Author Topic: Best Looking Rocket  (Read 289669 times)

Offline savuporo

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #440 on: 04/07/2016 02:03 am »
British physics, old chap. It's undignified to belch flames and effluvia all over the pad, what. A true gentlemen's orbital conveyance lifts itself into the air unostentatiously, with the minimum of spectacle and a modicum of grace. Not like our American cousins' launch vehicles, eh?
This is the best comment i have seen in years on this forum.  ;D Muchos gracias
Orion - the first and only manned not-too-deep-space craft

Offline Proponent

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #441 on: 04/07/2016 04:12 am »
[Reminded by a mention in another thread]

I always liked Black Arrow's party trick...

...It apparently flew by magic.

Appropriate, since its sole payload was named after a Shakespearean sorcerer.

The satellite was originally to have been named Puck, after a magical sprite in English folklore.  Before the first successful orbital launch, however, the British government announced the cancellation of the project.  This led to the satellite being renamed for Prospero, who resolves to retire from magic at the end of The Tempest.  A bit of understated revenge against the government on the part of the project team.

Offline woods170

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #442 on: 04/07/2016 08:20 am »
Ariane 1.

To me it had everything:
- multi-colored rocket
- goldish exhaust with mild occurence of shock-cones
- not a whole lot of smoke
- no ugly boosters
- slender look...
- but also looked like a work-horse
- fins on the engine fairings
- brute force liquid booster stages
- high-efficiency liquid upper stage
- Etc, etc.
« Last Edit: 04/07/2016 08:21 am by woods170 »

Offline Syahrudin Faizal

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #443 on: 04/12/2016 12:01 pm »
Ariane 1.

To me it had everything:
- multi-colored rocket
- goldish exhaust with mild occurence of shock-cones
- not a whole lot of smoke
- no ugly boosters
- slender look...
- but also looked like a work-horse
- fins on the engine fairings
- brute force liquid booster stages
- high-efficiency liquid upper stage
- Etc, etc.


Amazing Photos.. Can i get the link? :3

Offline Oli

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #444 on: 04/13/2016 08:45 am »
Solid rockets in general and SLBMs in particular.

Liquid rockets are fragile, ice falls off at launch, the exhaust is a wimpy flame, the acceleration off the pad is pathetic.

Edit: corrected.  :)
« Last Edit: 04/13/2016 10:29 am by Oli »

Offline RanulfC

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #445 on: 04/13/2016 02:05 pm »
[Reminded by a mention in another thread]

I always liked Black Arrow's party trick...



...It apparently flew by magic.

British physics, old chap. It's undignified to belch flames and effluvia all over the pad, what. A true gentlemen's orbital conveyance lifts itself into the air unostentatiously, with the minimum of spectacle and a modicum of grace. Not like our American cousins' launch vehicles, eh?

Just so you know, I'm going to steal that for a sig-line :)

I'd have loved to see further development of the Black Arrow vehicle, it really was a simple, cheap and effective LV for what it was designed for. I was always amazed at how intact, (ok, engine bells were smashed flat and the engine bay was damaged but the rest of the stage looked pretty good for a free-fall, land impact) the first stage was after flight. To little to late but I've been gathering data for a possible alt-history scenario where with some improvements...

Randy
From The Amazing Catstronaut on the Black Arrow LV:
British physics, old chap. It's undignified to belch flames and effluvia all over the pad, what. A true gentlemen's orbital conveyance lifts itself into the air unostentatiously, with the minimum of spectacle and a modicum of grace. Not like our American cousins' launch vehicles, eh?

Offline R7

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #446 on: 04/13/2016 03:00 pm »
Sprint for maximum spectacle.

AD·ASTRA·ASTRORVM·GRATIA

Offline Oli

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #447 on: 04/13/2016 03:32 pm »
Sprint for maximum spectacle.

This.

Mach 10 in 5 seconds. That certainly minimizes gravity losses :)

Offline R7

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #448 on: 04/13/2016 04:57 pm »
Mach 10 in 5 seconds. That certainly minimizes gravity losses :)

At the expense of colossal drag loss. The skin gets white-hot.  :o
AD·ASTRA·ASTRORVM·GRATIA

Offline Oli

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #449 on: 04/13/2016 07:45 pm »
Mach 10 in 5 seconds. That certainly minimizes gravity losses :)

At the expense of colossal drag loss. The skin gets white-hot.  :o

Pfff...minor inconvenience.

Offline Oersted

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #450 on: 04/13/2016 09:45 pm »
As said early in this thread, the V-2 really was the archetypal rocket. It looked like the sci-fi books said it should look and every single rocket ever since has just been a deviation from its  archetype.

It is clear, from looking at the V-2, that it was designed by a dreamer of space exploration. Not just someone wanting to create a weapon that would be easy to produce.

As for sheer impressiveness the N-1 is hard to beat. Especially with its crazy open truss interstage construction.

Offline apollolanding

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #451 on: 04/18/2016 07:34 pm »
As for sheer impressiveness the N-1 is hard to beat. Especially with its crazy open truss interstage construction.

I've always loathed the look of the open truss interstages but the grid fins have always impressed me.  I'm not sure how well they work going up but coming down (MOAB and Falcon 9) seems to work just fine.
Proud Member of NSF Since 2006-04-10.

Offline koshvv

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #452 on: 04/27/2016 01:57 pm »
Antares for its clean, minimalistic, no-nonsense look.

Offline intrepidpursuit

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #453 on: 05/02/2016 04:05 am »
I must limit myself to current rockets. Otherwise the pool is too large and if I looked I'd see many for the first time and not have a chance to stew on them.

My favorite rocket, for aesthetics alone, would have to be Proton. It is pure industrial muscle. Its sharp lines, symmetrical engines and tanks give it character. The beautiful, clean exhaust plume is unmatched. The payload fairing sometimes looks like someone broke it and then repaired it with trash bags, but even then makes it look confident. Also, the convenient reversible sensors make maintenance a breeze.

My least favorite current rocket, for aesthetics alone, is the Atlas V. Every time I see that fuel line jutting out the side and then diving back in by the engine compartment it reminds me of shotty plumbing in high rise buildings where you see a pipe appear in the stairwell, run around the corner and the disappear back into the wall. I always hate the look of rockets with 2 engine bells on the bottom. It just makes me wish the rocket was oblong to leave enough space around both bells. I also hate how there are varying numbers of solid strap-ons and radically different fairing shapes. Good for building a flexible launch platform, not good for marketing a brand!

Offline Kryten

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #454 on: 05/02/2016 07:56 am »
That grey fabric thing on Proton is just an insulation cover that's removed before launch, not part of the fairing.

Offline Hog

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #455 on: 05/02/2016 03:14 pm »
As said early in this thread, the V-2 really was the archetypal rocket. It looked like the sci-fi books said it should look and every single rocket ever since has just been a deviation from its  archetype.

It is clear, from looking at the V-2, that it was designed by a dreamer of space exploration. Not just someone wanting to create a weapon that would be easy to produce.

As for sheer impressiveness the N-1 is hard to beat. Especially with its crazy open truss interstage construction.
Some pics
Paul

Offline sevenperforce

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #456 on: 05/03/2016 06:14 pm »
As much as I love the opening-flower launch of the Soyuz, I can't say the rocket itself does much for me. Those long boosters just look ungainly and bulbous. Even though I know they are closer to Sears-Haack than asparagus staging, they just look...ugh.

I would give my left arm to watch a Falcon Heavy launch live. Well, maybe not my left arm. A couple of fingers perhaps.

The Sprint missile definitely gets points for being pure rocket and not much else.

British physics, old chap. It's undignified to belch flames and effluvia all over the pad, what. A true gentlemen's orbital conveyance lifts itself into the air unostentatiously, with the minimum of spectacle and a modicum of grace. Not like our American cousins' launch vehicles, eh?
This is the best comment i have seen in years on this forum.  ;D Muchos gracias
Hear, hear.

Offline spacenut

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #457 on: 05/03/2016 06:26 pm »
The V-2 was actually an exact upsize of the 8mm Mauser bullet.  The Germans thought it to be the perfect shape for pushing through the atmosphers. 

Offline sevenperforce

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #458 on: 05/03/2016 06:31 pm »
The V-2 was actually an exact upsize of the 8mm Mauser bullet.  The Germans thought it to be the perfect shape for pushing through the atmosphers.
Source?

Not that I disbelieve; it would just be a nice thing to have a source on.

Offline Hog

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Re: Best Looking Rocket
« Reply #459 on: 05/04/2016 02:25 pm »
The V-2 was actually an exact upsize of the 8mm Mauser bullet.  The Germans thought it to be the perfect shape for pushing through the atmosphers.
Source?

Not that I disbelieve; it would just be a nice thing to have a source on.
Paul

 

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