Space Shuttle Fleet Grounded!

NASA sources | MB26

[Mr. K]

Imagine you owned the patent for Freon, and that patent was about to expire.

The product makes BILLIONS of dollars for your company because it is the best coolant ever invented.

So you spend a few million to convince the world that your own product is bad for the 'environment' and then introduce a NEW coolant that (coincidentally) you own the patent for.

Why would you do such a thing? re-read the first sentence- BILLIONS OF DOLLARS~! If others start producing freon after the patent expires your profits would go from billions to a small fraction of that.

The new, but much more corrosive, product keeps you making BILLIONS.

It doesn't matter if it does not work as good. And people actually die using it. Or that places in africa cannot deliver vaccines that need to be cooled...

[MinorityRepublican]

Yes, we already are, and I hope we continue to.

Same here. I just hope that a 'Rat won't get elected President and would kill it to support ever growing social welfare programs.

[cvq3842]

Good point.

[cabojoe]

Well we got Howard Dean working for us! How can we lose!

[omega4179]

the proposed Lockheed CEV would parachute to earth. a nice departure from those warp 1 re-entries.

http://www.answers.com/topic/crew-exploration-vehicle

[Right Wing Assault]

and drudge should not be used since it launches spyware.

A lot of sites do the same. Just get Spybot Search and Destroy and immunize yourself. Also get Adaware. And, if you used Win 2000 or XP, the Microsoft spy remover seems to be pretty good. And, if you like to see what else is going on on your computer, get Hijack This.

I never get spyware from Drudge. Not visiting him is like staying home all the time so you won't catch a cold. The world carries risks. Fight back. Get immunized.

[Dengar01]

Yes! NASA needs scrapping. There is no salvage possible. I have worked at 2 NASA installations including KSC. When I was at KSC, ALL of the contractors were sitting around with their proverbial thumbs u-know-where. But then for every two of them there was a government bureau-rat "managing" their (non)work. I quit after two months, since I want to actually do something for my pay and not just be a taxpayer's parasite. Save for a very few high achievers and workers with a work ethic, the whole space program has become a job welfare program for the mediocre and lazy.

That is very sad. I for one believe that there is so much that needs to be discovered in space, yet we have complete retards running and working at NASA.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Solid material stress and fracture is very difficult to predict and model, especially for something like the tank insulation. You have to model adhesive properties, temperature effects, vibration over the surface, etc.

On the Saturn V they just let the ice build up on the booster on the pad and it all shook off at launch. they just made sure to build the fins and engine cowlings strong enough to withstand the ice hits.

[Pylon]

I am going to open a foam store in outer space.

[jetson]

Time to coat the insulation with metal.

[Pylon]

"You know we're sitting on four million pounds of fuel, one nuclear weapon and a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder. Makes you feel good, doesn't it?"

[Final Authority]

There are many ways to keep the insulation attached to the external tank but there are at least two trade offs to having a more reliable system. The trade offs are a weight penalty and a thermal penalty. With the thermal penalty more ice will accumulate on the surface prior to lift off causing a greater hazard, and more weight means the system can not meet it's mission unless it is redesigned. A redesign would be so expensive that it may be better to scrap it altogether.

If you meant the insulation on the orbiter, then no metal but a refractory metal would be of any use and it is prohibitively heavy, not to mention, expensive. That material in metallic form can only take about 4000 degrees F and burn in air, and that is where it gets hot. Refractory metal carbides have been tried, as on the recent hypersonic test aircraft, but they are extremely heavy and still conduct heat to places where it is attached to the structure.

For these reasons the future of the space plane burning H2 in the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds is a way off. We have no light materials that can routinely stand up to the temperatures without oxidizing. The leading edges of the shuttle are replaced after every flight because they burn up in reentry.

Holding down the foam with chicken wire that is stitched to the tank would work. I wonder if they thought of that?

[Bean Counter]

"Time to coat the insulation with metal."

There comes that nasty weight equation at you all over again. More weight on the ET, less cargo weight on the shuttle.

However, if you had a CEV for the crew, and tossed loads into orbit on a super-heavy lifting rocket, it would cost way less in the long run, compared to maintaining and operating the Shuttle Fleet.

[foreverfree]

The current shuttle crew and the ISS crew have provisions for only 45 days.

Less than that, even, if I were up there amongst them and various snack foods were among the provisions. Unless they were all jalapeno or sour cream or other fancy flavors... :-)

Seriously, best wishes to the crew and prayers for a safe return to earth.

ff

[jetson]

What about a spray on rino coating that will burn off by 50 mile mark.

[Zuriel]

**The female Commander did a fine job of steering the shuttle around the ISS.**

Of course women can and should perform such jobs as good as men. Power assist/fly by wire/etc. are great equalizers in such situations.

For instance, I'm told that it took a strong man (and a prayer) to pull a P-47 Thunderbolt out of a powerdive.

[GOP_Thug_Mom]

fascinating thought...

[beyond the sea]

Space Shuttle Fleet Grounded!

This should come as comforting news to those up in space.

[foreverfree]

the old DynaSoar concept.

I always liked that name. :-) What happened to it?

ff