[ale] OT: Space Shuttle Columbia

[James P. Kinney III]

I think it boils down to matter of practicality. There is no point in
doing an EVA to the belly side as there "are no user serviceable parts".
Every pound of mass they take up cost 20 pounds in fuel. If there is
nothing to be gained by lugging a 250 pound EVA suit, that means another
ton of explosives that can be left behind, or actually another 250
pounds of something more useful to be carried.

What is needed is another way to get to space, not a fix to the problems
of the shuttle. NASA knows they are old and don't suit the need. But we
have lacked the political will to take on the daunting task of designing
and building something better. I have watched with dismay now as two
separate BIG projects have been scrapped in order to better perfect ways
of killing other humans has taken precedence, the new space plan, and
the SSC (Superconducting Super Collider in Texas (now a mushroom farm)).

On Tue, 2003-02-04 at 22:49, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> Jim -
> 
> I'm not quite following you.  I heard Dittemore say something to the
> effect that EVA is limited to the general area of the payload bay, which
> is not only untrue (witness the STS MMU flights, various Apollo
> missions, etc., going all the way back to Ed White and Alexei Leonov)
> but seemingly arbitrary in the case of the Orbiter.  
> 
> I am frankly shocked that the Orbiter would EVER go into space with no
> EVA suits.
> 
> On Tue, 2003-02-04 at 22:13, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> > Because there isn't a camera on the belly of the shuttle orbiter. The
> > shuttle flies "belly to the stars" so the antennae have a better gain
> > towards the ground for communication. Even if it flew the other way
> > around, no ground based optic system could resolve the tiles.
> > 
> > Besides, the insulation piece looked like it hit the top of the wing,
> > not the underside, or even the leading edge, where the tiles are.
> > 
> > There are plenty of other hazards up in space. The one that come to mind
> > first are micrometeorites. A grain of sand traveling at 20k mph hitting
> > the tile will cause a problem. The shuttle has been struck before. 
> > 
> > Scenario:
> > 
> > A micrometeorite, or possibly a small swarm, strikes the underside of
> > the orbiter. It damages the tiles just forward of the wheel well cover.
> > This disrupts the air flow during reentry and causes an abnormally high
> > pressure increase effectively ripping the cover off. This allows the
> > inrush of super heated air from below the wing into wheel well
> > compartment. This rapid air blast and heat destroys the sensors in the
> > area. As the craft descends into thicker atmosphere, the air flow causes
> > excess drag causing the computer systems to work harder. Eventually,
> > since the system is now flying with an open bay, something never
> > designed for, structural damage occurs and the entire wing, followed by
> > the remaining craft disintegrates.
> > 
> > On Tue, 2003-02-04 at 19:43, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> > > > This is a key statement.  They can't just perform a spacewalk under the 
> > > > shuttle.  They couldn't check the titles, and as such everything turned 
> > > > in to a [tragic] afterthought.
> > > 
> > > I have yet to see an explanation as to why not.
> > > 
> > > - Jeff
> > > 
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> > -- 
> > James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
> > CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
> > Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
> > 770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
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> > 
> > GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics) <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
> > Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7 
> 
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-- 
James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics) <jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7 

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