This was the 1st inflation test of the Ascender 9 airship envelope on the carbon keel. There was no internal hardware or systems installed. We were just making sure we sewed it right #jpaerospace #ascender
Ascender 9 high altitude airship during FAA inspection.#jpaerospace
The Ascender 9 high altitude airship floating in the hanger.jpaerospace.com
Small plasma engine development. This is MHD test firing no. 112. It's been over a year since our last test firing. We're working on new electrodes, & even 3d printed internal components. Spring we will be starting a 100 firing test series.jpaerospace.com
It's bad drawing time! This is the Ascender 300. It will be the first crewed Ascender. The order of up coming vehicles: Ascender Ellipse, Ascender 48, then the crewed Ascender 300. jpaerospace.com
Ascender 9 high altitude airship during the FAA certification inspection.jpaerospace.com #tech
Nose of the Ascender Ellipse. Paul has been sewing like mad this last month and the nose is done. The next step is sewing the nose on to the arms. Then the 1st test inflation.#jpaerospace #tech
Building the new launch arena for the Ascender Ellipse airship. part 1.#jpaerospace #FridayMotivation
Building the new launch arena for the Ascender Ellipse airship. The sequel! #jpaerospace #FridayMotivation
Of course it's a trilogy! This is how the new launch arena for the Ellipse airship turned out.jpaerospace.com #FridayThoughts
This is how the Ellipse airship fits into the new launch arena. The site also fits the follow-on Ascender 48 airship. After that we'll expand it by moving one container, adding more fence and double stacking the containers. #jpaerospace #FridayThoughts
i like reading about this project. but the size of the dark sky station is huge. correct me if i am wrong but the station would be over 2 miles long. how would they go about making something this huge? can they launch something that is over 2 miles long in one go? can they put this thing together little by little in a modular way? i wish there were more specific information. i think if the dark sky station is possible then that by itself is a great thing. orbital ascender(if possible) would be a cherry on top.
The next Ascender is the Ellipse. It should have been flying by now but the world had other ideas. It's a little one, just under 30 feet. It's designed to answer some engineering questions about air beam structures. We still hope to fly it this year.#jpaerospace #tech
We're flown 9 so far. We hope to get two more flight with two different airships in before the end of the year.
Small scale plasma engine development. This is MHD test firing no. 112. It's been over a year since our last test firing. We're working on new electrodes, & even 3d printed internal components. Soon we will be starting a new 100 firing test series.jpaerospace.com
Concept art of the Ascender 12 airship climbing out from Area 42. We are at the mid point in the design of this 48 foot long vehicle. We expect it flying in 2023.#jpaerospace
I just read in several prominent space forums that I can't be a serious program because I post childish hand drawings. You know what that means, it's bad drawing time!!! 😀"Seriously" I find that simple sketches convey ideas well. And woe for you, I share them.#jpaerospace
The Ascender 36 airship is getting some big upgrades. We're getting it ready for it's next flight in fall 2021.The envelope mods are done & we've started on the new internal trusses. The new valves need one more high flight test then they'll be ready.jpaerospace.com
Magnet stacking time. We stack a 2 set of 4 neodymium magnets for our MHD plasma tests. This gives us a 600mTesla field strength across a 1/2 inch gap to work with. We take magnet handling seriously. They are always looking for ways to leap out & break a hand or crush a finger.
It's bad drawing time! One of the steps in the Airship to Orbit program is to deploy miniature Vee shaped airships from our ML rocket at high altitude. This lets us do low cost partial reentry test. We're shooting for tests in the Mach 8 to 10 range.#jpaerospace
Even more bad drawings! A further step is launching a small Ascender with a prototype hybrid chemical/electric motor from our Tandem airship. We call this test series the Mach Glider program. This sketch shows a Block 4 Mach Glider.#jpaerospace jpaerospace.com
Slightly less bad drawings of the Block 4 Mach Glider.#jpaerospace
