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n5lp

n5lp

fugio ergo sum
One of my favorite things about RV flying is the ability to go look at stuff that people don't really want you to look at.

Things seem pretty quiet at the Secret Salt Flat Airport, which is actually marked on the charts now, but I noticed today that Blue Origin is well along on the construction in this newly developed area. Just wish I knew what all this stuff is.

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And this photo is my contribution to the "Is the RV-6 washed up?" and the "tip-up vs slider" debates. I wouldn't have it any different.

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I'd guess engine test stand Larry - too close to the buildings to be a reasonable launch pad, but the tankage could easily support test firings in the other direction.

Nice shots BTW!
 
n5lp said:
One of my favorite things about RV flying is the ability to go look at stuff that people don't really want you to look at.
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I do a lot of that myself but unfortunately I do not live where people (governments/companies) put the real cool stuff. Here I just look for the odd building or excavation in the back of wooded areas and farm land that people hide away for unknown reasons (but I can create a theory).

My guess is rocket test facility. Interesting that big door of high bay building is on opposite end from test/blast area. Also wonder why the 4 big tanks are tipped at angle. Some interesting escavation in lower left of first picture and shown in top center of third picture.

Keep up the recon.
 
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Ironflight said:
I'd guess engine test stand Larry - too close to the buildings to be a reasonable launch pad, but the tankage could easily support test firings in the other direction....
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plehrke said:
...My guess is rocket test facility. Interesting that big door of high bay building is on opposite end from test/blast area. Also wonder why the 4 big tanks are tipped at angle. Some interesting escalation in lower left of first picture and shown in top center of third picture...
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I agree with the idea of a rocket engine test fixture but geeze it is hard to figure out the plumbing and mounting and exhaust and load paths. There is another apparent rocket engine test fixture elsewhere on the grounds that I reported on earlier.

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Those tanks and the buildings are awfully close to where the motors would be fired, if that's a test stand. But I don't have an alternate hypothesis at this time.

Dave
 
To CHEAP FOR GOVERNMET

Appears to be a "private" venture; the Government would NEVER install such a inexpensive HVAC system.
Just "sayin"
 
n5lp said:
I agree with the idea of a rocket engine test fixture but geeze it is hard to figure out the plumbing and mounting and exhaust and load paths. There is another apparent rocket engine test fixture elsewhere on the grounds that I reported on earlier.

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If it has something to do with rockets, it could be a component test stand as opposed to a full up engine. Things like pre-burners and turbopumps don't have a lot of thrust to react.

In my experience, tanks intended for the use of gravity or pressure feeding liquids are spherical or vertical, and have inlets/outlets on the top/bottom, whereas for tanks intended for gaseous service drainage isnt a problem and it's just easier to mount them horizontally. My guess is that the tilted tanks are for gaseous service, but need to be cleaned from time to time, and are tilted to facilitate draining of cleaning fluds.

Relatively large diameter tanks with flat ends are generally for low-pressure service, while longer, smaller diameter tanks with spherical ends are for higher-pressure service.
 
Well - I drive past Rocket Site Road a bunch of times visiting Roger Rourke in Cuyama......


Never seen one go off yet :cool:


So - a bit of thread drift, but not much....


What is the origin of the Zzyzx Road nearby ?
 
And remember rocket engines are generally designed to work no matter the direction of the gravity vector - so they might be firing the things straight up (if it is an all-up test...). But Miles has a good point about component tests too....
 
mike newall said:
Never seen one go off yet :cool:
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Like launches, these things don't get fired every day. You just have to drive by at the right time: http://www.egr.msu.edu/files_egr/u15/Developments in Liquid Rocket Engine Tech - Richard Cohn.pdf

mike newall said:
So - a bit of thread drift, but not much....


What is the origin of the Zzyzx Road nearby ?
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Zzyzx is over 100 miles east of here, so I don't go by very often, at least not low enough to read the sign;). Up until now I really have had no clue what the story is, but I've always thought it was someone who wanted to have a place name at the very end of an alphabetized list. According to Wikipedia, that's a good guess: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zzyzx,_California
 
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