Posted on 12/11/2004 9:53:40 AM PST by Rockitz
Delta 4-Heavy rocket poised for debut today America's new heavy-lifting rocket takes its much-anticipated test flight today. Boeing's inaugural Delta 4-Heavy rocket is scheduled to make its thunderous departure from Cape Canaveral's pad 37B at 2:31 p.m. EST (1931 GMT) while riding 1.9-million pounds of fiery thrust generated by its three hydrogen-fueled engines.
LOL... you don't want to be in that pickup truck when those engines ignite
http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bls/d4heavy/d4h_milestones.html
LOL...........I don't know WHERE you find that stuff.
Wonder how thrust compares to the great Saturn V?
LMAO!
Testing the arrestor cables?
The test flight is coincidental. Today I just saw a Gilligan's Island (the REAL one) where a NASA satellite crashed on the island. The photos sent back to NASA of Gilligan gave NASA the impression that they landed on Mars! (Thank God for Tina Louise!)
I guess it is bigger in person.
This is tiny compared to the Saturn V. It looks like it has 1.9 million pounds of thrust compared to the Saturn's 7.5 million.
Still a nice vehicle to have for putting big stuff in earth orbit.
Tar and feathers wasn't it?
Back to the drawing board...
Today's maiden flight of the Boeing Delta 4-Heavy rocket was scrubbed because of trouble with the master sequencer that controls the crucial final seconds of the countdown.
As fueling operations got underway this morning at Cape Canaveral's pad 37B, engineers reported a problem with the Terminal Countdown Sequencer Rack computer system. Known as TCSR, this sequencer assumes control of the countdown at T-minus 8.5 seconds, overseeing ignition of the RS-68 main engines and verifying the Rocketdyne powerplants rev up to full throttle before committing the 1.6-million-pound vehicle to flight.
A 7-person troubleshooting crew was dispatched to the pad's telemetry room as officials hoped to resolve the problem. Loading of the rocket with super-cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen was put on hold while the team worked at the pad.
After working a couple of hours on the problem, the decision was made to postpone the mission until Sunday.
"At this time we would like to proceed with a scrub to today's operation," the Boeing launch director told the chief launch conductor. "The main activity for the rest of the day, of course, will be to address the problem at hand."
High-altitude winds and gusty surface winds were concerns during today's countdown, too.
Assuming the sequencer issue can fixed by Sunday, countdown clocks will start early tomorrow morning for a fresh launch attempt. Liftoff will be possible between 2:32 to 5:28 p.m. EST (1932-2228 GMT).
Air Force meteorologists predict a 70 percent chance of good weather during the window with just some scattered clouds at 3,000 feet, visibility of 10 miles, northwesterly winds from 300 degrees at 10 gusting to 15 knots and a temperature of 64 degrees F.
How do they erect the vehicle from that position? Seriously. Anybody got a manual?
/john
...plus a few hurricanes.
OOPs, I meant 1,500,000 lbs. total thrust!
Actually, DIV Heavy uses three Common Booster Cores (CBCs). The two strap-ons CBCs and the core run at full power level for the first minute, then the core CBC throttles back to ~60% for the next ~3 minutes, and then the strap-ons separate and the remaining CBC throttles up to full power level for the last ~2 minutes. Sea level thrust is probably a more appropriate classification of a booster engine such as the RS-68. The lift-off thrust is closer to the ~1.9 Mlbs of thrust.
Excuse my use of ~. I know the correct values, but I don't know what's in print if you catch my drift.
Hope that helps your comparison.
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