Near-Space Manuevering Vehicle

[Mr London 24/7]

Giant...V-shaped...blimp... (who said Phoenix Lights?)

Seems topical at the moment:

JP Aerospace developed a steerable balloon concept for the Air Force Space Battle Lab called a near-space maneuvering vehicle. (NSMV)

(aka 'Ascender')

Lowering the High Ground: Using Near-Space Vehicles for Persistent ISR (a Thesis):
www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bugs_ch04.pdf

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF LOITERING LIGHTER-THAN-AIR NEAR-SPACE MANEUVERING VEHICLES (a Thesis):
www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA437762&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Near Space Maneuvering Vehicle (AIAA Paper):
www.responsivespace.com/Papers/RS1%5CSESSION6%5CBLACKING%5C6005P.pdf

 

[Mr London 24/7]

Briefly mentioned in:

DOD OSD UAS Roadmap 2005 (page 48):
http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/download/uav_roadmap2005.pdf

 

[sublight]

Stealth blimp....

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6507.0.html

Does anybody have info on the "mega blimp" Kelly Johnson proposed?

 

[OM]

...Otay, everyone get their heads out of the gutter now

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Thanks for the links to the NSMV related papers, very interesting. IMHO it's a shame that some initial problems discouraged the USAF from persuing things further: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=aerospacedaily&id=news/NSMV03185.xml&headline=Air%20Force%20Backs%20Away%20From%20Near-Space%20Maneuvering%20Vehicle

Of course JP Aerospace's work was just an offshoot of their airship to orbit programme. I've started a separate thread to cover that on-going work.

 

[Mr London 24/7]

... IMHO it's a shame that some initial problems discouraged the USAF from persuing things further...

Indeed, a recent story on alternative systems, so definately more is in the offing:

http://www.dodbuzz.com/2010/05/11/osd-eyes-near-space-uavs/

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

A couple more pictures of Ascender 175 (as in 175ft long) to help appreciate the large scale ... (although the true operational Ascender would be 800ft!)

According to the JP Aerospace blog: "The new Ascender 100 should be rolled out sometime next summer (2011)." That's quite a significant step in the on-going ATO programme as it should be the first ascender whose arms have an aerofoil cross-section (so it can be a test bed for both the ATO first stage airship and third stage orbital ship).

 

[Grey Havoc]

Any new word on progress with the Ascender 100?

 

[FutureSpaceTourist]

Any new word on progress with the Ascender 100?

Not really. There's been the odd blog mention (eg here and here), but they have been very busy in recent months with commercial launches.

For example, see http://newsamsungmobile.com/news/samsung-galaxy-s-ii%E2%80%99s-near-space-odyssey-live-coverage.html for their latest missions for Samsung. The good news is that hopefully this means that JPA's finances are in healthier shape, which must help moving forward.

 

[sublight]

Any idea where John worked before he opened up his own company?