Posts Tagged ‘Les Bossinas’

So far most of the concept posts I’ve shown have been from NASA concepts, today I’ve got something a little different. Future concepts from JAXA, with the last being a NASA concept painting by Les Bossinas.

Manned retrievable carrier/Return
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A 1977 concept drawing for a space station. Known as the “spider” concept, this station was designed to use Space Shuttle hardware. A solar array was to be unwound from the exhausted main fuel tank. The structure could then be formed and assembled in one operation. The main engine tank would then be used as a space operations control center, a Shuttle astronaut crew habitat, and a space operations focal point for missions to the Moon and Mars.

This is what an artist envisioned the Solar Power Satellite would look like. Shown is the assembly of a microwave transmission antenna. The solar power satellite was to be located in a geosynchronous orbit, 36,000 miles above the Earth’s surface. Date: 06/08/1976

This hypothetical spacecraft with a “negative energy” induction ring was inspired by recent theories describing how space could be warped with negative energy to produce hyperfast transport to reach distant star systems. In the 1990s, NASA Glenn lead the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project, NASA’s primary effort to produce near-term, credible, and measurable progress toward the technology breakthroughs needed to revolutionize space travel and enable interstellar voyages.

This cockpit view of a hypothetical spacecraft traveling at eight-tenths the speed of light shows the visual distortions that would be experienced at such high speeds. The star field is actually being wrapped toward the front of the craft in addition to being significantly blue-shifted.

Digital art by Les Bossinas (Cortez III Service Corp.), 1998

With the concept post being late, I decided to give you thirteen instead of the usual six. This in three posts, so two more will follow this one. Below are two acrylic paintings by Les Bossinas. The first in 1990, and the second in 1988.

This artist’s concept shows the deployment of solar arrays, which convert sunlight into electricity, on an initial lunar camp of the future.

When humans return to the Moon, their visits will likely extend beyond the week-long trips of Apollo. One possible mission is to establish a lunar observatory with a radio telescope built into the lunar surface. Such an outpost would require efficient and reliable space power systems. NASA Glenn plays an important role in defining requirements and providing technologies for future power systems.

For those new to Space Gizmo, it should be known that I do a weekly concept art post. I know a lot of you have been referred here from Bad Astronomy, stumbleupon and others. These posts are scheduled every Friday and involve future exploration as well as other concepts.
You’ll find descriptions of the images are directly below the art, and you might have noticed the differences in where I put the caption this time around. So here it is, the 14th concept art posted at 1:53 AM in the morning. Enjoy.

Originally investigated in the 1960′s by Marshall Space Flight Center plarners as part of the Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) program, nuclear-thermal rocket propulsion has been more recently considered in spacecraft designs for interplanetary human exploration. This artist’s concept illustrates a nuclear-thermal rocket with an aerobrake disk as it orbits Mars.

NASA artist’s conception of a human mission to Mars (1989 painting by Les Bossinas of NASA Lewis Research Center).

(1990) – Artist’s concept of the landing of the first human mission to Mars in the year 2019. In the foreground, astronauts conduct scientific observations, recording wind speed with an anemometer and planetary features with a hand-held camera. A dust storm is approaching the cratered area near the landing site. The Martian moons of Phobos and Deimos are visible in the twilight sky. The Mars excursion vehicle in the background serves as crew quarters for the mission. An interplanetary transfer vehicle carried the crew to Mars, with the excursion vehicle launched independently to rendezvous with the transfer vehicle in orbit around Mars. The excursion vehicle will return the crew to the transfer vehicle, parked in Mars orbit, for the return trip to Earth. Crews on later missions will construct surface habitats using Martian materials. The artwork was done for NASA and the NASA Art Program by Ren Wicks. This art concept has a copyright. NASA has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for governmental purposes. All other rights reserved by the copyright owner.

The Soviet Union had conceptual plans in the 1980s to send manned spacecraft to Mars in the 1990s, even though its program to land cosmonauts on the moon failed. The mission would have required launching the spacecraft’s components into Earth orbit for assembly. The round-trip journey to Mars would have taken at least a year. Post-Soviet Russia canceled the program due to its expense and questions regarding its feasibility.
Mars Lander
by Brian McMullin, 1986

(February 1991) – Five hundred kilometers above the Chryse Planitia region of Mars, an orbital platform uses a laser sensor to autonomously rendezvous with an approaching sample-return ascent stage. The platform’s robotic arm will remove the sample canister and store it with samples from other locations for delivery to Earth. Artwork done for NASA by Pat Rawlings, of SAIC.

Artist’s concept of possible colonies on future mars missions.