Nuclear reactor operator here, assuming there was 3000kg of HK31 in the D684, there would be nowhere near enough radiation dose to pose any health hazard. It'd be detectable, but incredibly insignificant compared to the dose that would be received due to being at 80km altitude or even just the natural background dose on the ground.
Addison, you are probably correct. But I read up on HK31 on Wikipedia. It came up as Mag-Thor. Apparently there was enough of a concern about the thorium that museums removed displays of drones such as Bomarc.
Some of the most dense materials are also radioactive; so if you need a dense thing, you may have to let it fissile a bit. Armour-piercing rounds of depleted uranium, for instance.
As an American military retired aviator living and "working" in Germany, it is always nice to watch and listen to a Brit? who lives and works in America for an electronic company, talking about not only America's space program, but also international space programs on a cold rainy day like today. Somehow the accent is soothing and warming along with his enthusiasm. I honestly can't thank you enough for filling these grey afternoons with humor and history along with current events. Thanks Scott, enjoy the sun. I may be at the Technik Museum Sinsheim around Xmas and will send some pics of the Buran and the TU-144 they have there along with some other cool Aerospace stuff.
@@scottmanley I really meant what I said. You provide insight and humor in this cold grey world. Thank you for not promoting products or yourself and just speaking what is on your mind. A great relief from the youtube promotions that other aviation and aerospace enthusiasts do.
I have rewatched this video a bunch. One of my favorites. Show it to people to showcase how aerospace development was never as linear a path as it seems to be from the outside. Kudos to the people willing to strap themselves into these things.
I freaking love the little animation near the end of the X-15 being launched by a rocket. It is an hilarious juxtaposition of really basic animation techniques next to an extremely advanced spaceplane.
@@stevennagley3407 several X15 flights exceeded the kharman line. The X15 couldn't do an orbital re entry. But a ballistic low sub orbital space flight? It did that.
Well thorium is only weak radio active and it emits alpha radiation. In an allow, the concentration is even lower and most of the radiation is already blocked by the magnesium. The remaining radiation isn't able to penetrate the heat shield nor the suit the driver is wearing. Even if it would be, the cosmic radiation in this hight is a lot worse than the radiation of the thorium. Now that I think about it, thorium has a huge nucleus thus its good for shielding from cosmic radiation, I wouldn't be surprised if the total radiation inside this aircraft was lower than in the x15.
I was thiking the same.. only 3%... and alpha... if the shell is just a couple of mills thick it most of the radiation would not even escape the material.
There is of course the people in the machine shop who work with it, any swarf that gets discarded , the maintenance guys, the non zero chance of the thing turning into a fire ball and scattering thorium all over the landscape. The pilot is not the only person who gets near a plane.
@@francesconicoletti2547 We are talking about an alloy with only a small percentage of thorium. Thorium is a weak alpha emitter. That btw is all over the landscape anyways. Even if this thing explodes it wouldn't have been even remotely a problem (i mean the radioactivity). The workers have the highest burden on them, but only if they breath dust from machining. Even then it would be comparable to eating a few bananas and a joke compared to smoking. Give those people a respirator, cleanup the workshop and those people will be absolutely fine.
Up until the 20th century the naval services were far and away the most technical branch of any military, and ever since the dawn of the aircraft carrier the US Navy has been on the cutting edge of flight research and operations, and at certain times they even had better planes/pilots than the Air Force (e.g. F-4s in the late 60s).Both John Glenn and Neil Armstrong were _Naval aviators_ (USMC and USN respectively), and there were a lot of Navy guys in the early astronaut programs.
Absolutely love Jenkin's book, had a copy for years now, an excellent and in depth look of the development and evolution of the X-15 program all the way from concept to the projects close in 1968.
Fun fact: Inconel is used in pipes used to transfer natural gas from offshore production platforms to gas refineries inland, and several other industries. Some inconel is used in oil exploration and is abandoned after test drilling for oil.
Aristeidis Lykas Very interesting addition to my love of the B-58. Thanks. Such an iconic looking supersonic aircraft - impressed me when a little kid, and still does. Too bad its looks were spoiled by the need for that belly tank to get any useful range.
@@donjones4719 Mag-Thor could still be an interesting choice for a 2.0-2.5 Mach airliner. It has an operating temperature that is at least 90 degrees, centigrade, higher than that of any aluminium alloy. That can make a huge difference. Thorium emits alpha radiaton. So just by putting a nice coat of paint one eliminates the danger of radiation, except in case of a crash where the Mag-Thor would ignite and create a quite deadly aerosol of Thorium-Dioxide (Thoria) and Thorium particles!
The X-15 had unpredicted heating patterns due to plasmas forming in not good locations, so the inconel decision gave tech margins they needed after all.
This is ripe for making a comedy. Colnel goes to inspect work being carried out on prototype "Leutenant why is everyone wearing swimming nose clips?" (imagine Rob Schneider's character in "down periscope") "because it runs on ammonia sir!" A bit later on a test run the engine fails so the escape pod has to be used - which cos it's so pointy sticks nose down in the desert like a dart and hilarity ensued with the pilot not being able to climb out due to no foot holds etc. Colnel discussing "stealth characteristics "You say it cant be tracked because it runs much cooler than the previous version so IR tracking does not work and neither does RADAR?" Marty again "yes sir, but there is one teensy problem" Colnel" Whats that?" "It's made of thorium so you can track it with a Geiger counter" I hope someone does a comedy on this.
Thorium, given its very long (~10^10 years) half-life and that its first decay is alpha, a geiger counter would have no hope of tracking it from 10m away, let alone well over 100km away.
@@Convergant You guys are forgetting "I dream of Jeannie". The main model of comedy accuracy. (I thought about using the word quintessencial...but it´s got too many letters and I don´t use Gramarly.) ( sorry,Grammarly...or something like it.)
That doesn't make sense. Uranium is a heavy material, chosen for armor penetrator rounds because of the density as compared to other metals. If you want to trim weight in an aircraft, you use lighter materials and creative geometry/structure.
@@MonkeyJedi99 You've misunderstood. "Trim" in "trim weight" is a noun, not a verb. A trim weight is a weight added to an aircraft to adjust its trim (i.e., balance). It's not "trim" as in "reduce". If you add some equipment to a plane, you need to add a trim weight somewhere, so the centre of gravity doesn't move too far. Trim weights are also used as counterbalances for moving parts such as flaps.
@@beeble2003 Ah. I did misinterpret. Fun language that we speak, this thing built by stealing from other languages and worrying about the rules of how to use them much later, if at all.
@@manyhammers5944 Do a search on "radioactive boy scout". Some kid in the 90s tried to make a nuclear reactor in his mom's garden shed. He got thorium by collecting lantern mantels and grinding them up and processing them to separate the thorium if I recall correctly. Lots of other dumb things, too. He died about a year ago I think; a few years back he was arrested for stealing smoke detectors to get the americium, and in his mug shot he had weird sores all over his face.
wow I remember ole chuck saying he would rather fly the x-15 then be a passenger in a mercury capsule.. But I never knew this history of the x-15... Good show Scott.. you always have something interesting to say... thanks again for the share..
I'm sorry but the X-15 or the SR-71 dont hold a candle to the XB -7O & its sister project the deep cover; "Dark Star"! 🤫 (clue - it's off limits & radioactively contaminated ). - They could drop the fully loaded X-15 @ 60,000 feet & give chase to the SR-71 & pass it by when that ran out of fuel & needed to dock.
- Dark Star should not be confused with the recent Air Force project. - It was a DARPA funded project during the Kennedy Administration's B-70 program. Passed off as an engineering tested bed. But was actualy a scaled up B-70 to fit a core Convair NB-36H upgraded to a working nuclear powerplant between the 6 standard B-70 jet engines. Due to its radioactive exhaust, It was engaged inflight only. Although reported to be sucessful in flight, exceeding B-70 parameters by a wide margin. Becase of radiation It was a maintenance nightmare to maintain. - It was killed as not being practical, and was rumored to also be the cause of the cancellation later of the RIFT atomic upper stage rocket that was also successfully static tested on the ground with a specific impulse near 1000 sec. (gaseous core) being achieved.
Mr. Manley, if you ever want to see (and touch) the X-15, go to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. It is worth the trip. I can remember the first time I ran into it... I was looking up at the XB-70 hanging from the ceiling of the hanger, and there it was- the X-15! It wasn't even roped off- you could go up and touch it. The ball on the nose was very interesting, it would roll around without it seeming to have been attached to anything. I all but climbed into the rocket motor, and it was still streaked from the last time it was fired. Awesome stuff!
At 3:08 we see a written document that states: WHEREAS, etc. and thereafter a new paragraph, "WHEREAS", and then another paragraph followed by another "WHEREAS" after which we see a final paragraph stating "BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED," etc. That document was written by U.S. Government lawyers. I know because as a young law student who was graduated in 1979 from a law school near Chicago. This was the way we wrote documents back in the day. Most court orders had the same "WHEREAS" prefixes to the paragraphs. Luckily for me, I went to a school near Cape Canaveral, (FIT) to learn "Space Technology" before I realized that the subject was going nowhere. So I transferred to "business technology" at FIT. But we still had to undergo two years of grueling trimesters of math, physics, chemistry, difiQ, etc before we could graduate. I'm glad I had a taste of a subject that no longer exists, that is, "Space Technology". How would you like to have a diploma that said you have a B.S. degree in "Space Technology"? (B.S. meaning a bachelors in science for all you who want to say "bull S++T). I know of no colleges today that offer such a degree. I've had dreams when I was younger that I "failed" to obtain a degree in "space technology" because I went on to the study of law. But I still envy those people who now possess degrees in "space technology" which were granted by only one college, as far as I'm aware, during the years of the Apollo missions. It's a sweet and sour dream.
Radioactive Thorium was use with consumer cameras too. Thorium dioxide was used inside many premium lenses of professional and consumer cameras until late 70's and maybe early 80's. The optical quality of these lenses is even today phenomenal. Most of the Pentax Asahi Takumar lenses were using thorium dioxide and are radioactive. Nowadays are praised by photographers and are available in eBay in various conditions and prices. Kodak, Canon and Nikon were producing premium expensive radioactive lenses with thorium dioxide too. Their radiation is very low and not really dangerous. However cameras are used very often near the very sensitive to radiation eyes and brain. After the scandal broke during late 70's lens manufacturers have moved to the much inferior and safe lanthanum oxide which it is still in used. After three to five years thorium dioxide gives to the lens a brown tint due to the radio decay. That brown tint it is a typical indication of a lens with thorium dioxide. That tint can be easily removed in nearly a week with constant direct exposure to the ultraviolet radiation of the sun. But after some years will reappear to the permanent radio decay of thorium dioxide. Just check Wikipedia for: Thoriated glass
North American Aviation, what a giant of a company! Besides it’s WWll famed aircraft , they built the F-86, F-100, X-15, Apollo Command module and the Saturn S-2 stage of the Saturn V. Which alone was an absolute marvel of engineering. A truly American company in it’s history and genius.
Not aviation related, but many people who come by my shop are either mildly concerned or completely fascinated by the 12-20% (by weight) Thorium content in vintage still and video camera lenses from the 50's to late 70's. I believe human exposure unless one was using said camera 8 hours a day for 30 years is low, but it did not take much time to irradiate/discolour film if left attached to a camera for too long with film still loaded.
MicrophonicFool - My wife is a high school chemistry teacher and she uses my old Pentax camera to illustrate this. The rear element of the 55mm lens is made with thorium oxide in the glass because of its higher refractive index. It does a dandy job of lighting up a Geiger counter. At least as long as the counter has an alpha window. Not so much in beta and gamma.
Ya'll just remember, the X-15 was a rocket, whereas the SR-71 and it's forerunners were jet powered. The X-15 flew higher and faster, but it couldn't fly around the world. The Blackbird could stay airborne with tankers. The X-15 couldn't. But still nothing could touch the Blackbird.
Talking to the people who are going to use the product your designing and building seems to work really well. Worked for the North American X-15 design and the McDonald Douglass F-4 phantom 2.
Yeah, they are kind of being phased out, but still available, and still the best option for some jobs. Just don't breathe the dust from grinding those.
It kinda comes back, and it already produces a number of interesting designs; the alleged nuclear-powered cruise missile, for one thing; hypersonic vehicles; underwater drones.
Well it's technically not really over. Or else I guess you could call it cold war II, because there was about 15 years of not being at each others necks. Only this time around there are less innovative designs and more throwing money at defense contractors for no real reason.
Some parts of the bomarc used that thorium magnesium xirconium alloy, mag thor, so did the b58, The same alloy was also used in the D-21, as well as the adapter section of the Gemini spacecraft.
Bomarc missiles used Mag-Thor, they had protocols for machining and maintaining them that limited radiation exposure. One at a deployment site had a fuel leak and caught fire, the radiation hazard came from plutonium in the nuke weapon, not the structure.
Hey Scott. I had a question that was unrelated to the video that I would like to submit to you; how would I do it? It has to do with velocity of payloads after they are released to space.
"Mag-Thor" alloys got a fair amount of use back in the day, including components in the Gemini capsules. Supposedly, some aerospace muesum displays got taken out of public view due to radiation concerns.
You plan on making a video about that solid state ion drive aircraft MIT invented this year? Seems that's the type of subject that would be right up your alley.
In the late 40's or early or late 50's there was a nuclear or atomic bomb test in a mine shaft in which a the metal cover was blown upward at a speed calculated by the scientists from the high speed camera footage that would have put it into space as the first man made object into space. Have you heard of this and do you think it possible?
Negative. As I just said, the lid was captured on high speed camera traveling extremely fast. Plus, even at the trinity test site , much of the metal support stand was recovered after the explosion and was NOT vaporized.
+kevin cvalciuc Answer Below; TL;DR - No, look comment above. If I recall correctly the cover was blown away with enough velocity to make it to orbit, if you didn't involve air drag. Same way escape velocity doesn't even take you to orbit, because air slows you down. Also since the object was not aerodynamic - quite the opposite in fact it would have melted and vaporized in seconds at best. I don't know what material it was made of and it's thickness - changing from solid to liquid and from liquid to vapor takes additional energy that has to be at least partially taken from the atoms that are not yet melting or vaporizing, lowering their temperature, so if it was very thick it would act as an ablative shield for itself. Even so, this is only a matter of time before it is fully vaporized - and even if it made to orbit it would be in a vacuum, so the only way too cool it down would be radiation - it would be hot as hell. Also to put something into the orbit, you must launch it at specific angle and velocity. Not enough and it will fall down (if it survives flying out and into the atmosphere at all), too much and it goes to infinity. At least theoretically. Orbital Mechanics is little bit like Optics and Quantum Mechanics - If You think you just understood something, there is good chance that there is far more nuance to that.
Its doesnt matter how many frames of film it was as long as you know how many frames a second it is and the distance from where it was and you can calculate the speed. An hour ago you said it was vaporized and now you say it yeah, it wasn't vaporized but couldnt have survived the "forces and friction" instead. "friction and forces" would have been greatest at the explosion as it is traveling fastest at the time of explosion. So if "friction and forces" are diminished after the initial frame the how do you explain it. You imply it just poof, snap of the fingers disappears from existence after the initial frame capture. You are just a troll and I would appreciate a comment from someone that actually knows what they are talking about.
I never said orbit. Space and orbit are not necessarily the same thing. Space is defined by the US government as 62 miles up if I remember correct. Please don't put words in my mouth. Yes, air drag is not figured in the equation which is WHY I ASKED THE QUESTION. Instead I get no it was vaporized but was caught on camera and WASNT Jesus F.C. does anyone actually read the question before they reply.
The engine in the video when you said XLR-30 was the 20 KLbF Viking engine which burned ethanol/LOx not ammonia. Only the XLR-99 ever burned ammonia because it was the closest analog to hydrazine which at the time was not in large enough quantities for rocket use. Info thanks to Bob Truax via Ken.
Loving the channel, Kerbal and otherwise. Lockheed had a nuclear aircraft lab/ base in Dawsonville Ga. When we were kids, we used to hang out at the abandon concrete structures, authority s said it's not there. Since back in the day, it has been confirmed as the GNAL Georgia nuclear aircraft laboratory. Did open air reactor tests etc. You may know more, would make a great video.
Man, it's a real shame they don't teach this in schools. 90% of what they do teach is useless anyway. This would motivate students to learn more about space and NASA and what they do, but instead, they spend 7 hours a day learning about measuring cells, poetic structures and Venn diagrams, skills they won't ever use in their life. You have a real talent to entertain, Scott. These videos are fantastic.
@@wierdalien1 Science is my favourite class (our biology was a science class) English is easy to me and probably my most useful class. And yes our school system is like collage and workplace readiness all the time a bit excessive
So the Owners Workshop Manual book on the Mercury program mentions that the successor to the X-15 you mentioned lead to the creation of Mercury pre-NASA as the air force was looking to gather data on how humans would handle in space before they built the souped up X-15 (though the book mentions that this became Dynasoar.) How accurate is this? And what other books should I read about this period of history?
Why do people always forget to mention that Thorium is weakly radioactive? It took a really long time to even figure out that it is radioactive, because for that you need a large and highly purified sample (getting rid of any more highly radioactive impurities), and then you need to measure it for a long time because decompositions are so rare. A regular geiger counter will not register it, because all regular geiger counters are designed to make a measurement within a few seconds, and the chances of a thorium sample doing anything in such a short timeframe are remote.
0:54 This orange beast looks like a "Pound Hound". (Alley Puppy) With the nose and inlet of a MIG15, the cockpit canopy cover of the SR71, a huge air brake, a typical tail assy and the most stupid straight non-swept wings. File it under "I guess it will fly". 1:04 Now this view suspiciously looks like a MIG17 with swept wings and that huge laid back tail.
Really love this type of content Scott. I mean gaming is fun but this stuff is way more interesting. What near future space mission are you most excited about?
Scott, I have a question. Could it be possible to have a reentry with a rocket-glider (X15 type planes) without burning? I mean just finding an angle of entry that would create some sort of lift but not to the point where the actual plane will start heating up as much as the shuttle did. I understand there's no way to get rid of the heat, but getting to half of the shuttle's would make a difference. Bouncing off the atmosphere, maybe?
Military helicopter turbine engines still use thorium in the magnesium compressor case halves. The thorium reduces the magnesium's ability to burn should it be exposed to fire. The the amount of radiation leaving the metal is less than that found in smoke detector sensors... which is in nearly every modern home.
Scott - could a (relatively) low temperature plasma be used to protect against reentry heating? Imagine a wide shower-head being the base facing Earth, and the holes expelling a burning mixture of oxygen and propane for example, the idea being to blanket the face with low temperature plasma to guard against high temperature plasma. Or would they just mingle and conduct heat either way?
Thats an interesting idea, though for it to work you'll need to pump out the oxy-fuel reaction at a higher pressure than the outside pressure/compression wave. It might work with a central nozzle that releases a blanket of gas over the front of the craft? However you might run into problems with the Ideal Gas Law as the additional gas/compression results in even higher temperatures? Since plasma tends to be ionised, it can be directed with a magnetic field- so you could look at installing electromagnets to control the flow around the craft.
So informative about the D-684's alloy and how it related to its cancellation. Great you included the Douglas Skystreak D-558. Please do a video on how TWO jet-powered airplanes capable of supersonic flight were flying at the same time as the X-1. And both the D-558 and F-86 did conventional takeoff and landing. F-86 went supersonic weeks after the X-1, and D-558 sometime later, but they were CAPABLE of it before X-1 did it. Needing dive speed still counts for proving sound barrier can be broken; the level flight criteria doesn't apply. The technological overlap will make a great video. Pace of technology then.
Nuclear reactor operator here, assuming there was 3000kg of HK31 in the D684, there would be nowhere near enough radiation dose to pose any health hazard. It'd be detectable, but incredibly insignificant compared to the dose that would be received due to being at 80km altitude or even just the natural background dose on the ground.
Yes indeed.
That is mentioned in the video.
Doggeslife Yes, but I wanted to elaborate more on how insignificant the dose would be. There’s a lot of undue fear about ionizing radiation.
Addison, you are probably correct. But I read up on HK31 on Wikipedia. It came up as Mag-Thor. Apparently there was enough of a concern about the thorium that museums removed displays of drones such as Bomarc.
I’m 50/50 happy/sad that this didn’t have a discussion escalating into chemtrail stories in the replies.
RUclips ran a number on me. I guess.
Want to improve something during or near to the Cold War? Make it radioactive!
Fallout universe in a shellnut...
@@BrokenLifeCycle something seems of here...
Some of the most dense materials are also radioactive; so if you need a dense thing, you may have to let it fissile a bit. Armour-piercing rounds of depleted uranium, for instance.
As an American military retired aviator living and "working" in Germany, it is always nice to watch and listen to a Brit? who lives and works in America for an electronic company, talking about not only America's space program, but also international space programs on a cold rainy day like today. Somehow the accent is soothing and warming along with his enthusiasm. I honestly can't thank you enough for filling these grey afternoons with humor and history along with current events. Thanks Scott, enjoy the sun. I may be at the Technik Museum Sinsheim around Xmas and will send some pics of the Buran and the TU-144 they have there along with some other cool Aerospace stuff.
Thanks!
@@scottmanley I really meant what I said. You provide insight and humor in this cold grey world. Thank you for not promoting products or yourself and just speaking what is on your mind. A great relief from the youtube promotions that other aviation and aerospace enthusiasts do.
This video X-Planes a lot.
Out.
That was bad. So I gave it a thumbs up ;-)
Always love to see more pun-ishment in the world.
I'll get your coat :D
It's ok I'll drive u home
I have rewatched this video a bunch. One of my favorites. Show it to people to showcase how aerospace development was never as linear a path as it seems to be from the outside.
Kudos to the people willing to strap themselves into these things.
I freaking love the little animation near the end of the X-15 being launched by a rocket. It is an hilarious juxtaposition of really basic animation techniques next to an extremely advanced spaceplane.
It could have been launched in space, but wouldn’t be able to re enter and land
Or use it to fairy crew to and from the station to the moon
@@stevennagley3407 several X15 flights exceeded the kharman line. The X15 couldn't do an orbital re entry.
But a ballistic low sub orbital space flight? It did that.
Well thorium is only weak radio active and it emits alpha radiation. In an allow, the concentration is even lower and most of the radiation is already blocked by the magnesium. The remaining radiation isn't able to penetrate the heat shield nor the suit the driver is wearing. Even if it would be, the cosmic radiation in this hight is a lot worse than the radiation of the thorium.
Now that I think about it, thorium has a huge nucleus thus its good for shielding from cosmic radiation, I wouldn't be surprised if the total radiation inside this aircraft was lower than in the x15.
Correct. Just wearing a normal flight suit and some thin leather gloves would shield you completely.
I was thiking the same.. only 3%... and alpha... if the shell is just a couple of mills thick it most of the radiation would not even escape the material.
There is of course the people in the machine shop who work with it, any swarf that gets discarded , the maintenance guys, the non zero chance of the thing turning into a fire ball and scattering thorium all over the landscape. The pilot is not the only person who gets near a plane.
@@francesconicoletti2547 We are talking about an alloy with only a small percentage of thorium. Thorium is a weak alpha emitter. That btw is all over the landscape anyways. Even if this thing explodes it wouldn't have been even remotely a problem (i mean the radioactivity). The workers have the highest burden on them, but only if they breath dust from machining. Even then it would be comparable to eating a few bananas and a joke compared to smoking. Give those people a respirator, cleanup the workshop and those people will be absolutely fine.
aullik clean up workshop, respirators in the 1960 ? Really. That’s a cost. This is the cold war. Harden up. It’s only a little bit of radiation.
It's always an amazement to realize that the Navy is often in charge of cutting edge of the aeronautical research.
space-SHIP.
Up until the 20th century the naval services were far and away the most technical branch of any military, and ever since the dawn of the aircraft carrier the US Navy has been on the cutting edge of flight research and operations, and at certain times they even had better planes/pilots than the Air Force (e.g. F-4s in the late 60s).Both John Glenn and Neil Armstrong were _Naval aviators_ (USMC and USN respectively), and there were a lot of Navy guys in the early astronaut programs.
Magnesium hull... a really bright meteor when entering the atmosphere from orbital speed...
ha uh.. roast fighter jock?
Asbestos underwear optional.
I love 50s jets, best looking aircraft in my opinion.
They do have a certain charm to them.
You mean 1950s? Because you do not yet know how 2050s aircrafts look like; maybe they are way better? 3050s?
@@xq-381-xfr-72fv I'm a Hawker Hunter enthusiast, but I do love the Arrow!
Shit happens :)
New fighter jets look extremely lame and vile when compared
If you are going 300 km high without going into orbit you are basically riding a sounding rocket.
Alan Shepard did about the same on the first manned US space flight
You don't want to look up "sounding" as a sex act then...
Absolutely love Jenkin's book, had a copy for years now, an excellent and in depth look of the development and evolution of the X-15 program all the way from concept to the projects close in 1968.
Fun fact: Inconel is used in pipes used to transfer natural gas from offshore production platforms to gas refineries inland, and several other industries.
Some inconel is used in oil exploration and is abandoned after test drilling for oil.
One of your - to me - most informative videos: interesting materials, x-planes and other pre-mercury stuff. Love it. Thanks Scott.
The B-58 Hustler also used Magnesium-Thorium as part of its fuselage.
Aristeidis Lykas Very interesting addition to my love of the B-58. Thanks. Such an iconic looking supersonic aircraft - impressed me when a little kid, and still does. Too bad its looks were spoiled by the need for that belly tank to get any useful range.
@@donjones4719 Mag-Thor could still be an interesting choice for a 2.0-2.5 Mach airliner. It has an operating temperature that is at least 90 degrees, centigrade, higher than that of any aluminium alloy. That can make a huge difference. Thorium emits alpha radiaton. So just by putting a nice coat of paint one eliminates the danger of radiation, except in case of a crash where the Mag-Thor would ignite and create a quite deadly aerosol of Thorium-Dioxide (Thoria) and Thorium particles!
Aristeidis Lykas Thorium 232 decays 10 times before turning into Lead 208. NOT JUST ALPHA.
thanks for the metric.
Even as an American 1,000,000 feet mens absolutely nothing. Metric for the win
But he made a mistake centigrade doesn't exist is celsius
Didn't you people take any math classes???
@@evanfinch4987 and your point is..?
@@evanfinch4987 what???
The X-15 had unpredicted heating patterns due to plasmas forming in not good locations, so the inconel decision gave tech margins they needed after all.
Thanks for the education again Scott! Love your work and passion for these things. Please keep them coming
This is ripe for making a comedy.
Colnel goes to inspect work being carried out on prototype
"Leutenant why is everyone wearing swimming nose clips?"
(imagine Rob Schneider's character in "down periscope") "because it runs on ammonia sir!"
A bit later on a test run the engine fails so the escape pod has to be used - which cos it's so pointy sticks nose down in the desert like a dart and hilarity ensued with the pilot not being able to climb out due to no foot holds etc.
Colnel discussing "stealth characteristics "You say it cant be tracked because it runs much cooler than the previous version so IR tracking does not work and neither does RADAR?"
Marty again "yes sir, but there is one teensy problem"
Colnel" Whats that?"
"It's made of thorium so you can track it with a Geiger counter"
I hope someone does a comedy on this.
Thorium, given its very long (~10^10 years) half-life and that its first decay is alpha, a geiger counter would have no hope of tracking it from 10m away, let alone well over 100km away.
@@Convergant Since when does a comedy have to have accurate science?
@@gordonlawrence4749 Always
@@Convergant You guys are forgetting "I dream of Jeannie".
The main model of comedy accuracy.
(I thought about using the word quintessencial...but it´s got too many letters and I don´t use Gramarly.)
( sorry,Grammarly...or something like it.)
@@Convergant If you think that you must be either a troll or you have zero understanding of humour.
Any more I just autolike your videos before I watch them. I have come to expect nothing less than awesome, and you have ALWAYS delivered! TY!
6:30 "You built rocket stages into a plane?!"
(To quote Scott in that _Door Monster_ KSP sketch)
Well, there are times when the more insane solution is the more logical choice.
Great video Scott, as always. Thank you.
Thank you, Scott. Fly Safe.
Radioactive aircraft aren't that unusual. Depleted uranium was commonly used up until recently for trimming weights
That doesn't make sense. Uranium is a heavy material, chosen for armor penetrator rounds because of the density as compared to other metals. If you want to trim weight in an aircraft, you use lighter materials and creative geometry/structure.
@@MonkeyJedi99 You've misunderstood. "Trim" in "trim weight" is a noun, not a verb. A trim weight is a weight added to an aircraft to adjust its trim (i.e., balance). It's not "trim" as in "reduce". If you add some equipment to a plane, you need to add a trim weight somewhere, so the centre of gravity doesn't move too far. Trim weights are also used as counterbalances for moving parts such as flaps.
@@beeble2003 Ah. I did misinterpret. Fun language that we speak, this thing built by stealing from other languages and worrying about the rules of how to use them much later, if at all.
Ahh, smart people talking on the internet AND not name calling. Sweet!
@@sonnyburnett8725 Yay ! Civility exists :-)
I never thunked about these things. Thank you Scott! That brings a new system of thought into my view.
"thunk" - I like it!
thumbs up for metric conversion xP
I love your videos, keep it up!
American aviation history always makes me feel patriotic. 🇺🇸 great video! Cheers!
Thorium actually would be quite safe to work around as its only an alpha emitter. Only danger would be inhaling any dust particles during manufacture.
nzoomed You have to wonder how many people have gotton a good dose of thorium from mantles and thoriated tungsten electrodes?
@@manyhammers5944 Do a search on "radioactive boy scout". Some kid in the 90s tried to make a nuclear reactor in his mom's garden shed. He got thorium by collecting lantern mantels and grinding them up and processing them to separate the thorium if I recall correctly. Lots of other dumb things, too. He died about a year ago I think; a few years back he was arrested for stealing smoke detectors to get the americium, and in his mug shot he had weird sores all over his face.
He used a lot of other, more dangerous radioactive materials in his backyard reactor.
@@manyhammers5944 Yes lantern mantles concerns me much more!
the problem with thorium is not its alpha radiation, but all the funny elements in its chain of decay ;)
wow I remember ole chuck saying he would rather fly the x-15 then be a passenger in a mercury capsule.. But I never knew this history of the x-15... Good show Scott.. you always have something interesting to say... thanks again for the share..
3:35 I love the drawings. So evocative of the 50s era pulp SciFi, but here it is for real!
I love it when I randomly fond a scott manly video I haven't seen yet!!
I just visited the X-15 in Dayton last week. Easily my favorite thing to see. It was amazing seeing it sit next to the XB-70 and an SR-71.
I'm sorry but the X-15 or the SR-71 dont hold a candle to the XB -7O & its sister project the deep cover; "Dark Star"! 🤫 (clue - it's off limits & radioactively contaminated ).
- They could drop the fully loaded X-15 @ 60,000 feet & give chase to the SR-71 & pass it by when that ran out of fuel & needed to dock.
- Dark Star should not be confused with the recent Air Force project.
- It was a DARPA funded project during the Kennedy Administration's B-70 program. Passed off as an engineering tested bed. But was actualy a scaled up B-70 to fit a core Convair NB-36H upgraded to a working nuclear powerplant between the 6 standard B-70 jet engines. Due to its radioactive exhaust, It was engaged inflight only. Although reported to be sucessful in flight, exceeding B-70 parameters by a wide margin. Becase of radiation It was a maintenance nightmare to maintain.
- It was killed as not being practical, and was rumored to also be the cause of the cancellation later of the RIFT atomic upper stage rocket that was also successfully static tested on the ground with a specific impulse near 1000 sec. (gaseous core) being achieved.
The sheer research effort for this guy's every video! Unbelievable
OH MY GOD YOU JUST GET BETTER AND BETTER
Mr. Manley, if you ever want to see (and touch) the X-15, go to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH. It is worth the trip.
I can remember the first time I ran into it... I was looking up at the XB-70 hanging from the ceiling of the hanger, and there it was- the X-15! It wasn't even roped off- you could go up and touch it. The ball on the nose was very interesting, it would roll around without it seeming to have been attached to anything. I all but climbed into the rocket motor, and it was still streaked from the last time it was fired. Awesome stuff!
"After the completely successful first test flight, the *pilot* was *all aglow.* "
;~)°
Scott your videos never disappoint. Great! Thanks.🇺🇸
At 3:08 we see a written document that states: WHEREAS, etc. and thereafter a new paragraph, "WHEREAS", and then another paragraph followed by another "WHEREAS" after which we see a final paragraph stating "BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED," etc. That document was written by U.S. Government lawyers. I know because as a young law student who was graduated in 1979 from a law school near Chicago. This was the way we wrote documents back in the day. Most court orders had the same "WHEREAS" prefixes to the paragraphs.
Luckily for me, I went to a school near Cape Canaveral, (FIT) to learn "Space Technology" before I realized that the subject was going nowhere. So I transferred to "business technology" at FIT. But we still had to undergo two years of grueling trimesters of math, physics, chemistry, difiQ, etc before we could graduate.
I'm glad I had a taste of a subject that no longer exists, that is, "Space Technology".
How would you like to have a diploma that said you have a B.S. degree in "Space Technology"? (B.S. meaning a bachelors in science for all you who want to say "bull S++T). I know of no colleges today that offer such a degree. I've had dreams when I was younger that I "failed" to obtain a degree in "space technology" because I went on to the study of law. But I still envy those people who now possess degrees in "space technology" which were granted by only one college, as far as I'm aware, during the years of the Apollo missions. It's a sweet and sour dream.
Well, as far as I know, depleted uranium was widely used in civil aviation up to 1980s
Radioactive Thorium was use with consumer cameras too. Thorium dioxide was used inside many premium lenses of professional and consumer cameras until late 70's and maybe early 80's. The optical quality of these lenses is even today phenomenal. Most of the Pentax Asahi Takumar lenses were using thorium dioxide and are radioactive. Nowadays are praised by photographers and are available in eBay in various conditions and prices. Kodak, Canon and Nikon were producing premium expensive radioactive lenses with thorium dioxide too. Their radiation is very low and not really dangerous. However cameras are used very often near the very sensitive to radiation eyes and brain.
After the scandal broke during late 70's lens manufacturers have moved to the much inferior and safe lanthanum oxide which it is still in used. After three to five years thorium dioxide gives to the lens a brown tint due to the radio decay. That brown tint it is a typical indication of a lens with thorium dioxide. That tint can be easily removed in nearly a week with constant direct exposure to the ultraviolet radiation of the sun. But after some years will reappear to the permanent radio decay of thorium dioxide.
Just check Wikipedia for: Thoriated glass
North American Aviation, what a giant of a company! Besides it’s WWll famed aircraft , they built the F-86, F-100, X-15, Apollo Command module and the Saturn S-2 stage of the Saturn V. Which alone was an absolute marvel of engineering. A truly American company in it’s history and genius.
Not aviation related, but many people who come by my shop are either mildly concerned or completely fascinated by the 12-20% (by weight) Thorium content in vintage still and video camera lenses from the 50's to late 70's. I believe human exposure unless one was using said camera 8 hours a day for 30 years is low, but it did not take much time to irradiate/discolour film if left attached to a camera for too long with film still loaded.
MicrophonicFool
- My wife is a high school chemistry teacher and she uses my old Pentax camera to illustrate this. The rear element of the 55mm lens is made with thorium oxide in the glass because of its higher refractive index. It does a dandy job of lighting up a Geiger counter. At least as long as the counter has an alpha window. Not so much in beta and gamma.
congrats on 1 million! ... deserved 👍🏻
“Chernobyl Airlines”
In soviet Russia.....Plane flies you.
@Daniel Rodriguez Cool story, bro.
😂😂😂😂😂
Daniel Rodriguez I believe for Japanese it’s called project Orion
@@thenotflatearth2714 Fukushima Airlines - the branch of the US's Three Mile Island Airlines.
Great video Scott!
4:33 Magnesium-Thorium en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mag-Thor
Great video, I thought I knew a lot about the X-15 program but this is new to me, thank you!
That's a lot of freedoms
the X15 was completely insane. leave the SR-71 for dead, even if it was for short periods.
And the D-671 would have been even more insane....
You don't get an X15 without a bomber host aircraft... one big flaw. SR-71 got it beat there.
@@scowell Tbf an SR-71 won't get far without a tanker, with a full fuel load it's too heavy to take off
Ya'll just remember, the X-15 was a rocket, whereas the SR-71 and it's forerunners were jet powered. The X-15 flew higher and faster, but it couldn't fly around the world. The Blackbird could stay airborne with tankers. The X-15 couldn't. But still nothing could touch the Blackbird.
Spot on, the X15 was a hypersonic experimental aircraft. Hence the "x".
simple video, but in deep explanation. thanks for sharing.
This channel is...well, wonderful really.
Talking to the people who are going to use the product your designing and building seems to work really well. Worked for the North American X-15 design and the McDonald Douglass F-4 phantom 2.
Certain kinds of welding use "thoriated tungsten" electrodes (TIG welding). Still in common use today.
Yeah, they are kind of being phased out, but still available, and still the best option for some jobs. Just don't breathe the dust from grinding those.
Where did you get the Delta 4 heavy and the Atlas 5 models.
ruclips.net/video/a2GEbtjwM8k/видео.html
Always amazing stuff Scott. Thanks again. cool
Sometimes I feel like it’s almost a shame that the Cold War ended, so many fascinatingly bonkers designs for things.
It kinda comes back, and it already produces a number of interesting designs; the alleged nuclear-powered cruise missile, for one thing; hypersonic vehicles; underwater drones.
From what I know, fo a long time after the end of the Cold War British civil servants felt the same - immigration especially!
Now presenting the newest:
A design inspired by 700BC Chinese architecture! It is:
B U I L D A W A L L
Well it's technically not really over. Or else I guess you could call it cold war II, because there was about 15 years of not being at each others necks. Only this time around there are less innovative designs and more throwing money at defense contractors for no real reason.
As far as the U.S. State department and arms industry, the cold war never ended.
I love highly/crazy-engineered things.
I had no idea that the X-15B was even a solid idea. Awesome.
Harder, better, faster, stronger
Some parts of the bomarc used that thorium magnesium xirconium alloy, mag thor, so did the b58,
The same alloy was also used in the D-21, as well as the adapter section of the Gemini spacecraft.
Dad was an engineer on the X15...I got to be the official Test Kid at Edwards AFB ...weekends and holidays during those exciting times.
Always interesting stuff from you, thanks.
Bomarc missiles used Mag-Thor, they had protocols for machining and maintaining them that limited radiation exposure. One at a deployment site had a fuel leak and caught fire, the radiation hazard came from plutonium in the nuke weapon, not the structure.
Hey Scott. I had a question that was unrelated to the video that I would like to submit to you; how would I do it? It has to do with velocity of payloads after they are released to space.
Always exciting to see a new Scott Manley video!
The BoMARC missile used the stuff and a launch site in New Jersey (I think) was rendered unusable after one burned down on the pad.
Actually, that missile was actually armed with a plutonium nuclear warhead when it exploded and contaminated the site.
Awesome video Scott! I love learning these little known facts ;)
Informative and interesting, as usual. Great video!
"Mag-Thor" alloys got a fair amount of use back in the day, including components in the Gemini capsules.
Supposedly, some aerospace muesum displays got taken out of public view due to radiation concerns.
great video the X15 is on of my favorite aircraft well done sir
Awesome info! Thank you Scott!
Great video Scott.... Where did you find the chart at 2:00 in the video ?
thanks,
scott
You plan on making a video about that solid state ion drive aircraft MIT invented this year? Seems that's the type of subject that would be right up your alley.
I too loved the X-15! Great aircraft. Really enjoy your videos.
In the late 40's or early or late 50's there was a nuclear or atomic bomb test in a mine shaft in which a the metal cover was blown upward at a speed calculated by the scientists from the high speed camera footage that would have put it into space as the first man made object into space. Have you heard of this and do you think it possible?
Negative. As I just said, the lid was captured on high speed camera traveling extremely fast. Plus, even at the trinity test site , much of the metal support stand was recovered after the explosion and was NOT vaporized.
Link the vid as well, thanks.
+kevin cvalciuc Answer Below; TL;DR - No, look comment above.
If I recall correctly the cover was blown away with enough velocity to make it to orbit, if you didn't involve air drag. Same way escape velocity doesn't even take you to orbit, because air slows you down. Also since the object was not aerodynamic - quite the opposite in fact it would have melted and vaporized in seconds at best. I don't know what material it was made of and it's thickness - changing from solid to liquid and from liquid to vapor takes additional energy that has to be at least partially taken from the atoms that are not yet melting or vaporizing, lowering their temperature, so if it was very thick it would act as an ablative shield for itself. Even so, this is only a matter of time before it is fully vaporized - and even if it made to orbit it would be in a vacuum, so the only way too cool it down would be radiation - it would be hot as hell. Also to put something into the orbit, you must launch it at specific angle and velocity. Not enough and it will fall down (if it survives flying out and into the atmosphere at all), too much and it goes to infinity. At least theoretically. Orbital Mechanics is little bit like Optics and Quantum Mechanics - If You think you just understood something, there is good chance that there is far more nuance to that.
Its doesnt matter how many frames of film it was as long as you know how many frames a second it is and the distance from where it was and you can calculate the speed. An hour ago you said it was vaporized and now you say it yeah, it wasn't vaporized but couldnt have survived the "forces and friction" instead. "friction and forces" would have been greatest at the explosion as it is traveling fastest at the time of explosion. So if "friction and forces" are diminished after the initial frame the how do you explain it. You imply it just poof, snap of the fingers disappears from existence after the initial frame capture. You are just a troll and I would appreciate a comment from someone that actually knows what they are talking about.
I never said orbit. Space and orbit are not necessarily the same thing. Space is defined by the US government as 62 miles up if I remember correct. Please don't put words in my mouth. Yes, air drag is not figured in the equation which is WHY I ASKED THE QUESTION. Instead I get no it was vaporized but was caught on camera and WASNT Jesus F.C. does anyone actually read the question before they reply.
The engine in the video when you said XLR-30 was the 20 KLbF Viking engine which burned ethanol/LOx not ammonia. Only the XLR-99 ever burned ammonia because it was the closest analog to hydrazine which at the time was not in large enough quantities for rocket use. Info thanks to Bob Truax via Ken.
Loving the channel, Kerbal and otherwise. Lockheed had a nuclear aircraft lab/ base in Dawsonville Ga. When we were kids, we used to hang out at the abandon concrete structures, authority s said it's not there. Since back in the day, it has been confirmed as the GNAL Georgia nuclear aircraft laboratory. Did open air reactor tests etc. You may know more, would make a great video.
Off topic but...... Scott..... Where did you find your Jeb Kermin toys? I need some.
Man, it's a real shame they don't teach this in schools. 90% of what they do teach is useless anyway. This would motivate students to learn more about space and NASA and what they do, but instead, they spend 7 hours a day learning about measuring cells, poetic structures and Venn diagrams, skills they won't ever use in their life. You have a real talent to entertain, Scott. These videos are fantastic.
I use all those skills to make these videos.
Students learn a lot of useless stuff, but you didn't pick very good examples.
Yeah in school we learn really useless things. Some of it I think is important but 85% is useless.
just because you didnt enjoy english or maths or biology doesnt meant that some else doesnt love those.
@@wierdalien1 Science is my favourite class (our biology was a science class) English is easy to me and probably my most useful class. And yes our school system is like collage and workplace readiness all the time a bit excessive
So the Owners Workshop Manual book on the Mercury program mentions that the successor to the X-15 you mentioned lead to the creation of Mercury pre-NASA as the air force was looking to gather data on how humans would handle in space before they built the souped up X-15 (though the book mentions that this became Dynasoar.)
How accurate is this? And what other books should I read about this period of history?
Why do people always forget to mention that Thorium is weakly radioactive? It took a really long time to even figure out that it is radioactive, because for that you need a large and highly purified sample (getting rid of any more highly radioactive impurities), and then you need to measure it for a long time because decompositions are so rare.
A regular geiger counter will not register it, because all regular geiger counters are designed to make a measurement within a few seconds, and the chances of a thorium sample doing anything in such a short timeframe are remote.
Interesting stuff
Thanks for sharing😀👍
7:48 That animation is awesome! It would make me feel safe as a test pilot! LOL
Awesome video today!
0:54 This orange beast looks like a "Pound Hound". (Alley Puppy) With the nose and inlet of a MIG15, the cockpit canopy cover of the SR71, a huge air brake, a typical tail assy and the most stupid straight non-swept wings. File it under "I guess it will fly".
1:04 Now this view suspiciously looks like a MIG17 with swept wings and that huge laid back tail.
Really love this type of content Scott. I mean gaming is fun but this stuff is way more interesting. What near future space mission are you most excited about?
Next year watch out for the story of the Mach 10 X-plane with the oblative coating of white chocolate, due April 1st.
am I the only one who bobs their head furiously to the beat of Scott's ending music? haha.
Where did you get your Delta heavy and the Delta 5 (I think) models at?
ruclips.net/video/a2GEbtjwM8k/видео.html
Scott, I have a question. Could it be possible to have a reentry with a rocket-glider (X15 type planes) without burning? I mean just finding an angle of entry that would create some sort of lift but not to the point where the actual plane will start heating up as much as the shuttle did. I understand there's no way to get rid of the heat, but getting to half of the shuttle's would make a difference. Bouncing off the atmosphere, maybe?
8:02 reminds me of starship...
Military helicopter turbine engines still use thorium in the magnesium compressor case halves. The thorium reduces the magnesium's ability to burn should it be exposed to fire.
The the amount of radiation leaving the metal is less than that found in smoke detector sensors... which is in nearly every modern home.
So are you going to be doing a video about Project Eagle?
Scott - could a (relatively) low temperature plasma be used to protect against reentry heating? Imagine a wide shower-head being the base facing Earth, and the holes expelling a burning mixture of oxygen and propane for example, the idea being to blanket the face with low temperature plasma to guard against high temperature plasma. Or would they just mingle and conduct heat either way?
Thats an interesting idea,
though for it to work you'll need to pump out the oxy-fuel reaction at a higher pressure than the outside pressure/compression wave. It might work with a central nozzle that releases a blanket of gas over the front of the craft?
However you might run into problems with the Ideal Gas Law as the additional gas/compression results in even higher temperatures?
Since plasma tends to be ionised, it can be directed with a magnetic field- so you could look at installing electromagnets to control the flow around the craft.
Can you please do a video on rocket launch schedule.. How they arrive at the time of launch? What factors considered?
So informative about the D-684's alloy and how it related to its cancellation. Great you included the Douglas Skystreak D-558.
Please do a video on how TWO jet-powered airplanes capable of supersonic flight were flying at the same time as the X-1. And both the D-558 and F-86 did conventional takeoff and landing. F-86 went supersonic weeks after the X-1, and D-558 sometime later, but they were CAPABLE of it before X-1 did it. Needing dive speed still counts for proving sound barrier can be broken; the level flight criteria doesn't apply.
The technological overlap will make a great video. Pace of technology then.
6:26 Hey that totally completely doesn't look at all like anything I have ever attempted to create in KSP
The high altitude research potential of the SR53/SR177 and Avro 720 would be an interesting subject for you to explore.
Do you have any information on the history active cooling schemes for aircraft/spacecraft structures scott?
1 000 000 feet - yeah, very practical measurement for flight altitude. How much was that again in inches?