British Interplanetary Society Space Chronicle

Mossie · January 24, 2012, 03:41:05 AM

Has anybody ever bought any of the Space Chronicles from the BIS? There's quite a few with whiffy content available. Are they accessible to laymen or academic, with diagrams & drawings or text heavy? How many pages do they have on average?

http://www.bis-space.com/products-page/magazines-and-journals/space-chronicle/

It's lower priced if you're a BIS member, non-members play a supplement.

Simon

Mr.Creak · January 24, 2012, 05:28:20 AM

Nice find!
I've just ordered the 2006/2 issue (British Spaceplanes), so I should be able to let you know in a week or so.
Unfortunately the earlier issue on Brit projects is OOP, pity as it had the Avro 720, SARO 53 and 177 in it.
But the issue I've ordered does cover the manned Blue Steel (maybe a bit more info than Vulcan's Hammer?) and Project Greenglow among others...

Hobbes · January 24, 2012, 05:31:31 AM

Mossie, thanks for mentioning this.

Space Chronicle, 2002 Supplement 2 on UK Manned Rocket Aircraft is out of print, but they'll send you a PDF. I just ordered it.

Mr.Creak · January 24, 2012, 05:57:48 AM

Quote from: Hobbes on January 24, 2012, 05:31:31 AMSpace Chronicle, 2002 Supplement 2 on UK Manned Rocket Aircraft is out of print, but they'll send you a PDF. I just ordered it.

D'oh!
I missed that. Must have put my stupid head on this morning.

Steel Penguin · January 24, 2012, 12:30:28 PM

i have the Project Deadalus book from them, ( my coments in the libry section still stand the maths is aful hard looking but the pikys are lovely) and its well produced and made.

Mossie · January 24, 2012, 01:07:41 PM

Thanks SP, I'll probably pick one or two up.

Harro, Mr.C, I'm glad to have brought them to your attention.

Hobbes · January 27, 2012, 03:22:48 AM

I've just received the UK Manned Rocket Aircraft issue.

It's 92 pages, divided into these chapters:
The Miles M.52 Supersonic Aircraft
M.52, Me 163 and Bell X-1 - The RAE Connection
Development of the Napier Double Scorpion Rocket Engine
Napier Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Motor Catalysts - Progress at the Napier Flight Development Establishment, Luton, 1953 to 1960 J.W. Laxton
Flight Development of the Scorpion Rocket Engine
The Development of the AVRO 720
The Screamer Rocket Engine
Great Britain's Rocket-Powered Interceptor - The Saunders-Roe (Mixed Powerplant) SR53
The SR.177 High Altitude Interceptor

Each chapter has 10-16 pages, the text is well-written and accessible. The text is derived from presentations made at a symposium, often by the people involved (the Miles M.52 paper was written by Dennis Bancroft).
It includes B/W photos and diagrams, in the case of the SR.177 there are photos I haven't seen before (and I've seen most of what's been published).

So well worth the price in my opinion.

Mossie · February 06, 2012, 01:51:26 AM

I've just put an order in for Supplement 2 2006: UK Spaceplanes, will let you all know what's it like when it comes.

Mr.Creak · February 06, 2012, 02:08:52 AM

It's a good one.
Mine arrived the back end of last week.
Helmut Sanger on the Solverbird, Evolution of UK Winged Space Vehicles in the '50s, Manned Blue Steel, MUSTARD, three articles on HOTOL by insiders and a Project Greenglow overview.

Mossie · February 11, 2012, 03:17:23 PM

Got mine yseterday.

Yeah, lots of info on British Spacplanes, most is covered in BSP4 although there's a few new snippets. The coverage of Project Greenglow was welcome, all I've been able to find on the net is opinion rather than any explanation of exactly what research was being carried out.

I've enjoyed what I've read of this volume so far. It's presented like a scientific journal with a selection of concise overviews of the projects covered.