Shuttle Fuel Tank Design.

[Ulysses]

And the space shuttle is? I think about all that billowing black smoke from liftoff every time I have to go get a smog test.

[Gort]

You have to love the "bargaining chip" China announced recently. "We have nuclear weapons capable of reaching you."

[RBM]

That's exactly why we need government running less and interfering less and let private sector do what it does best. And just maybe private sector could actually make a profit

[Jmagerl]

I remember Dan Rather once saying on a news broadcast that each Shuttle launch releases enough ODM (Ozone depleting material) equal to 50,000 refridgerators loosing their freon (R-12 freon)

[Frank J Warner]

Or line the INSIDE of the tank with foam.

-Frank

[RBM]

The truth of the matter is they already had a foam that performed perfectly well with no problems, but stopped using it because it wasn't "environmentally friendly"

[Percival P. Cassidy]

And do you think that the private sector would do this kind of thing without govt. subsidies (i.e., without the govt. taking our tax dollars and turning them over to private corporations)? How long do you think it would take for them to see any return for their investment?

Is there a law against private exploration of space? If not, then perhaps there isn't any because there's no profit to be made.

Perce

On 07/29/05 02:52 pm RBM tossed the following ingredients into the ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

[Richard J Kinch]

Yeah. And airplanes should have parachutes so they never crash.

[RBM]

You need to look up "The spaceship company" a spin-off of the Virgin group. They are about to build commercial space craft and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they're not more successful than government efforts and I would assume they plan to make a profit

[RBM]

The "ODM" material was the foam, not the products of combustion. The foam was freon based, but it worked and didn't fall off on take off. It was replaced with an environmentally friendly material to appease who knows

[Sherman]

Isn't is obvious to the most clueless that the tanks to be covered with a hairnet or pantyhose type covering?

Surely there are dozens of materials that will withstand the heat and vibration of lift-off NOT reentry.....

I would have done that on day one. The idiots at NASA and spent a billion dollars and 2 and 1/2 years and they haven't figured it out yet.....

Sherman

[Ignoramus27279]

The requirements for the material probably incude being very light, and also low thermal conductivity. The purpose of that foam is to keep liquid hydrogen cool before liftoff. I do not think that the "idiots at NASA" (your words) would have a very easy time finding an alternative to some type of foam.

i

[Sacramento Dave]

It dose make you wonder what is going on, Common sense would say stabilizing the foam would be the starting place. ( they should contact the Nerf Co) But Noooooooo will install all these really expensive cameras, so we can record we solved nothing but did manage to extend or high paying jobs. But the reality is China is trying to buy NASA right after they close the deal on Maytag and Union 76..

[joe]

double wall like the oil tankers with foam in the middle

[Art]

I'm sure you can explain to us the billions in tax breaks just given to the oil industry.

[Joseph Meehan]

There might be an air resistance issue, but that does sound like a good idea.

[Dave]

It's too easy. It was the first think I thought about after the accident. There has to be something we don't know. The guys working on the thing are NOT stupid. It does seem weird though that they would have spent all that time and still have the problem. I sure would like to be able to be privy to their "discussions" about the problem. :)

Dave

[Walter R.]

Ductape would hold the whole thing together. Just keep going around and around until the whole thing is covered. Guaranteed to work. :-)

I still would not want to volunteer, even with ductape. One would have to be crazy or have a death-wish.

[Ken Marsh]

In article , Jmagerl wrote: #I remember Dan Rather once saying on a news broadcast that each Shuttle #launch releases enough ODM (Ozone depleting material) equal to 50,000 #refridgerators loosing their freon (R-12 freon)

Which shows you how much of an idiot Dan is.

The combustion product of the main engines is water. It burns Liquid Oxygen and H2.

The combustion products of the solid engines are carbon dioxide and water, and maybe some nitrous byproducts due to the heat.

Cabron Dioxide is only marginally a greenhouse gas, but it's not R12. It would take a heck of a lot more to make 50K fridge worth of R12.

Ken.

[MLD]

Have you made the phone call to NASA yet? Any other design solutions in your grab bag? Be sure to pass them along too. MLD