Pull plug on NASA

WorldNetDaily ^ | 29 July 2005 | Joseph Farah

[steve86]

In my opinion this has nothing to do with freon. The problem is of adhesion.

That is just the purpose of the freon from my reading. It improves adhesion of the foam to this type of surface, and within itself.

I also use polyurethane foam; have 2.5 inches of it on my roof, for one thing (minimally expanding). No problem getting it to adhere there. As you suggest, removing it is more of a problem in construction than application. However, I can easily pull it off the edges of the roof after weathering for five years now, but this is the area that wasn't protected by an epoxy overcoat.

[Howlin]

Joseph Farah does not know what he is talking about.

That hasn't stopped him from writing columns yet, has it?

[Viking2002]

Let's glue environmentalists to the external tanks. They'll stink like hell when they burn during reentry, but they're more organic than anything we're using now. Problem solved.

[MikefromOhio]

What are Joseph Farah's credentials again to critique the work of rocket scientists?

Don't know, but you better believe Farah and about half of FR think he has the creds to do so.....

[YOUGOTIT]

Not true period. You do not know about what you talk. Have you worked on the tank? Or on the Shuttle? Or on the Boosters?

[YOUGOTIT]

First there is NO hard data. Since you must have some where is it? And do not give me data from some employee that knows nothing about thermal protection systems.

[Mr. C]

"...NASA --> Not Able to Safely Aviate..."

I always thought that NASA stood for:

"Never A Straight Answer..."

[Gaffer]

You didn't happen to leave any...errrrrr...'droppings' in there on your NEXT trip through one did you???

[Flightdeck]

"Credentials aren't the issue. Farah published a report made by a NASA employee. "

You must be talking about a different article. This tripe is straight out of Farah's mouth, and screams lack of knowledge. Two of the first three paragraphs are flat-out false. Reporting? Not only is it an opinion piece, it is one riddled with inaccuracies.

[AndyJackson]

I think Mr. K knows more about this than you do

I really don't think so. Some environmental effects are real, and the effect of freon on the chemistry of the ozone layer is, now, one of the most soundly understood chemical processes there is.

[AndyJackson]

Other than DARPA, what government organization is competent?

Uhh, I have some bad new for you about DARPA.

I think those DoD offices within shouting range of Rumsfeld is probably competent. It goes downhill rapidly from there.

[AndyJackson]

The only problem is that NASA is probably the most competent government agency we have

Excuse me, but 2+years to fix the problem before them that stuff was shedding from the fuel tanks, they declare everything fixed, launch, and guess what, stuff sheds from the fuel tanks. No that is not a competent organization. It is indicative of a bunch of bozos in charge.

[AndyJackson]

I do think that NASA has become a bureaucracy. The days when it was a bunch of engineers is long gone.

How come glades can see the obvious and you can't. This is somehting that everyone with a technical degree who has some experience with the Washington scene understands. It is a laughing stock. If you are part of it, don't defend it. Demand that it be fixed. It is for the nation.

[Flightdeck]

"It is indicative of a bunch of bozos in charge."

Gee, if it's so simple, you'd think everybody would be launching 2,000 ton spacecraft into orbit to man their space stations, controlling their robots on the Martian surface, and successfully intercepting comets traveling at Mach 30 to discover what they're made of.

Just another uneducated opinion. I mean yours, not mine.

[AndyJackson]

Touchy touchy. I presume you work for the outfit or are funded by the outfit and have no complaints about how the whole place is run.

Like I said, there are pockets of competency - that do get stuff done. Don't attribute much of that to NASA HQs, however. Like I pointed out - job #1 was fixing the foam problem on the shuttle fuel tanks. THAT didn't get done? How come? If it were a competent organization one thing that would never ever happen again is foam falling off the fuel tanks. An asteroid could hit earth tomorrow undected, but the foam would stay glued on.

[Publius6961]

Is it safe to come into this thread?
Is that angry nutcase from the loony bin here? Wish I could remember his name.

Posts in all caps and the anger is palpable...

And he hates NASA more than I hate sandmaggots...

[Publius6961]

You know, like, something that can't fall off?

I don't think it was designed to fall off. But the idea is weight savings. So desperately so that they stopped painting th main tank to save weight.
The environmentally "bad" stuff originally used seems to have done the job satisfactorily.

Can we say it one more time? Mindless environmentalism kills.

[Publius6961]

re-read the first sentence- BILLIONS OF DOLLARS~!

Surely you jest.
A moonbat statement is a moonbat statement no matter how many times one reads it.

I never believe assertions or opinions on the web.
Nice try though.

[Publius6961]

The tanks are not reused. I believe that they break up on re-entry.

At the very least, the main tank is reused.

[Normal4me]

Lol. No. The only thing that made me nervous is when they grounded me with a cable to the building to eliminate any static. I only did it once because I was transferred over to the ET/SRB mate crew. I did get to crawl inside the oxygen tank but that wasn't half as exciting. ;-)