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Paul-Lloyd — Douglas ROMBUS SASSTO launch vehicle (WIP)
#age #launch #reusable #rombus #space #sassto #nasa #spaceship #vehicle
Published: 2017-01-09 07:54:01 +0000 UTC; Views: 3313; Favourites: 63; Downloads: 78
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Description
1960s-era proposal to use Saturn V technology to built a single-stage-to-orbit (I guess they didn't count the drop tanks) reusable launch vehicle. I still need to add the landing legs and stuff.Related content
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Disney World's Magic Kingdom "Mission to Mars" ride used this vehicle concept for its "external view of our launch" phase and for the view from Mission Control. The ride interior was a circular stadium reflecting the ROMBUS design. The sponsor of the ride (when Disney used sponsors, that is)? McDonnell-Douglas!
So--if you visited that "ride" (it was more of a show, really) while it was in Tomorrowland, you got to see one launch! (Sort of.)
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I'll have to look for pictures!
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I seem to recall something like this in the early 1970s. The concept was to create an intense jet around the base of the ship equal to multiple rocket nozzles. I may be wrong but that is what I vaguely remember.
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Douglas ROMBUS was a 1964 proposal by Phil Bono. The engine is called a plug-cluster rocket, 36 small rocket nozzles fire along the center-body, or plug. It is an altitude-compensating rocket engine design in the same category as an aerospike engine.
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The aerospike! That's what I was remembering. Thanks.
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Ah, it's a WIP. I was going to say your plug-cluster engine seems to be missing all 36 rocket nozzles. Here's my version for reference Douglas ROMBUS and here is a good page (actually there is a whole series of pages on the ROMBUS) for data www.astronautix.com/r/rombus.h…
Phil Bono's Douglas-ROMBUS (Reusable Orbital Module-Booster & Utility Shuttle) sometimes considered a Stage and a Half because of those disposable tanks.
Phil Bono of Douglas Aircraft and Krafft Arnold Ehricke of Convair ran in the same circles, went to the same cocktail parties, and traded ideas and shop talk, so there are parallel ideas in the ROMBUS and Convair NEXUS, both were plug-cluster engines, and both were submitted in response to NASA's Future Projects Office call for post-Saturn 1 million pound + heavy boosters. Here's another visual reference for a plug-cluster engine Convair Nexus SSTO
The whole base of the thing, 36 rocket nozzles arrayed around the central plug, is considered a single engine.
Those four rocket nozzles are not part of the plug-cluster engine, those are solid boosters only found on one, of several alternate, ROMBUS configurations.
The major difference between NEXUS and ROMBUS is the NEXUS reenters nose first and the ROMBUS reenters tail first. That sloped domed bottom on the ROMBUS (the "plug" in the plug-cluster engine) is cooled for reentry. The NEXUS used an ablative heat shield on its nose and had a cluster of solid rockets, fired right above the ocean surface, killing its downward velocity in a few short seconds, so it would just softly *plunk* upside down (holding the engines high and dry) into the water.
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You always have the best reference links - thanks, William!
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Any time friend.
This is looking pretty good Paul. Bono had a whole slew of applications for ROMBUS, with orbital refueling the thing could haul payload all the way to Mars, or land a larger payload on the lunar surface. With larger booster rockets those drop tanks could be retained and carried to the Moon to be used used as habitat modules. Look up Project Selena, here www.astronautix.com/p/projects…
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Ah, ROMBUS! Kenneth Gatland was a proponent of this idea. Nice work on the modeling. The cone shape was a generic shroud for whatever payload was being lofted to orbit.
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Odd, I thought it had a dome shaped top, or am I looking at one of the variants?
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The Convair Nexus SSTO had a dome shaped nose, while similar in concept to the Douglas-ROMBUS, the NEXUS reentered nose first and splashed down into the ocean upside down, keeping the engines high and dry. The Douglas-ROMBUS reentered tail first, the plug, the dome shaped bottom, of the plug-cluster engine, acted as a heat shield for the ROMBUS and was actively cooled during reentry.
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Interesting! Thanks for the info!
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The domed top version was one I saw proposed as a suborbital transport. A way to get anywhere in the world in an hour or so.
Here's a kit of that variant - www.fantastic-plastic.com/doug…
I like the pointed nosecone look. Wouldn't it be a site to see this monster lift off?
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Ah! There it is. Thank you!
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