State of the Writer

 

I've been very quiet of late.

Lots of good reasons, which are in fact not so good. Health issues have been a bit of a strain. However, I have been working on parts of my craft doing online courses with Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathyrn Rusch here.

I recommend all my writing friends to check them out.

The picture is for those readers who want to know what the Conex boxes of Alpha Base look like. This is the kitchen unit.

NB: a couple of links:

3-IN-1 Foldable Shelter Deployment

3-IN-1 Expandable Shelter

Science in Science Fiction 2019

 

Last year I didn't go to this event run by Dr. David Clements and hosted by Imperial College London as I was in France. So it was nice to be back to listen to experts in their fields present their latest findings.

You can find more info on Science in Science Fiction over here. Check it out.

I didn't take my camera, so there's no pictures of the event, but I did make a connection with Mark Hempsell, director of Hempsell Astronautics Limited who is designing a spaceship to be presented in the British Interplanetary Society journal. It's designed for Earth–Lunar operations with the capability of Mars and Venus missions. The picture of his proposal graces this post.

Very exciting to see this. It may not be obvious from a casual glance but this ship rotates around its central axis to provide centrifugal force for the crew (tumbles rear-over-front).

You can find out more about Mark Hempsell here. And here's his brief:

To immediately satisfy any glimmers of interest and intrigue I have attached a few images.  The technical paper describing the vehicle is very close to completion and hopefully will be published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, although it is not a Society project.

The ship is called the Scorpion.  It is build and serviced using the Skylon launch system (and lots of in orbit assembly).

Key features – 107 m long, unfuelled mass 230-240 tonnes Maximum fuel mass Hydrogen 400 tonnes oxygen 110 tonnes crew 6 people – and (here’s the boring bit) is it intended to mostly be used in Earth Moon space although it can reach Venus and Mars orbits. In the case of Mars with two landers.  Not immediately obvious is that it can land on the Moon’s surface using four LH LOX chemical engines, it can also be spun to provide artificial gravity for the crew.

The engine is another piece of genius from Alan Bond which he calls Serpent.  It indirectly thermodynamically heats hydrogen using a fission reactor. It then augments that heating with arc jets in the 4 thrust chambers.  The thrust is 200 tonnes and the SI 12,760 N s /kg.  The picture is a little misleading in its detail the components are real and connected up correctly but the shape and pipe sizing of the secondary stuff is artistic interpretation.

For those interested in spaceships I would refer you to check out the Atomic Rockets website.