FWLIW... {"For What Little It's Worth..."}

[RocKiteman]

I just updated my avatar & profile pic. I've been away from the forum for a couple<?> of years<??>.

:sad:

The avatar is a more 'detailed' version of my previous one: A drawing of a Gemini space capsule gliding to a landing beneath an inflated NASA Rogallo Parawing.



The profile pic is of me from early December of 2010, unusually well dressed {for me}, visiting my daughter, son-in-law, & grandson in Central Virginia.

:clap:

I couldn't find any place else to post this info, so I started this thread here.

:eyeroll:

-Allan, aka "RocKiteman"
N.E. North Carolina, USA
"Rocket Man" + "Kiteman" = "RocKiteman"

 

[Fred22]

I for one think it is very cool
Cheers
fred

 

[BobCox]

Me too.

 

[dlazarus6660]

Nice, check your spelling on "NASA Rogallo Parawing."

 

[Superewza]

It's a shame nobody's talked about revisiting the Rogallo Wing for their current capsule development. As i understand it the main reason it was dropped from Gemini was simply a matter of time, or lack thereof. And we've all heard the stories about how the Gusmobile was a brilliant spaceship, but a terrible boat

 

[mperdue]

It's a shame nobody's talked about revisiting the Rogallo Wing for their current capsule development. As i understand it the main reason it was dropped from Gemini was simply a matter of time, or lack thereof. And we've all heard the stories about how the Gusmobile was a brilliant spaceship, but a terrible boat

It was scrapped because it continually failed.

 

[Superewza]

Everything i've seen on the matter said they had it close to working in the tests they were doing but it didn't look like it would be viable in the timeframe they had so they scrapped it in favour of parachutes and water landing. And with the fact that glider technology has developed in the last 60 years i don't see why it shouldn't be looked into as a possible recovery system.

 

[RocKiteman]

I for one think it is very cool
Cheers
fred

An EXTREMELY BELATED "Thank 'ya kindly...."

Me too.

Thank you as well!

Nice, check your spelling on "NASA Rogallo Parawing."

What is wrong with it?

It was scrapped because it continually failed.

The challenge from JFK was to get a man on the moon BEFORE the end of the 1960's. If there HAD NOT been that time limit, I *suspect* they would have eventually made it work.

Everything i've seen on the matter said they had it close to working in the tests they were doing but it didn't look like it would be viable in the timeframe they had so they scrapped it in favour of parachutes and water landing. And with the fact that glider technology has developed in the last 60 years i don't see why it shouldn't be looked into as a possible recovery system.

That too...:wink:

 

[TopRamen]

Everything i've seen on the matter said they had it close to working in the tests they were doing but it didn't look like it would be viable in the timeframe they had so they scrapped it in favour of parachutes and water landing. And with the fact that glider technology has developed in the last 60 years i don't see why it shouldn't be looked into as a possible recovery system.

I agree. Materials and Technology are at a point where the viability should at least be thoroughly researched, even if only by some kid or college student.
There seems to almost certainly be an application of that tech for something.

Very cool Avatart Pic'!
Looks like I have some research to do.:wink:

 

[RocKiteman]

Earlier this evening, I posted a comment in the thread, "Anybody ever try NASA's Rogallo Wing for model recovery?". Here is the "copy & paste" version of that post:

See the book Model Rocket Design and Construction, Third Edition, by Tim Van Milligan.

He goes into some basic parawing 'stuff' starting on page 184.

I was going to u/l a photo of the book's cover, but right now I am having trouble doing that....

 

[RocKiteman]

Very cool Avatart Pic'!

Were you referring to "my" avatar?

 

[georgegassaway]

Good to see this again.

Much as I love the Rogallo design, having made many many flex-wing gliders, the technology for a fold-up and deployable horizontal glide recovery system for humans and vehicles went quickly from the inflateable Rogallo for Gemini, to Ram-Air gliding parachutes (Para-foils) by the mid 1970's.

In the late 1990's, NASA created the X-38 as a drop test prototype for an emergency crew return vehicle from the ISS. While it glided down like a lifting body, the high speed landings of the old lifting bodies was felt to be too risky. So it had a huge parafoil that it deployed for a slower safe landing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_X-38

[video=youtube;0OkiRt5Etbw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OkiRt5Etbw[/video]

- George Gassaway

 

[RocKiteman]

George, I think NASA may have unintentionally entered the "Guinness World's Largest Parafoil" when they designed those parafoils for the X-38...LOL