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blackshire
06-18-2010, 02:25 AM
Hello All,

The late Dr. Robert L. Forward was a starship-designing physicist who also wrote hard-science fiction novels that depicted spacecraft and other devices that could actually be built. Below is information on the spacecraft described (and illustrated with dimensioned diagrams) in his 1990 novel "Rocheworld," which is available from AbeBooks.com (see: www.abebooks.com ), Alibris.com (see: www.alibris.com ), and Amazon.com (see: www.amazon.com ).

The Surface Lander and Ascent Module (SLAM) is a two-stage (descent stage and ascent stage) cylindrical spacecraft designed to land on planets and satellites in the Barnard's Star system. Strapped to (and partially recessed into) its side is a space plane called the Surface Excursion Module (SEM--more on this vehicle below).

The SEM, which resembles the Lockheed U-2, would make an excellent hinged-wing boost-glider or rocket glider (RC or Free Flight) that would also be a Future/Fiction Scale model! (The outer 2/3 or so of each of the full-scale SEM's wings are folded.) The nuclear turbo-rocket powered craft is designed to fly in planetary atmospheres using the ambient air for propulsion, with the additional capability (using an onboard propellant tank) of flying as a pure rocket vehicle near airless worlds. Its generous wing area would make for a good-flying model version.

tbzep
06-18-2010, 09:51 AM
Any pics?

blackshire
06-18-2010, 01:44 PM
Any pics?There is a link below. There are several internal and external view dimensioned drawings of the SLAM and SEM, as well as of Prometheus (the laser-pushed light sail starship that delivered the SLAMs and SEMs to the Barnard's Star system) in the book. There is also a color illustration of the SEM in flight on the cover (see: www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=2774203957&searchurl=an%3DForward%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3DRocheworld%26x%3D74%26y%3D11 ). The SEM's wings fold in such a way that they would act as fins in a scale model during ascent. I haven't been able to find any of the SLAM and/or SEM dimensioned drawings online, which is why I included the online bookseller links in the initial posting. They have copies of "Rocheworld" for ~$2.50 and up.