Posted on 09/07/2005 12:42:24 PM PDT by anymouse
NASA memo warns impact of Katrina, tank problems could be long lasting
As NASA continues to assess the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the future of the shuttle program, at least one official is warning it could take up to a year before the next flight takes off.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
They should just sub it out to private contractors. They would save a ton of money. Oh, and screw the Russians, the EU, and the whole concept of an "international" space station.
If there is anything to be gained by a space station, then let's not share the benefit of it. If there is nothing to be gained by it other than providng a fan club to HAM radio operators, D&D players, and/or a bunch of dorks who went to space camp, and whose favorite movie is Space Camp, then just scrap the whole idea.
It's going to be quite a commute from Baton Rouge or Houston.
Doesn't the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama have a SSME test stand. The one that was used to test Saturn V stages. As has been stated, the facilities may have survived, the people that work there and run things need lodging. Another tough year the shuttle program. However, in light of the larger tragedy of Katrina, this is small potatoes.
Sure you can. They built a mission critical component with no disaster recovery (failover site) option in a hurricane prone area that resides UNDER sea level with a large body of water to the north and the largest river in North America to the south.
The problem is not the destruction of the homes of more than half the workers, although that's a problem.
The problem is not that the bridges are out between the Michoud facility and the workers' homes, although that's true (the memo speculates that this will take months -- seeing how quickly they've gotten contracts let for this, I would guess that the bridges will be open in a month to six weeks).
The problem is that the main tank insulation problem, that they thought was a small and easily fixed thing, turns out to be bigger than expected. Instrumentation on Discovery's main tank shows that their computer models of aerodynamic forces were invalid. And the forces that they get turn out to be not easily susceptible to computer modeling.
They're now looking at maybe having a new design ready for testing in about a year, with launch three months after that if there are no glitches -- maybe January or February of 2007. No earlier.
In the meantime, the ISS stays in caretaker status with no new construction, and more of everything else that they want to do with Shuttles gets pushed back by the priority of the ISS, and the Shuttle's wear-out date of 2010 gets significantly closer. I see a convergence of bad news.
It's not doing science, it's not delivering payloads for industry or national security. At some point we have to define what it is then.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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