Silver Rockets» concept art

Japanese Moon Landing, circa 1971

Danielle Signor — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:56:26 +0000

A Japanese moon-lander concept, circa 1971 for your Friday. Image via x-ray delta one.

Early Shuttle Concept

Danielle Signor — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:36:35 +0000

Some lovely concept art for your Friday, circa 1972! Image via x-ray delta one.

Dark and Bright

Danielle Signor — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:17:10 +0000

Credits: NASA/ESA/ESO/W. Freudling (ST-ECF)

I couldn’t help but be captivated by this stunning space illustration highlighting ESA’s next science missions. Quite the “cosmic vision”!

The powerful influence of the Sun and the nature of the mysterious ‘dark energy’ motivate ESA’s next two science missions. Solar Orbiter and Euclid were selected today by ESA’s Science Programme Committee for implementation, with launches planned for 2017 and 2019.

These two missions are medium-class missions and are the first in ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 Plan.

1972 Shuttle

Danielle Signor — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:47:10 +0000

A beautiful concept of the Space Shuttle from 1972, courtesy of x-ray delta one. It’s interesting to see how the external tank evolved — here it looks like a larger SRB, with a penthouse (or whatever other purpose that little top spike is supposed to serve.) The orbiter itself has a bit of a streamliner/Art Deco look to it.

Proposing Hubble

Danielle Signor — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:23:27 +0000

I live in a very rural area, far from any major “space” centers. Indeed, the arrival of Space Shuttle Endeavour in Los Angeles (once it retires) will mean the first major piece of space hardware I can visit in my time zone. To run into someone from the space “industry” is, well, rare.

Last week, I met with a client whom I’ve only met a couple of times. The conversation turned to space shuttle launches (as many conversations have turned, of late.) To my surprise, this client had worked for Lockheed in the 1980s, and upon learning of my interest, had “something special” to show me: three binders full of Lockheed’s Hubble Space Telescope proposal and press materials, which she helped produce. Each member of her team received a commemorative frame with the above concept art (dedication flap is scanned below.)

We flipped through the proposal, commenting on how “crude” it seemed, compared to grant proposals (and basic desktop publishing) used today. It may have been “unpolished” by today’s standards, but what a special thing to have been a part of, and what a wonderful telescope it launched!

Concept Ships, part 3

Danielle Signor — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:08:24 +0000