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Recycling Rockets: Ixion Will Turn Orbital Space Junk into Spacious Habitats

25 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

As part of their NextSTEP program, NASA has contracted a space company to turn trash into treasure, converting used rocket sections already being sent into orbit into habitation units rather than letting them drift or be destroyed.

It takes an immense amount of effort and fuel to break out of the Earth’s atmosphere, yet upper stage rocket sections are routinely set adrift or de-orbited, burning up on reentry. Nanoracks believes these can be put to better use — their Ixion project aims to take large fuel-carrying rocket tubes, burn out whatever fuel remains and retrofit them for occupation.

Once the propellant-containing segment is vented in open space, remaining materials will oil off over the course of a few days. Then Nanoracks will fill the void with pressurized air from tanks attached to the outside. Humans (or robots) will take the next step, entering the capsule to add fabric, wiring and whatever else is needed. The design will factor all of these needs in advance, featuring operable hatches and attachment mechanisms as needed.

Initially, the plan is to attach these to the International Space Station for testing and to extend their habitable space. Future tubes could be used to form the basis of a commercial station or to serve other functions — the idea, in part, is to get out ahead of the demand, readying this space junk for unknown future applications. And this idea could be just the beginning: robotic space junk collection could eventually put the vast amounts of orbital debris circling the planet to much better use.

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Posted in Creativity

Space Age 3D Furniture: Skyscrapers & Rockets Support Stellar Tables

19 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

curved wave table

Furniture designer and sculptor Stelios Mousarris has added a new twist to his latest 3D-printed creation, taking a leap from sweeping cityscapes to impromptu launch platforms with a spaceship-supported glass coffee table.

rocket lift table

rocket slice

The Cyprus-based creator has “been collecting toys and action figures and anything nostalgic from my childhood until this day,” and wanted to recreate that sense of carefree creativity and imagination in this latest piece, turning toy-style rockets into the centerpiece of a clever table design.

rocket table top

rocket side table

The table’s creation “combines various techniques from lathe to 3D printing, resin casting and traditional hand carved elements” while “each of the individual rockets remain unattached to the glass, allowing the user to generate their own desired structure and configuration. The table is designed to tap into the playful minds of nostalgic adults and children alike.”

wave coffee table

wood table detail

wave table side

wave city table

wave wrapping city

In his previous works, Mousarris has taken an inception-style approach to wrapping cities, turning their inverted grounds into the supports for coffee and dining tables (using raw wood or added glass to top them off, respectively). The meticulously-detailed buildings become a layer of urban decor, allowing the rest of the materials to remain minimalist in their expression.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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Retro Rockets: 9 Outrageous Roadgoing Spaceships

27 Oct

[ By Steve in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

road-going rockets
As the Space Age rocked, rolled and rocketed into pop culture, fantastic one-off wheeled wonders embarked upon a more prosaic mission: launching new products.

Silvercup Rocket

Silvercup Rocket (images via: MST3K Temple and Solar Guard Academy)

The Silvercup Rocket not only set the bar for future traveling promotional rockets, it was built better than most of them as well. Custom crafted in the truck workshops of Detroit-based Gordon Baking Company, the tubular trailer was packed with electronics to impress visitors – an estimated 100,000 of whom checked out the rocket at the 1954 Michigan State Fair and were given miniature loaves of Silvercup Bread (“The Official Bread of All Spacemen”) as souvenirs.

Silvercup Rocket (images via: Alphadrome, DVD Verdict and Amazon.com)

Besides advertising bread, the Silvercup Rocket acted as a finned billboard for the 1954-56 television sci-fi series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger. While the show soon faded from the TV scene, one of its actors (John Banner, above left) found fame a decade later as bumbling Sgt. Schultz on the POW-camp comedy Hogan’s Heroes.

Silvercup Rocket (images via: Jeff Duntemann and MST3K Temple)

As for the Silvercup Rocket, after spending nearly 20 years decaying outdoors in northern Michigan as the partially repainted Space Ship Mars, it was purchased by Greg Ward, senior curator of Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, MI where it’s undergoing a full restoration.

Citroen T55 TeleAvia Promotional Bus

Citroen T55 Telavia bus (images via: Dark Roasted Blend and Voiture-Miniature-Shop)

Built for a subsidiary of the French SUD Aviation company using Citroen’s versatile U55 truck/bus chassis (more on that later), the custom-bodied T55 bus was designed by Philippe Charbonneaux to showcase the FRIGEAVIA/TELEAVIA home appliances brand. Four special T55 buses displaying fin-tastic coachwork by Leffondré were built and driven to places like the Tour de France where they might receive maximum exposure.

The Luer Meat Rocket

Luer Meat Rocket (image via: That Hartford Guy)

The Luer Quality Meat Rocket was built in 1955 and was to Luer Quality Meats of Los Angeles what the Weinermobile was to Oscar Meyer. Luer spared no small expense to have Standard Carriage Works modify the trailer to resemble the Terra IV spaceship from the 1950-55 TV series Space Patrol. The rocket was designed to be suitably spacey inside and out, featuring nifty options such as a large movie screen up front, seats for 24, a vibrating floor to simulate launches, air conditioning, and a bubble machine that provided “exhaust” during appearances at grocery stores and in parades.

Luer Meat Rocket (images via: Roadside Resort and The Prescott Daily Courier)

The Luer Meat Rocket (quiet there, Beavis and Butthead) changed hands a number of times following a long and successful promotion career, and its survival to the present day is largely due to years of outdoor storage in the arid California desert and in Prescott Valley, Arizona. Owned for nearly 20 years by Steve LaVigne (above) who paid a whole $ 100 for it, the rocket was sold in 2007 to memorabilia collectors John and Peter Kleeman of Litchfield, Connecticut. That’s where the Luer Meat Rocket resides these days, undergoing a full restoration at the Space Age Museum.