iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 2h

Common on at the time, to easily fit against the body of the spacecraft inside a fairing X-37B's solar array is curved too, to fit in the payload bay

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Agena was more than just an upper stage, it could also operate as a satellite bus, performing months-or-years-long missions after inserting itself into orbit. For instance, the KH-8 reconnaissance satellite Render in Blender

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Saturn II (INT-18) was a proposed derivative of Saturn V, eliminating the S-IC. A modified S-II would become the new stage 1, augmented by Titan SRBs. The study considered various configurations, with 5 or 7 J-2s, stretching the S-II, and 2 or 4 SRBs with 4, 5, or 7 segments

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

McDonnell Douglas's reusable Space Transportation System booster deploys a modified Saturn S-II upper stage on a heavy-lift cargo mission. The McD STS could fly with either a reusable orbiter, S-II, or S-IVB augmented with optional solid boosters

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

The things on the front are not really wings. They're basically aerodynamic shrouds for the airbreathing engines used to fly back to the launch site

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Launch of McDonnell Douglas's Space Shuttle proposal. The orbiter is carried to altitude aboard a winged flyback booster, which can also be used with a conventional upper stage for heavy uncrewed launches

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

The Apollo LM ascent stage was the same (not a full torus, but the engine went up into the cabin area). Probably a lot easier in this case, since its regeneratively cooled with cryogenic propellants

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Design evolution of the Blue Moon HLS (approximately to scale)

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

The Blue Moon Human Landing System, moments before touchdown on the lunar surface

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Blue Moon Mk2 begins its deorbit burn over the moon

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Also "slavery on Mars" is nonsense. Developed economies don't have slavery, because robots are cheaper than slaves and its ~impossible to have skilled slave labor. Don't get me wrong, if there was profit to be had in slavery, billionaires would be all for it, but there isn't, on Earth or elsewhere

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Well the alternative is ~90% of the global population continues living in poverty beyond what you could possibly imagine, and we cook ourselves to death extracting Earth's last mineable resources Fortunately that won't happen, because spaceflight is no longer at the discretion of politicians

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Space industrialization is the only way to solve both environmental issues and global poverty. There aren't enough resources on Earth to sustain even our current population at a reasonable standard of living; the solar system has materials and energy to support trillions while we make Earth a garden

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

1. NASA has never at any point in its history had any formal, funded interest in industrializing and colonizing space, and such a program would be politically nonviable with any administration in charge 2. There are no long-term consequences we can't solve with more tech

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Agena-D in flight, prior to fairing separation I wish Agena was still in service in an evolved form, like Centaur

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

I can only imagine the purpose of the robotic arm is that, with two of the angled tanks pointing at the solar arrays, they don't want to just jettison them the normal way A typical engineer would consider this an architectural flaw, but I guess a robotic arm is a solution

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

The south pole probably has high concentrations of it, but I'm not convinced it matters enough to force a more complex architecture to reach it for the initial landings. Launch costs are dropping so much the economic horizon to mandate ISRU is pushed further out. Plus the equator may have ice anyway

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

The compatibility list stops at Blender 4.5, when will 5.x be supported?

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

My Copernicus Mars Transfer Vehicle model is now on CGTrader: www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/sp...

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

After completing Trans-Mars Injection, Copernicus jettisons a spent LH2 tank held inside a truss structure. The still-hot engines continue to vent hydrogen, passed through to cool them down following reactor shutdown

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

The ascent vehicle of a Mars lander redocks to the nadir port of Copernicus, as its crew prepare for the several-month trip back to Earth

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

MTV Copernicus braking into Mars orbit, ahead of rendezvous with the lander that will take its crew to the surface

A Mars transfer vehicle propulsively capturing into orbit over Mars. Three nuclear-thermal engines glow purple as they fire. An Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is docked to an inflatable habitat module at the front of the craft

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Ares V's 12 meter diameter payload fairing separates, exposing the propulsion module of a Copernicus Mars Transfer Vehicle on its way to orbit

Ares V's payload fairing split into 4 pieces and falls away from the second stage, carrying a nuclear propulsion module

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Too busy watching history happen

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Is there video of this? I really hope one of the crew had a camera out when it happened

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Has there ever been a JOFOC or similar pre-award public document that gives a price?

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Less for low-energy injections (LEO through TLI), more for very high-energy (past about trans-Jupiter injection), but much longer duration (days or weeks vs hours). And its more capable to all orbits than ICPS

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

With Centaur V being designed for several-day missions, it is possible that (especially if refueled) the new SLS configuration could place Orion directly in low lunar orbit, rather than just TLI

An Orion spacecraft capturing into a low lunar orbit, propelled by a long-duration Centaur V upper stage. Orion's solar array wings are canted backwards while Centaur's engines fire

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

"Get it together" you're the one going into random stranger's threads having imaginary arguments about unrelated topics

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

People on bsky just be saying words

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

For MOL, the hatch was on the heat shield side, under the seats. On "reusable MOL", there'd be a docking port on the end of the lab section as well For other Gemini variants, there were proposals to simply have the crew EVA over to a station, or use an inflatable tunnel fitted over the side hatch

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Well just don't sign up to be an astronaut then

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Initial Manned Orbital Laboratories would be single-use, but later missions could leave the lab and KH-10 imaging system or other module in orbit for reuse. Later missions could either use a Gemini alone to revisit the station, or add on additional modules

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

I know this stuff usually isn't very rational, but you are one of the cooler people I've met if it helps. I'm probably not the person to give life advice but don't hurt yourself please Also +1 for plushies

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Every rocket looks cooler with photogrammetry checkers

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Prior to Earth departure, the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter's nuclear reactor is not active. Two Delta Cryogenic Propulsion stages, launched separately and modified with docking and extended-duration flight capabilities, boost the probe most of the way to transjupiter injection

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

Tbh NS never really interested me much, beyond the minimum baseline of any rocket. But yeah SpaceX is being driven into the ground, hopefully they at least get far enough to not invalidate the ideals of rapid full reuse in the eyes of their competitors. If Blue and Stoke stay on course it'll be fine

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

The Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter maneuvers during a close pass of Europa. Its ion engines consume nearly 200 kilowatts of power, generated by an onboard nuclear reactor

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Its probably specifically an issue with restarts when the propellant level is already near-zero, way more likely to get bubble ingestion then. So even missions with multiple burns prior to deorbit wouldn't experience it

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

A Turtle Orbital Transfer Vehicle in high-Earth orbit

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

All the pressurized modules are on the bottom, roughly comparable to ISS's volume, and then the rest is just a huge hangar bay. The top side has a fixed solar array, and radiators and reboost engines are on the other 2 sides

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

I can't remember the name of the paper its from, but its from a JSC study in the early 80s looking at different structural concepts for stations, with an emphasis on supporting assembly of very large in-space vehicles and satellite servicing

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

A Turtle Orbital Transfer Vehicle docks to Delta Station after returning from lunar orbit, alongside a Space Shuttle orbiter

An Orbital Transfer Vehicle with an aerocapture heat shield docking to a space station, next to a Space Shuttle orbiter

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

I actually prefer Boeing's, though it doesn't get much attention. HL-20 was meant only as a generally-inferior backup for Shuttle, mainly a crew taxi, but Boeing's could do nearly all Shuttle-equivalent missions and many new capabilities, including GEO and lunar missions

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The two main proposals for the Personnel Launch System: JSC/Rockwell's HL-20, and Boeing's biconic capsule

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The paper I mainly used as a reference is from November 1990

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Mack Crawford @mackinspace.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

itself for easier crew access, and they wanted a big volume underneath for a rideshare payload. So thats the geometry you get

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