TechBlog

(1950s, 1966 - 1967)

The PEPP Aeroshell was created to test parachutes for the Voyager mars landing program. To simulate the thin Martian atmosphere the parachute needed to be used at an altitude more than 160,000 feet above the earth. A balloon launched from Roswell, N.M. was used to initially lift the aeroshell. The balloon drifted west to the missile range where the vehicle was dropped and the engines beneath the vehicle boosted it to the required altitude where the parachute was deployed. The tests were conducted in the summer of 1966. NASA.
The voyager program was cancelled, and replaced by the much smaller Viking project several years later.

Later, NASA used the Voyager name for the Voyager 1 and 2 probes to the outer planets–these had nothing to do with the Mars program called Voyager.

There is one PEPP Aeroshell left over, at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Continue reading ‘NASA’s PEPP AEROSHELL’ »

XM-2 Skycar
In 1962, Dr. Paul Moller built a six to one scale model of the XM-2. Two years later in the garage of his residence in Davis, CA he began construction of the full size aircraft. As Moller Aircraft Corporation, Dr. Moller completed construction of this prototype using two 2-cycle McCulloch drone engines which produced enough power to allow the XM-2 to hover in ground effect in 1965. With the success of his first VTOL flight, Dr. Moller began to re-engine the XM-2 in 1966 with two Mercury outboard engines XM-2 in flight under UC Davis sponsorship. The re-engined XM-2 was then flown for the International Press at the UC Davis airport in 1966. In 1968 Dr. Moller received his first patent on this VTOL XM-2 configuration.

XM-3 Skycar
Construction of the XM-3 began in 1966 and was a small two-passenger VTOL aircraft of unique design. A single ring fan powered by 8 go-kart engines surrounded the passengers to create the lift required for vertical flight. In 1968, Dr. Moller flew the XM-3 in ground effect. This configuration was patented in 1969.

Continue reading ‘Moller’s Skycars’ »