramo, executive vice president, The Ramo-Wooldridge Corp., and Fred S. Whipple, chairman, Department of Astronomy, Harvard University & director, Astrophysical Observatory of the Smithsonian Institute.
mypatentprints.com/products/space-vehicle-patent-1960-spa...
Credit: ‘MyPatentPrints’ website
They’re ALL cool, but the “Fuel Station”, apparently a variant of this, is also courtesy of Mr. House:
paleofuture.com/blog/2013/9/12/space-taxis-air-sleds-and-...
Credit: “Paleofuture” website - which BTW is excellent…I’d almost forgotten about it!
From a 1969 citation:
“His education includes a B.S. (Aeronautical Engineering), California Institute of Technology. Prior experience includes service with Northrop Aircraft Company; U.S. Naval Engineering Experimental Station; Project SQUID, Princeton University; General Tire and Rubber Company of California and presently with Aerojet-General Corporation. His present position is Vice President and General Manager, Surface Effect Ships Division, Aerojet General Corporation.”
Finally, at least as of December 1972, Mr. House served on the board of directors of Caltech’s Alumni Association, being class of 1940.
Mr. House, as stated earlier, the real deal…rocket scientist…and talented artist!
Continue to RIP Good Sir and Thank You.
"FIG. 14 PREPARATIONS FOR EARTH RE-ENTRY"
And/or:
“The forward section of Bono's Mars glider separates from the living module ahead of Earth atmosphere reentry.
Above from David S. F. Portree’s enlightening MUST READ/SEE article, at:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-martian-adven...
One of many dramatic renderings by a litany of Boeing artists brought together to capture Mr. Bono’s vision for the exploration of Mars.
Based on its resemblance to a depiction of the vehicle on its outbound journey, I’m going with it being by “C. MILLER”. I’ve found nothing on him/her.
“JUPITER’S MOON – Astronauts explore Ganymede, the largest of Jupiter’s 12 moons, in this artist’s conception. From such a vantage point, scientists could study the Giant Red Spot and the colorful zones that may indicate large-scale formation of molecules that could evolve into living things on Jupiter.”
This must’ve been spectacular in color. A wonderfully creative & evocative perspective by Raymond Wilson. Although dated 1971, I’d think this to be years earlier, based on Mr. Wilson’s tenure with NASA, the space suits, and the reference to life “on” Jupiter. Even the ‘resolution’ of Jovian features appears to be commensurate with that attainable by the best observatories during the early 1960’s.
Speaking of Mr. Wilson, this surely must be him - a WIN:
www.celestis.com/participants-testimonials/raymond-sheets...
Credit: Celestis Inc. website
Thank you Sir! R.I.P.
La ville fut fondée par les Portugais vers 1.500, c'était la première capitale di Brésil.
En effet c'est une des plus anciennes villes coloniales des Amériques.
Un ascenseur; "Lacerna" relie depuis 1873 la ville haute: "Pélournho" et la ville basse.
Le dénivelé est d'environ 85 mètres ...
La ville haute abrite encore de nombreux exemples d'architectures coloniales portugaises.
Les afro-brésiliens y sont 4 millions d'habitants
ICI: Musée d'Arts Modernes et contemporains
Sainte Barbe, illustre martyre de Nicomédie dont le culte fut largement répandu dès le Ve siècle tant en Orient qu'en Occident. Cette statue en bois polychrome se trouve dans l'église Saint Eloi de Dunkerque, surnommée église des sables.
Le Passage Jouffroy (Paris 9)
10-12 boulevard Montmartre / 9 rue de la Grange-Batelière
Le Passage Jouffroy fut construit en 1836 dans le prolongement du Passage des Panoramas, afin de profiter de la population parisienne drainée par ce dernier. Il est, depuis, l'un des passages les plus fréquentés de la capitale.
Le Passage Jouffroy servit de terrain aux nombreuses révolutions architecturales de l'époque : il fut ainsi le premier passage parisien a être doté d'une charpente en métal et en verre, et le premier a être chauffé par le sol. Le sol de ce beau passage couvert est dallé de noir, de gris et de blanc.
Le Passage Jouffroy a été entièrement rénové en 1987, 13 ans après avoir été classé monument historique, et abrite de nombreuses boutiques de livres anciens.
Source : www.sortiraparis.com/arts-culture/histoire-patrimoine/gui...
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The ‘Passage Jouffroy’ was built in 1836 as an extension of the Passage des Panoramas, in order to take advantage of the Parisian population drained by the latter. Since then, it has been one of the busiest passages in the capital.
The Passage Jouffroy served as a site for numerous architectural revolutions of the time: it was thus the first Parisian passage to have a metal and glass frame, and the first to be heated by the ground. The floor of this beautiful covered passage is tiled in black, grey and white.
Passage Jouffroy was completely renovated in 1987, 13 years after being classified as a historic monument, and is home to many old book shops.
“United States to Launch Earth Satellite (Part II)
Even before the United States announced plans to launch an unmanned satellite during the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958), scientists were plotting the flight of manned moons. This one was sketched on proposals outlined by Major Alexander P. de Seversky, famed aviation pioneer. Major de Seversky envisions a large, manned moon which would be mankind’s outpost in space. He believes this will be made possible, as will the conquest of all space, by the finding of “a new, light, incredibly powerful fuel – and that is certain to be found in the split atom.” (55-20205)
International News Photos
Drawing by A. Leydenfrost, courtesy of “American Weekly””
Ahh, the early lure, hope & promise of nuclear power.
Major de Seversky:
airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/alexander-de-seversk...
Credit: Smithsonian NASM website
Also:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_P._de_Seversky
Credit: Wikipedia
Who knew?!
I can’t believe I’d never even heard of Mr. Leydenfrost. Mind-blowing works by him. Although I’m not surprised, being of Hungarian lineage, as am I, he was of course predisposed to being a genius.
As proof, consider for a moment, this being of 1955 origin, with maybe a handful of photos taken/available of the earth from space at that point, that Mr. Leydenfrost possessed the keen eye, situational awareness, intellect & skill to depict clouds casting shadows! Not only that, but depicting those shadows becoming more elongated nearer the terminator! Impressive & then some.
See also:
www.pinterest.com/pin/466404105159926895/
Credit: user “The Rockle”/Pinterest
Entertaining:
illustrationart.blogspot.com/2009/08/alexander-leydenfros...
Credit: David Apatoff/”ILLUSTRATION ART” blog
(I think) within, or as an evolution of NASA’s grand/grandiose “Integrated Program Plan”, incorporating the modularized multi-purpose “Space Tug” concept, a Lunar Surface Base is depicted in this possible 1971 artist’s concept.
The habitable shirtsleeve-environment module is in the foreground, with a/the cargo lander variant in the background. Further to the left is a cargo module, emplaced/partially buried along/within the ridge of the small lunar graben/rille(?). Behind the cargo module is a lunar drill. The lunar rover is of course, self-evident.
Artist unknown. Albert Lane maybe? Renato Moncini? Lois A. Smith? Likely never to be determined? Yeah, that sounds about right.
A variant, and if the hand-annotated identification/year extrapolation is correct, a/the possible precursor of this depiction is featured as Figure 29 within the following document:
ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19700026519
Many wonderful artist’s concepts within the above can be found all over the place, with very little rhyme or reason actually. But hey, at least they’re out there.
The “Integrated Program Plan”. If you can’t trust David S. F. Portree, who can you trust WRT this stuff:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2016/01/thinking-big-traf...
Credit: David S. F. Portree/”No Shortage of Dreams” blogspot
Située place Saint-Etienne, il s'agit de la plus ancienne fontaine conservée dans Toulouse. Le premier élément fut la vasque en marbre provenant de la prévôté, qui fut construite en 1584 selon les plans de l'architecte Jean Rancy.
A cette époque, la fontaine recevait les eaux de Guilheméry, prélevées dans l'actuel parc du Caousou. L'eau arrivait par un aqueduc jusqu'à la place où s'élevaient également un pilori qui permettait d'exposer les voleurs, une estrapade pour supplicier les condamnés et un échafaud pour les abjurations publiques.
L'eau se déversait dans un bassin en forme octogonale, en marbre de Saint-Béat, par la bouche de 4 mascarons (têtes ou masques de fantaisie).
Située en contrebas de la place, la fontaine est entourée d'une pente de trois marches, halte possible pour les promenades. Cette dépression permettait également aux femmes venant puiser de l'eau d'être à l'abri des charrettes.
La décoration actuelle de la fontaine date de 1593. Antoine Bachelier érigea au milieu de la vasque un piédestal avec quatre niches abritant des marmousets de bronze d'où l'eau s'échappe. Au dessus, l'on trouve quatre boules de bronze sur lesquelles se dresse un obélisque en marbre rouge et blanc de Sarrancolin. Les marmousets furent fondus par Pierre Chevenet.
Cette élégante fontaine Renaissance causa bien des soucis à la ville, avec son mauvais fonctionnement (la fontaine se tarissait l'été), mais aussi la chute de l'obélisque et jusqu'aux très jolis marmousets, mannequin-pisse qui choquèrent la population.
C'est pourquoi à partir de 1649, l'eau coula dans la gueule de poissons que les marmousets, rendus pudiques, tinrent dans leurs mains. La refonte des marmousets fut réalisée par Moratio Ferrari, maître fontainier du Roi.
En 1720 Ferrari fit tailler une nouvelle vasque. L'obélisque fut relevé sur un coussinet qui devait être en bronze, mais qui est resté simplement en briques, recouvertes en 1771 de plaques de fonte.
Located in Place Saint-Etienne, this is the oldest preserved fountain in Toulouse. The first element was the marble basin from the provost court, which was built in 1584 according to the plans of the architect Jean Rancy.
At that time, the fountain received the waters of Guilheméry, taken from the current Caousou park. The water came by an aqueduct to the place where there was also a pillory which allowed thieves to be exposed, a strappado to torture the condemned and a scaffold for public abjurations.
The water flowed into an octagonal basin, in Saint-Béat marble, through the mouth of 4 mascarons (fantasy heads or masks).
Located below the square, the fountain is surrounded by a slope of three steps, a possible stopover for walks. This depression also allowed women coming to draw water to be sheltered from the carts.
The current decoration of the fountain dates from 1593. Antoine Bachelier erected a pedestal in the middle of the basin with four niches housing bronze marmosets from which the water escapes. Above, there are four bronze balls on which stands a red and white marble obelisk from Sarrancolin. The marmosets were cast by Pierre Chevenet.
This elegant Renaissance fountain caused a lot of trouble for the city, with its poor functioning (the fountain dried up in summer), but also the fall of the obelisk and even the very pretty marmosets, piss-dummy which shocked the population.
This is why from 1649, water flowed into the mouths of fish that marmosets, made modest, held in their hands. The redesign of the marmosets was carried out by Moratio Ferrari, master fountain keeper to the King.
In 1720 Ferrari had a new basin cut. The obelisk was raised on a pad which must have been in bronze, but which remained simply in brick, covered in 1771 with cast iron plates.
Thanks to the contributions of Garrett O'Donoghue/"Numbers Station", on this image hosting 'service':
www.flickr.com/photos/numbersstation/albums
...and the knowledgeable folks at the "SECRET PROJECTS Forum", specifically:
www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/by-solids-to-the-moon-al...
And:
forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40012.60
Credit: "NASA Spaceflight" website
Incorporating their content, I hope to have a coherent description/caption some day.
In the meantime...
Additional items of interest/amusement, to me at least. Excuse the pointless blathering, or just move on:
The similarity of the ‘launcher umbilical tower’ on rails to those of Apollo LUTs is uncanny. I would've expected 1959 to be well before anything that looked like the final configuration. No?
There’s also the monolithic launch pedestal, which looks to be capable of being raised & lowered, to possibly facilitate exhaust/blast deflection. Maybe even the elevated inner core pedestal being retractable - into a silo directly underneath? This looks like a hardened military launch site to me.
Note also a surface reflection of the fellow, lower left, ground guiding the possible fuel truck. Reflected in/by what...ice, spilled fuel, pooled water, what? The localized nature of whatever it is, is curious, i.e., not the result of rainfall.
A rare, dramatic, imposing and almost ominous work by the immensely talented, imaginative & irrepressible Roy Kerswill. A huge WIN:
www.jhnewsandguide.com/valley/feature/a-big-painting-is-a...
Credit: Jackson Hole News & Guide website
Fitting for him to have depicted the following mega-unicorn as well - Aldebaran - apparently the brainchild of Martin Aircraft Company Engineer Dandridge Cole:
Credit: Reddit/user “NinetiethPercentile”
Yrsos fut capturé par les Pantheres SSF suite a des echanges plus ou moins tendues et surtout suite a des sanctions faites par les hommes de la citée.
Il fut donc prisonnier et a subit de nombreuse tortures , le voici devant la croix où il a subit tous ces vices. Il est epuisé et a l'impression d'être dans un cauchemard , perdu et loin de sa citée Nyoka , de sa famille ...
RP GOR ...
Avatars: Yrsos ( Willan Barron )
Anim : AO oracul Dark horse
Sim : Citée De Jad
“A nuclear-propelled spacecraft, shown being assembled in an orbit around the earth, prepares for take-off to Mars. An orbital assembly team is depicted swinging a second stage assembly into position, using space tugs. This second stage will brake the craft into its orbit around Mars. A cluster of four cylinders (upper right), will house the astronauts during the long Martian voyage. At right angles to the astronauts’ quarters are temporary living quarters of the assembly team, which will spend nearly four months in earth orbit assembling the spacecraft for the Mars mission. This “typical” Mars mission was conceived by scientists at the Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Astronuclear Laboratory and was described by Dr. William M. Jacobi of Westinghouse, at the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics meeting. Heart of the system is a nuclear reactor (housed in the engine at lower left) which Westinghouse is developing in connection with the Rover Program, the nation’s effort to develop nuclear rocket propulsion systems for advanced space missions. The reactor will be incorporated into the NERVA (Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application) engine under development by Aerojet-General Corporation for the AEC-NASA Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, based on a concept originated by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.”
Additionally. It’s very long but incredibly informative, enlightening & pertinent, with LOTS of content I wasn’t aware of. Not to mention, who knows how long it’ll continue to be available online:
“Before his death, renowned science fiction writer, inventor, and futurist Arthur C. Clarke (1917–2008) confidently declared the space age had not yet begun, and would only commence when reliable nuclear-powered space vehicles become available to drastically reduce the cost of moving humans and heavy payloads from the surface of the earth to the farthest reaches of the solar system. It is a little appreciated fact that Pittsburgh’s Westinghouse Electric Company played a central role in bringing that vision much closer to reality through its participation in the Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) program between 1959 and 1973. With recently renewed interest in the human exploration of Mars and destinations in the outer solar system, attention is once again focusing on the remarkable accomplishments that Westinghouse made in the development of the largely untapped potential of the nuclear thermal rocket.
As early as 1949, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, conducted research to develop a solid core nuclear thermal rocket engine to power intercontinental ballistic missiles. The idea of a nuclear-powered rocket had already captured the imagination of many serious science fiction writers, evidenced by Robert A. Heinlein’s 1948 novel Space Cadet that featured a sleek nuclear-powered rocket ship that inspired the 1950 CBS television series Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, starring Frankie Thomas (1921–2006). With encouragement from science advisor Willy Ley, in 1951 Joseph Lawrence Greene, writing under the pseudonym Carey Rockwell at the publishing house of Grosset and Dunlap, launched Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, a juvenile novel series that fired the imagination of an entire generation of America’s youth with images of a streamlined manned single-stage-to-deep space atomic-powered rocket called the Polaris.
Similar to the nuclear rocket engine eventually developed under the NERVA program, the Polaris employed turbo-pumps to supply propellant to a uranium-fueled reactor core. Virtually all of the single-stage rockets of the golden age of science fiction were described at the time as using some form of atomic energy for propulsion. In a classic example of scientific theory inspiring art and, in turn, inspiring practical engineering concepts, by 1957 Los Alamos Laboratory had acquired a test facility at Jackass Flats, Nevada, to test the first KIWI series of nuclear rocket engines as part of Project Rover. Because these were ground tests rather than actual flight tests, the early engines were named after the flightless Kiwi bird endemic to New Zealand. The trials were conducted with the engines mounted upside down on their test stands with the rocket plume firing upward into the atmosphere.
In 1959, the Westinghouse Electric Company of Pittsburgh and its Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in nearby West Mifflin, also in Allegheny County, were busy building nuclear reactors for the U.S. Navy and had also designed the nation’s first commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Beaver County, that went online in December 1957. In anticipation of landing more lucrative government contracts, John Wistar Simpson, Frank Cotter, and Sidney Krasik convinced Westinghouse CEO Mark W. Cresap Jr. in 1959 to approve the creation of the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory (WANL) to investigate the feasibility of building nuclear rocket engines.
Authorized in May 1959, WANL officially became a Westinghouse division on July 26, 1959, and consisted of just six employees with Simpson at the helm. Krasik, a Cornell University physicist, served as technical director and Cotter worked as Simpson’s executive assistant and marketing director. Born in 1914, Simpson graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland, joined Westinghouse in 1937, and earned an MS from the University of Pittsburgh in 1941. Working in the switchgear division of Westinghouse’s East Pittsburgh plant, Simpson helped develop electric switchboards that could survive the extreme impacts experienced by naval vessels under bombardment in the Pacific Theater during World War II. In 1946, he took a leave of absence from Westinghouse to work at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to familiarize himself with atomic power. Upon his return three years later, he became an assistant manager in the engineering department of Westinghouse’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. He subsequently managed the construction of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in 1954 and the following year was promoted to general manager of the Bettis Laboratory. He was elected a Westinghouse vice president in 1958. By 1959 Simpson and his team had become enthusiastic about taking on the new challenge of building nuclear-powered rockets to explore the solar system.
WANL was first headquartered in a shopping mall in the Pittsburgh suburb of Whitehall. By 1960 its staff and the leaders of Aerojet General had pooled resources to compete for the lucrative NERVA program contract from NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion Office (SNPO). Aerojet and Westinghouse won the contract to develop six nuclear reactors, twenty-eight rocket engines, and six Rocket In Flight Test (RIFT) flights the following year. With a substantial contract in hand, WANL increased its staff to 150 and relocated to the former site of the Old Overholt Distillery. By 1963, Westinghouse and its collaborators employed eleven hundred individuals on the project, based near the small town of Large, thirteen miles south of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. Large was named for a former distillery founded during the early nineteenth century by Joseph Large. Together, Aerojet and Westinghouse developed the NRX-A series of rocket test engines based on an 1120 megawatt Westinghouse reactor. Assembled at Large, the reactors were loaded on rail cars for delivery to the nuclear test facility at Jackass Flats for field testing.
The initial objective of the NERVA program was to build a rocket engine that could deliver at least eight hundred seconds of specific impulse, fifty-five thousand pounds of thrust, at least ten minutes of continuous operation at full thrust, and the ability to start-up on its own with no external energy source. Seventy pounds per second of liquid hydrogen pumped from the propellant tank into the reactor nozzle would provide regenerative cooling for the rocket nozzle. The cylindrical graphite core of the nuclear reactor was surrounded by twelve beryllium plates mounted on control drums to reflect neutrons. The drums, also containing boral plates on opposite sides to absorb neutrons, were rotated to control the chain reaction in the core. The core consisted of clusters of hexagonal graphite fuel elements, the majority of which consisted of six fueled element sectors and one unfueled sector. The fuel, pyrographite-coated beads of uranium dicarbide, was coated with niobium carbide to prevent corrosion caused by exposure to hydrogen passing through the core. Each fuel rod cluster was supported by an Inconel tie rod that passed through the empty center section of each fuel rod cluster, and a lateral support and seal was used to prevent any of the hydrogen from bypassing the reactor core. Inconel is a high-temperature alloy, one version of which was being used at the time as the skin on the famous X-15 rocket plane.
The solid core nuclear thermal rocket used highly enriched uranium embedded in a graphite matrix. As the highly fissionable uranium 235 atoms absorb a neutron they split to form lighter elements, more neutrons, and a large amount of thermal energy. The nuclear rocket uses the thermal energy generated by a nuclear chain reaction to heat hydrogen, forced through narrow channels in the reactor core. The hydrogen propellant is delivered under pressure to the reactor core using turbo-pumps. The nuclear chain reaction in the reactor core causes the hydrogen to become superheated and expelled through the rocket nozzle at extremely high velocity as an explosively expanding reaction mass resulting in a high specific impulse of 825 seconds. In a chemical rocket, where a fuel (such as liquid hydrogen) and an oxidizer (such as liquid oxygen) are brought together and burned in a combustion chamber, the maximum specific impulse achievable is only about 450 seconds. Specific impulse is a measure of efficiency of a rocket and is defined by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation as the pounds of thrust produced for the pounds of fuel consumed per second and is expressed in seconds.
With a high specific impulse, the ability to conduct multiple shutdowns and restarts, and a highly favorable energy to weight ratio, the nuclear rocket was the kind of vehicle that the early rocket pioneers Robert Goddard, Herman Oberth, Wernher von Braun, and Tsiolkovsky had long envisioned. As early as 1903, Tsiolkovsky, a Russian mathematics teacher, had hoped that it might be possible to somehow extract atomic energy from radium in order to power a rocket, but it was not until 1938 that Otto Hahn in Germany first succeeded in causing uranium to fission. Hahn’s former colleague Lise Meitner, living in exile in Sweden, realized the significance of what he had done—and the door to the atomic age flung open!
The power density of traditional chemical rockets is puny compared to the extraordinarily high power density of a nuclear rocket engine. Chemical rockets consist of numerous throwaway stages and require an enormous volume of their mass devoted to carrying both a propellant and an oxidizer. A nuclear rocket can be built as a single-stage vehicle, and requires no oxidizer because it heats a propellant that serves as the reaction mass, and is also able to undergo numerous shutdowns and restarts, making lengthy missions to the ends of the solar system both possible and economical. While the inefficiencies inherent in chemical rockets result in nominal costs of $3,500 to $5,000 per pound to deliver payload to low earth orbit, the more favorable propellant to payload mass ratio of the nuclear rocket promises costs in the range of just $350 to $500 per pound.
After radiation safety concerns were raised by SNPO at NASA over launching nuclear-powered rockets directly from the earth’s surface, von Braun at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, developed a proposal to boost a nuclear-propelled second-stage NERVA rocket to the edge of space using his Saturn V first-stage before firing the nuclear rocket engine after it was well above the densest part of the atmosphere. There is some debate as to whether this precaution is necessary for a well-designed nuclear rocket, but the prevailing cautiousness regarding anything nuclear renders it unlikely that direct ascent from the earth’s surface will be found acceptable anytime soon. The early NERVA rocket engine tests were, in fact, open atmospheric tests.
Westinghouse Astrofuel’s fabrication plant at Cheswick, Allegheny County, supplied nuclear fuel for the NERVA project. Fuel element corrosion was tested by heating the fuel elements by their own resistance, first at the Large site, and later at a new facility at Waltz Mill, Westmoreland County. In order to ensure fuel corrosion resistance and the stability of dimensional tolerances to several thousandths of an inch, the materials in the core elements were extruded into a bar possessing a hexagonal cross section having nineteen longitudinal holes. The extrusion was then polymerized, baked at a low temperature, and graphitized at a higher temperature of about 2200 degrees Centigrade. The resulting unfinished fuel element was subjected to a high-temperature chemical vapor process to coat the surfaces of the longitudinal channels with a gas mixture of niobium pentachloride, hydrogen, and methane. This mixture reacted with the graphite to form a niobium carbide coating intended to prevent corrosion of the core when it was exposed to the hydrogen propellant. The great challenge was to achieve a good match between the thermal expansion coefficients of the graphite and the niobium carbide to prevent cracking.
On September 24, 1964, the NRX-A2 established proof of concept by providing six minutes of power. By April 23, 1965, Aerojet and Westinghouse tested the NRX-A3 nuclear rocket engine at full power for sixteen minutes and demonstrated a three-minute restart. Pulse cooling was also introduced at this time in which bursts of LH₂ were used to cool the reactor core. This was followed by a test of the NRX/Engine System Test (EST) engine equipped with Aerojet’s new nozzle and turbo-pump mounted next to the engine in place of the earlier Rocketdyne pump that had been housed separately behind a concrete wall. This permitted full operational testing of all of the equipment in a high radiation environment typical of an actual spaceflight. In 1966, Aerojet and Westinghouse commenced an additional series of tests to demonstrate ten startups on the NRX-A4/EST and full power operation of the NRX-A5 engine for two periods totaling thirty minutes of operation. On December 13, 1967, the NRX-A6 reached sixty minutes of operation at full power. According to data compiled by Aerojet and Westinghouse, on June 11, 1969, the XE engine was started twenty times for a total of three hours and forty-eight minutes, eleven of which were at full power. By 1970, the proposed NERVA I concept vehicle that evolved out of this work was projected to be capable of delivering 1500 MW of power and 75,000 pounds of thrust. It also had a projected lifetime runtime of ten hours and could be started and stopped 60 times while delivering 825 seconds of specific impulse for each hour of continuous operation. Especially encouraging was the fact that it was projected to have a total weight of less than fifteen thousand pounds.
Capable of starting up on its own in space and reaching full power in less than one minute, the design operating temperature of the reactor was 2071 degrees Centigrade and its reliability was projected to be at least 0.997. The .003 projected failure rate covered all forms of operational deficiencies, not just a catastrophe such as a crash or explosion. In one test conducted at Jackass Flats on January 12, 1965, a KIWI-TNT nuclear rocket engine reactor was intentionally exploded to more accurately assess the consequences and cleanup implications of a truly catastrophic launch pad accident. Off-site radiation from the test was judged to be statistically insignificant, adding just 15 percent to an individual’s average annual exposure at a distance of 15 miles from ground zero, and technicians were able to thoroughly clean up the site at ground zero within a matter of weeks.
Aerojet and Westinghouse prepared to begin construction of five reactors and five NERVA I rocket test engines for actual flight testing from the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island in Florida beginning in 1973, the year the federal government terminated the NERVA program. Total government expenditure by that time on the combined Rover/ NERVA program from 1955 to 1973 had reached more than $1.45 billion (equivalent to roughly $4.5 billion today). As a result of the cancellation of this program, a NASA plan to use a NERVA-type vehicle to place humans on Mars by 1981 was quietly shelved.
Based on the rapid improvements made to the design of the NRX engines in little more than a dozen years, it has been argued that with subsequent improvements in materials science, coupled with a better understanding of physics, the solid core nuclear thermal rocket would have been improved to the point where it could have delivered at least 1000 seconds of specific impulse, 3000 MW of power, and been capable of perhaps 180 recycles. Such a rocket would have been capable of continuously cycling back and forth to Mars about fifteen times with each transit taking as little as 45 to 180 days depending upon the transfer orbit configuration chosen, instead of the six to nine months required for a chemical powered rocket to make the same trip. The faster transit would actually lower astronauts’ exposure to radiation from cosmic rays, the van Allen radiation belts, and solar flares; it would also make it possible to launch heavier vehicles with larger crews and better shielding against cosmic radiation.
After the NERVA program ended, the Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory in Pittsburgh continued to work on several other projects, including the development of a nuclear-powered artificial heart. Amidst a changing political climate concerned with finding “green” energy sources, the laboratory became the Westinghouse Advanced Energy Systems Division (AESD) in 1976. Engineers at AESD experimented with a heliostat and worked on the Solar Total Energy Project in Shenandoah, Georgia, that used five acres of solar collectors to power a knitting factory. AESD also worked on a prototype for a magnetohydrodynamic system which reuses exhaust gases to increase the electrical output of a coal-powered plant by 30 percent. Following Westinghouse’s shuttering of AESD, several former employees formed Pittsburgh Materials Technology Inc. in 1993 at the former Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory. Pittsburgh Materials Technology specializes in producing high temperature specialty metal alloys for government and industrial customers.
During the 1970s, Westinghouse Electric Corporation sold its home appliance division and oil refineries, and in 1988 closed its East Pittsburgh manufacturing plant. In 1995, the company purchased CBS and the following year acquired Infinity Broadcasting. Renaming itself CBS Corporation in 1997, it sold off the nuclear energy business to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. which, in turn, sold it to Toshiba in 2006. Under the wing of Toshiba, the nuclear energy business continues to operate under the name Westinghouse Electric Company and, because of rapid expansion in overseas demand for nuclear power plants, moved its corporate headquarters in 2009 to a new larger campus in Cranberry Township, Butler County.
In 1963, when Cresap died, Simpson was responsible for eighteen major Westinghouse divisions. Six years later he became president of Westinghouse Power Systems. He earned the Westinghouse Order of Merit and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1966. In 1971, he won the prestigious Edison Medal. A member of the board of governors of the National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and chairman of NEMA’s Power Equipment Division, he was also a fellow of the American Nuclear Society where he served on the board of directors, on the executive committee, and as chairman of the finance committee. In 1995, the American Nuclear Society published his book Nuclear Power from Underseas to Outer Space, in which he recounted his experiences at Westinghouse. The book includes a detailed description of the company’s astronuclear program. Simpson died at the age of ninety-two on January 4, 2007, at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
The Westinghouse Astronuclear Laboratory was a product of an era of bold optimism in the promise of science and technology to solve problems and to bring to fruition a vision long shared by rocket pioneers Sergei Korolev, Stanislaw Ulam, Freeman Dyson, Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, Oberth, von Braun, and many others to eventually spread mankind across the vast solar system. Much of the science fiction of the era, such as the Tom Corbett television and juvenile novel series, was grounded in hard science as it was understood at the time. Overtaken by the social and political upheavals that accompanied the growing disillusionment with the Vietnam War and social dissension at home, the NERVA program nonetheless achieved remarkable successes that were ultimately cut short by shifting political events and a narrowing of national horizons. Despite a long hiatus, those successes are now inspiring a new generation of aerospace engineers to once again think boldly and embrace the difficult challenges articulated by President John F. Kennedy, a strong early supporter of the NERVA Program, at Rice University, Houston, Texas, in 1962: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
The collaboration of Westinghouse Electric and Aerojet General in tackling the difficult work of developing a viable solid core nuclear thermal rocket engine is a down payment on the eventual human exploration and settlement of the solar system. The full utilization of such nuclear technology will make possible the fulfillment of the dream first enunciated by Tsiolkovsky who more than a century ago proclaimed, “The earth is the cradle of mankind, but a man cannot live in the cradle forever.” Nurtured by the dreamers in the cradle of western Pennsylvania’s Three Rivers Valley for a brief but shining period of fourteen years, the dream of one day boldly setting off into the new frontier moved a little closer to reality.”
At:
paheritage.wpengine.com/article/aiming-stars-forgotten-le...
Credit: “PENNSYLVANIA HERITAGE” website
Although no signature is visible, to me, there’s a Ludwik Źiemba influence visible, although not as exquisitely detailed or precise. Maybe by one of his protégés? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Les vendanges ont toujours été une fête, sans doute la plus joyeuse de l'univers paysan.
Mais dans les années 1900, cette fête fut trop souvent gâchée : soit les parasites avaient détruit presque toute la récolte, soit les cours du vin étaient si bas qu'on perdait de l'argent au lieu d'en gagner. Le désespoir des vignerons du Midi explosa en 1907, dans une révolte des "Gueux" cruellement réprimée.
Avant l'essor des caves coopératives, chacun faisait son propre vin : le raisin était foulé au pied dans des grandes cuves pour obtenir le vin de goutte, puis pressuré grâce au pressoir communal qui allait de maison en maison.
Une fois la fermentation terminée, on procédait à un premier soutirage avec la célèbre pompe "catalane" destiné à éliminer la lie. Un second soutirage était nécessaire avant de livrer le vin à la consommation, accompagné du collage (ajout de blanc d'œuf et de gélatine pour clarifier le vin).
"Artist Concept Shuttle Liftoff"
One of several variations, by talented North American Rockwell/Rockwell International artist Manuel E. Alvarez.
A rarely seen ca. 1969/70 Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (GAEC) artist’s concept of a rotating space station concept. This, the following linked designs & my other linked Flickr photos of GAEC designs below - based on the photo identification number - look to have been part of the same family/series of contractor concepts, proposals, etc., solicited/entertained by NASA ca. 1969:
www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2...
www.aerospaceprojectsreview.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2...
Both above credit: the excellent Aerospace Projects Review website
In confirmation…IMHO…of such; in January - February 1969, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine oversaw the creation of a Space Station Task Force, a Space Station Steering Group, and an independent Space Station Review Group. These bodies prepared a Phase B Space Station Study Statement of Work (SOW), which NASA released to industry on 19 April 1969. So, I'm pretty sure these works are some of the responses/submittals to that SOW.
"The SOW solicited proposals to study a 12-man Space Station, the design of which would eventually serve as a building block for a 100-man Earth-orbital Space Base. The 12-man Station was to reach orbit on a Saturn V rocket in 1975 and to remain in operation for 10 years...
Grumman, North American Rockwell (NAR), and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace Company (MDAC) submitted proposals in response to the SOW."
The above is a combination of paraphrasing & cut/paste from David S. F. Portree's superlative (as always) article at his wonderful "No Shortage of Dreams" blog. The entire wonderfully informative content at:
spaceflighthistory.blogspot.com/2015/03/outpost-in-leo-mc...
Further, particularly regarding the space station depiction itself, thanks to a posting on this image hosting ‘service’ by James Vaughan (also linked to below) of a GAEC ad, it’s source, along with the other linked ‘iconic’ concept was identified. Additionally, the ad contained some descriptive information and a wonderful, although slightly confusing diagram. The text from which follows:
“What form will the nation’s first earth orbiting space station take?
Experienced Grumman design and development engineers continue to investigate all types of space station concepts—from Zero G nonrotating to rotating types. All this design effort results from the basic study of the many uses that space stations might have. As an example, earth orbiting space stations might conceivably be a twin-bladed configuration as shown above [the more ‘iconic’ image], or a multiple canister type, shown below [this posted image]. Whatever the final design may be, the mechanical and human problems involved are enormous, demanding unique capabilities for integrating the most complex components. At Grumman, this capacity for integration is in the hands of an experienced hard core of engineers who, with free exchange of ideas in design and development, provide total systems in space technology.”
As if all of the above weren’t enough, confirmation that this work is by none other than Craig Kavafes, and by extrapolation/comparison, the other ‘iconic’ design. Oddly/interestingly though, is his use of a lower-case block letter signature, something I’d associate with an earlier work. Regardless, a multifaceted “WIN”!
But now…get this, the ad (along with a bunch of other cool ones) was featured in the September 1963 issue of “AIR FORCE/SPACE DIGEST” magazine, page 109. At:
books.google.com/books?id=zz0PAAAAIAAJ&printsec=front...
Credit: Google Books website
That certainly explains Mr. Kavafes’ signature style. Does that mean GAEC just pulled these off the shelf, dusted them off & submitted them (maybe again?) In 1969?
« Suivant sa volonté, Rudolf Noureev fut inhumé au Cimetière russe de Sainte-Geneviève des Bois en région parisienne. La cérémonie se déroula le 12 janvier 1993. Le lundi 6 mai 1996, le caveau de Rudolf Noureev fut inauguré dans le cimetière russe de Sainte-Genevière-des-Bois. C’est Ezio Frigerio, décorateur qui a souvent collaboré avec Noureev, qui en a assuré la conception et la réalisation. Entièrement revêtu de mosaïque, ce tombeau se présente sous la forme d’un kilim recouvrant les malles de l’errance. Il est aussi un rappel de l’Orient d’où Noureev était originaire et rappelle son goût du voyage.
C’est Ezio Frigerio lui-même qui, dans une lettre émouvante, raconte cette expérience : « Après avoir suivi de très près le destin glorieux de Rudolf Noureev, on m’a confié la tâche d’en imaginer le tombeau : un mandat qui m’enthousiasmait et qui en même temps me meurtrissait. Il m’était en effet extrêmement difficile de l’imaginer immobile pour toujours. N’importe quel symbole de fin, de fermeture, me semblait à éviter, me paraissait même répugnant. J’ai donc décidé que si le légendaire nomade s’en était allé, et pour toujours, il fallait que son ultime départ ne soit pas marqué dans le temps par une pierre tombale mais par quelque chose lié à ses expériences vécues sur terre. J’ai ainsi eu l’idée d’un grand tapis multicolore qui recouvre le scandale du cercueil avec toutes les suggestions de l’art oriental, tellement proches de l’esprit et de la nature profonde du grand ami disparu. »
Le cimetière russe de Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois est un cimetière communal. Le 8 février 1879, le Conseil municipal décide de créer un nouveau cimetière. Depuis cette date ce cimetière est resté communal où se retrouvent toutes les confessions.
Installée rue Léo Lagrange, cette nécropole au caractère spécifiquement russe comprend, d’une part l’église Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, ses dépendances et son jardin, et d’autre part, les tombes orthodoxes du cimetière communal.
L’église orthodoxe est un édifice blanc de plan carré, surmonté d’un toit vert, représentant la terre, et coiffé d’un bulbe bleu, représentant le ciel. Sa construction fut décidée en 1937 par le métropolite Euloge, archevêque des églises orthodoxes russes en Europe occidentale, selon les plans de l’architecte Albert Benois.
L’origine du cimetière russe provient de l’accueil fait aux émigrés russes au château de la Cossonnerie au lendemain de la révolution de 1917 qui furent, dès 1926, enterrés dans le cimetière communal. On compte aujourd’hui environ 4000 tombes, parmi lesquelles celles de personnages illustres tels que le prince Youssoupov, Bounine, prix Nobel en 1933, ou Noureev, célèbre danseur chorégraphe et chef-d’orchestre.
L’hôtel national des Invalides est un monument Parisien dont la construction fut ordonnée par Louis XIV par l'ordonnance du 24 février 1677, pour abriter les invalides de ses armées. Aujourd'hui, il accueille toujours des invalides, mais également plusieurs musées et une nécropole militaire.
Bâti sur une motte féodale de 15 mètres de hauteur, le château de Gisors fût édifié à la fin du XIème et début du XIIème siècle pour défendre la Normandie, alors Anglaise, contre les troupes du roi de France.
Le château est assiégé en 1120, alors que les seigneurs de Normandie se révoltent contre le joug Anglais, mais sans succès, les fortifications seront par la suite améliorées pour faire face à de nouvelles agressions, un donjon ainsi qu'une enceinte circulaire en pierre sont alors élevés.
La château de Gisors passera à la Couronne de France suite à la signature des Traités de 1195 et 1196.
Puis c'est Thomas de Lancastre qui reconquit le château pour le compte des Anglais en 1419, celui-ci redeviendra à nouveau français en 1449.
La château tombe dans l'oubli et est finalement abandonné en 1591, suite à la fin du conflit entre la France et l'Angleterre.
Le château relativement bien conservé sera classé monument historique en 1862.
“SOLAR POWER -- This is an artist’s concept of a multi-kilowatt system that may someday generate up to 1000 kilowatts of solar electricity in space. The system is one of several being considered by NASA to provide additional power for Space Shuttle operations. Lockheed Missiles & Space Company is conducting a study to determine the most practical ways to develop and maintain such a long-life power system. Lockheed is supporting NASA in the study and development of several other Shuttle power augmentation systems, including a huge Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) solar array wing that will fly aboard the Shuttle in the early 1980s.”
I find it interesting that, if the caption is correct, the structure is intended to augment the power requirements of shuttle operations, NOT with the intent to beam the power to earth. Again, if correct, that’s a first-heard for me.
Another beautiful work by LM&SC artist Joe Boyer. Still nothing on him unfortunately. I really like the ‘texture’ and visual depth he portrays. And, although I think technically incorrect, the localized moonlight of the earth is wonderful artistic license.
Based on the cathedral-like image framing, this may have been intended for/originally part of a presentation. However, I always side with the artist’s original perspective/intent, based on signature, if present, hence it being on its ‘side’.
Poorly trimmed to ~7.25’ x 10”, likely while property of the “EXAMINER” newspaper.