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Description
Just something I drew when I was bored in class. Looks rather good for a 20-minute freehand draw using mechanical pencil on Letter paper, methinks.

This depicts the Enoch Phase-2 spacecraft and its Launch Vehicle from my It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow alternate history in exploded view, showing each of its 6 elements.

Enoch was the second crewed spaceflight program in IGBBT, after Adam/Eve and before Verne. Whereas Adam/Eve was just to prove that humans could survive launch, zero-g, and reentry on orbital and suborbital flights, Enoch (named after the Biblical figure who founded the first city) had the more ambitious goals of testing visual and RADAR-guided rendezvous, docking, and EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity), at least 2 of which would be necessary for the Verne Lunar missions. In this manner, it is very similar to the Gusmobubbler Gemini program undertaken by NASA, though with 1 key difference: The spacecraft still carried only 1 person, and was in all respects a modified Adam/Eve. While Gemini was heavily inspired by Mercury, they were fundamentally different craft.

WARNING: Lots of information ahead:

Element I: Launch Escape System:

This system is designed to save the crew and Crew Module in case of a launch failure from the pad to slightly after 2nd stage ignition. It consists of 8 (only 2 shown in picture) high-thrust NitroGlycerin-NitroCellulose rockets angled in such a manner that the crew cabin will be jerked away from the boomed rocket at 9+ gs at a 20° angle.

Element II: Enoch Crew Module:

A bullet-shaped, blunt-bottomed 2-meter-wide craft fit for one person, rather similar to the Mercury capsule in BORE. It is almost identical to the preceding Adam/Eve capsule, except for better interfacing between the former Sparker II upper stage/Service Module and the capsule allowing for resource transfer between the two, an in-flight RADAR system, and a primitive but "hermaphroditic" docking port. Unlike Adam/Eve, where the LES was attached to the capsule with explosive bolts, it is actually docked to the craft.

Element III: Service Module:

Modified from the Sparker II upper stage that provided the final kick for the Adam/Eve spacecraft to reach orbit and stayed with the capsule for most of the mission, providing extra attitude control. Because it was no longer needed for orbit but rather rendezvous and orbit changes, engine count was reduced to 1 and propellant loading was reduced 3 times.

The Sparker—an engine derived from one of 18 combustor nozzles in the original "V2-analogue" engine, burning ethylox (ethanol fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer) and with an electric ignition system providing its name—was considerably modified with an eye towards long-duration spaceflight. In the original engine, a restart was effectively impossible after more than one orbit, as not only did the cryogenic liquid oxygen boil off, the subcooled ethanol warmed up, so ignition would likely result in overheating the combustion chamber. Fuel was switched to pseudo-RP-1 kerosene and oxidizer to H2O2. Excess H2O2 was decomposed to power the turbopumps in a "half gas-generator cycle", and it was also used (like in the Sparker Stage) for attitude control. Because a spark was no longer needed to ignite the engine (these chemicals are hypergolic, i.e. they ignite on contact), the engine was re-nicknamed the Hisser for its characteristic sound when running. The more advanced Hisser II was in development at this time using an interesting (and more efficient) expander cycle—H2O2 was pumped around the combustion chamber and nozzle for cooling, and just as the hot hydrogen peroxide starts decomposing and adding heat to the engine, it is output into the turbopump and then the combustion chamber—but none of the Enoch missions used it.

The extra room from the absence of propellant was taken up by a cargo bay that could hold experimental equipment and small payloads.

Element IV: 2/3-meter adapter:

Enoch Phase-1 used an upgraded Adam/Eve launch vehicle "Navahoed" with kerolox (kerosene fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer) engines, therefore the Service Module could be left bare, as all tanks were 2 meters in diameter. However, this vehicle could lift neither the size or weight of the payloads needed in Enoch Phase-2 comfortably. The new launch vehicle had tanks 3 meters in diameter, so to maintain aerodynamics and structural stability and also add another mounting point for cargo an adapter was designed. The adapter remains attached to and surrounds the Service Module, with its own RCS fueled by a Service Module→Capsule→Adapter bypass. Before reentry it along with the Service Module are discarded, with the exception of the final 2 launches which fitted the adapter with an open heat shield (bottom to be filled out on EVA with a "manhole cover" stored in the Service Module) for the return of 2 payloads—first a test satellite orbited by a WCSSL-2, then the first satellite ever launched... a mere 6 years ago.

Element V: 2nd stage:

The 2nd stage boosts the spacecraft all the way into orbit. It is made of aluminium with loads shared by both the tanks and outside skin by stringer construction, like its predecessors the Adam/Eve boosters and WCSSL 1st stage. The wider diameter results in a squatter, more mass-efficient stage, but it also meant the jet-vane system used to direct the engine's thrust had to be abandoned in place of a gimbal system. To provide roll control, the turbopump exhaust was also fitted with a gimbal in a similar fashion to the Titan series IRL. Also different is the presence of 4 H2O2 3-axis RCS thrusters for control in orbit and 2 LES motors used to separate clear from the first stage (for reasons that will become clear later) and settle the propellants.

The engine is derived from the Micheldeuse 2 engine used in the Adam/Eve boosters and 1st stage, but aside from the use of gimballing differ in propellants and nozzle. The Micheldeuse 2 and its predecessors the Micheldeuse 1 and (V2 Analogue) burned ethylox due to problems with petroleum coking or gelling up fuel lines due to high temperature and causing engine failure. In order to get higher performance, anhydrous or azeotropic alcohol (more energy dense than the cooler 75% ethanol 25% water typically used) was subcooled to near its freezing point to compensate for its poor cooling properties, however this was a finicky process and still could not match the performance of kerolox. In 1938, a suitable grade of kerosene was developed (an RP-1 analogue) that did not suffer from the previous problems, allowing its use in rocket engines, including those on both Enoch Phase vehicles. The Enoch Phase-2 launch vehicle was first tested with ethylox engines, which were unable to provide the payload capacity necessary to lift the craft, reducing it to only a few hundred kilograms when it did its "special trick" (more on that later).

To get a further boost of efficiency in the vacuum environment in which it fires, an asbestos (hey, it's the 1940s, what do you expect?) nozzle extension is used, improving its specific impulse by 9.5%.

Element VI: 1st stage:

This stage provides the initial boost to get the 2nd stage and spacecraft into a suborbital trajectory. It uses much the same construction techniques and engines as the 2nd stage, with 8 outboard engines and 1 center engine. Unlike the vacuum engines, the 1st stage engines have no nozzle extension and a fixed turbopump outlet.

Notice that it has 4 small solid airbrakes (made of stainless steel), 4 middle fins, and 4 bottom fins? Yup. Experiments at reusability began with Adam, where the boosters were fitted with steel nose cones and lead weights to promote a nose-first descent and parachutes in an attempt to recover them. This "dumb" recovery system proved mostly a failure, with on average only 1 booster out of 4 surviving the forces of atmospheric reentry, parachute deployment, splashdown, and corrosion in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Studies indicated that modifying the first stages currently in use or development into gliders would require more effort than altering them for propulsive landing.

The Adam suborbital launch vehicle and WCSSL had bottom fins, but they were discarded to save weight and space, especially as they were made effectively useless during the addition of 4 boosters. They were re-added in Enoch Phase-2, along with the other control surfaces. The requirement for restart meant that the pyrotechnic ignition system had to be replaced. After the consideration of pyrophoric systems using stored oxygen and either iron sulfide, white phosphorus, or an injected mixture of NaK and water, an electrical system was decided on. While the Sparker II had unlimited restarts in theory, these engines recharged the deep-cycle lead-acid batteries used for restart using a small generator attached to the turbopump.

So yeah, Falcon 9-style propulsive landing in the (alternate) 1940s. Unlike the Falcon 9, however, it is guided by both a computer and a remote UAV pilot on descent, with one of the first ever live electronic color television feeds set up for that purpose. Also, the engines have no throttling capability, so the rocket can only change its acceleration by cutting off certain engines, for effective throttle rates in increments of 11%. The computer masses several hundred kilograms and is created out of a mix of vacuum tubes and state-of-the-art discrete germanium transistors. The much lower accuracy of the landing system (only ~1:750) compared to the Falcon means that ship landings are pretty much out of the question, but the initial launch site at Tampa makes land landings easier than that from Cape Canaveral.

BTW: Why are the paper offset areas on scans black by default? It's highly inconvenient! This scan is shit in general, with poor contrast and striping much worse than any of my other scans, but I haven't a clue why.

(Edit as of 2019-02-11 at 00:12 United States Eastern Time: Switched out the scan for a much better one [see comments ]. If anyone wants to see the original, I can re-upload it onto Sta.sh.)

Description
Just something I drew when I was bored in class. Looks rather good for a 20-minute freehand draw using mechanical pencil on Letter paper, methinks.

This depicts the Enoch Phase-2 spacecraft and its Launch Vehicle from my It's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow alternate history in exploded view, showing each of its 6 elements.

Enoch was the second crewed spaceflight program in IGBBT, after Adam/Eve and before Verne. Whereas Adam/Eve was just to prove that humans could survive launch, zero-g, and reentry on orbital and suborbital flights, Enoch (named after the Biblical figure who founded the first city) had the more ambitious goals of testing visual and RADAR-guided rendezvous, docking, and EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity), at least 2 of which would be necessary for the Verne Lunar missions. In this manner, it is very similar to the Gusmobubbler Gemini program undertaken by NASA, though with 1 key difference: The spacecraft still carried only 1 person, and was in all respects a modified Adam/Eve. While Gemini was heavily inspired by Mercury, they were fundamentally different craft.

WARNING: Lots of information ahead:

Element I: Launch Escape System:

This system is designed to save the crew and Crew Module in case of a launch failure from the pad to slightly after 2nd stage ignition. It consists of 8 (only 2 shown in picture) high-thrust NitroGlycerin-NitroCellulose rockets angled in such a manner that the crew cabin will be jerked away from the boomed rocket at 9+ gs at a 20° angle.

Element II: Enoch Crew Module:

A bullet-shaped, blunt-bottomed 2-meter-wide craft fit for one person, rather similar to the Mercury capsule in BORE. It is almost identical to the preceding Adam/Eve capsule, except for better interfacing between the former Sparker II upper stage/Service Module and the capsule allowing for resource transfer between the two, an in-flight RADAR system, and a primitive but "hermaphroditic" docking port. Unlike Adam/Eve, where the LES was attached to the capsule with explosive bolts, it is actually docked to the craft.

Element III: Service Module:

Modified from the Sparker II upper stage that provided the final kick for the Adam/Eve spacecraft to reach orbit and stayed with the capsule for most of the mission, providing extra attitude control. Because it was no longer needed for orbit but rather rendezvous and orbit changes, engine count was reduced to 1 and propellant loading was reduced 3 times.

The Sparker—an engine derived from one of 18 combustor nozzles in the original "V2-analogue" engine, burning ethylox (ethanol fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer) and with an electric ignition system providing its name—was considerably modified with an eye towards long-duration spaceflight. In the original engine, a restart was effectively impossible after more than one orbit, as not only did the cryogenic liquid oxygen boil off, the subcooled ethanol warmed up, so ignition would likely result in overheating the combustion chamber. Fuel was switched to pseudo-RP-1 kerosene and oxidizer to H2O2. Excess H2O2 was decomposed to power the turbopumps in a "half gas-generator cycle", and it was also used (like in the Sparker Stage) for attitude control. Because a spark was no longer needed to ignite the engine (these chemicals are hypergolic, i.e. they ignite on contact), the engine was re-nicknamed the Hisser for its characteristic sound when running. The more advanced Hisser II was in development at this time using an interesting (and more efficient) expander cycle—H2O2 was pumped around the combustion chamber and nozzle for cooling, and just as the hot hydrogen peroxide starts decomposing and adding heat to the engine, it is output into the turbopump and then the combustion chamber—but none of the Enoch missions used it.

The extra room from the absence of propellant was taken up by a cargo bay that could hold experimental equipment and small payloads.

Element IV: 2/3-meter adapter:

Enoch Phase-1 used an upgraded Adam/Eve launch vehicle "Navahoed" with kerolox (kerosene fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer) engines, therefore the Service Module could be left bare, as all tanks were 2 meters in diameter. However, this vehicle could lift neither the size or weight of the payloads needed in Enoch Phase-2 comfortably. The new launch vehicle had tanks 3 meters in diameter, so to maintain aerodynamics and structural stability and also add another mounting point for cargo an adapter was designed. The adapter remains attached to and surrounds the Service Module, with its own RCS fueled by a Service Module→Capsule→Adapter bypass. Before reentry it along with the Service Module are discarded, with the exception of the final 2 launches which fitted the adapter with an open heat shield (bottom to be filled out on EVA with a "manhole cover" stored in the Service Module) for the return of 2 payloads—first a test satellite orbited by a WCSSL-2, then the first satellite ever launched... a mere 6 years ago.

Element V: 2nd stage:

The 2nd stage boosts the spacecraft all the way into orbit. It is made of aluminium with loads shared by both the tanks and outside skin by stringer construction, like its predecessors the Adam/Eve boosters and WCSSL 1st stage. The wider diameter results in a squatter, more mass-efficient stage, but it also meant the jet-vane system used to direct the engine's thrust had to be abandoned in place of a gimbal system. To provide roll control, the turbopump exhaust was also fitted with a gimbal in a similar fashion to the Titan series IRL. Also different is the presence of 4 H2O2 3-axis RCS thrusters for control in orbit and 2 LES motors used to separate clear from the first stage (for reasons that will become clear later) and settle the propellants.

The engine is derived from the Micheldeuse 2 engine used in the Adam/Eve boosters and 1st stage, but aside from the use of gimballing differ in propellants and nozzle. The Micheldeuse 2 and its predecessors the Micheldeuse 1 and (V2 Analogue) burned ethylox due to problems with petroleum coking or gelling up fuel lines due to high temperature and causing engine failure. In order to get higher performance, anhydrous or azeotropic alcohol (more energy dense than the cooler 75% ethanol 25% water typically used) was subcooled to near its freezing point to compensate for its poor cooling properties, however this was a finicky process and still could not match the performance of kerolox. In 1938, a suitable grade of kerosene was developed (an RP-1 analogue) that did not suffer from the previous problems, allowing its use in rocket engines, including those on both Enoch Phase vehicles. The Enoch Phase-2 launch vehicle was first tested with ethylox engines, which were unable to provide the payload capacity necessary to lift the craft, reducing it to only a few hundred kilograms when it did its "special trick" (more on that later).

To get a further boost of efficiency in the vacuum environment in which it fires, an asbestos (hey, it's the 1940s, what do you expect?) nozzle extension is used, improving its specific impulse by 9.5%.

Element VI: 1st stage:

This stage provides the initial boost to get the 2nd stage and spacecraft into a suborbital trajectory. It uses much the same construction techniques and engines as the 2nd stage, with 8 outboard engines and 1 center engine. Unlike the vacuum engines, the 1st stage engines have no nozzle extension and a fixed turbopump outlet.

Notice that it has 4 small solid airbrakes (made of stainless steel), 4 middle fins, and 4 bottom fins? Yup. Experiments at reusability began with Adam, where the boosters were fitted with steel nose cones and lead weights to promote a nose-first descent and parachutes in an attempt to recover them. This "dumb" recovery system proved mostly a failure, with on average only 1 booster out of 4 surviving the forces of atmospheric reentry, parachute deployment, splashdown, and corrosion in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Studies indicated that modifying the first stages currently in use or development into gliders would require more effort than altering them for propulsive landing.

The Adam suborbital launch vehicle and WCSSL had bottom fins, but they were discarded to save weight and space, especially as they were made effectively useless during the addition of 4 boosters. They were re-added in Enoch Phase-2, along with the other control surfaces. The requirement for restart meant that the pyrotechnic ignition system had to be replaced. After the consideration of pyrophoric systems using stored oxygen and either iron sulfide, white phosphorus, or an injected mixture of NaK and water, an electrical system was decided on. While the Sparker II had unlimited restarts in theory, these engines recharged the deep-cycle lead-acid batteries used for restart using a small generator attached to the turbopump.

So yeah, Falcon 9-style propulsive landing in the (alternate) 1940s. Unlike the Falcon 9, however, it is guided by both a computer and a remote UAV pilot on descent, with one of the first ever live electronic color television feeds set up for that purpose. Also, the engines have no throttling capability, so the rocket can only change its acceleration by cutting off certain engines, for effective throttle rates in increments of 11%. The computer masses several hundred kilograms and is created out of a mix of vacuum tubes and state-of-the-art discrete germanium transistors. The much lower accuracy of the landing system (only ~1:750) compared to the Falcon means that ship landings are pretty much out of the question, but the initial launch site at Tampa makes land landings easier than that from Cape Canaveral.

BTW: Why are the paper offset areas on scans black by default? It's highly inconvenient! This scan is shit in general, with poor contrast and striping much worse than any of my other scans, but I haven't a clue why.

(Edit as of 2019-02-11 at 00:12 United States Eastern Time: Switched out the scan for a much better one [see comments ]. If anyone wants to see the original, I can re-upload it onto Sta.sh.)