Shuttle Fuel Tank Design.

[Doug Kanter]

To make a profit, you have to get paid for a product. Other than rich people who want to take a ride into space for a few days, where's the product?

[Michael Daly]

And if the net-like material holds a broken piece of foam close to the tank, the resulting airflow inside the foam may rip off the remaining foam like a cutting jet. This isn't a trivial problem and isn't likely to be solved with a trivial solution.

Mike

[Michael Daly]

While the replacement foam has flaking problems, that doesn't mean the previous foam was "perfectly good". The old foam suffered more from problems with ice than the latest incarnation. Ice can cause as much damage to the tiles as can the foam.

The fact is that NASA has been relying on luck for a long time. Even going all the way back to the Mercury program, the margin for error was always small.

Mike

[Michael Daly]

Virgin's is barely a spacecraft - suborbital tourism isn't the same thing as science and research. I've yet to hear anyone propose a profitable purpose for manned spacecraft.

Mike

[Michael Daly]

I gotta admit - this sounds like a plausible solution. I've always wondered why the put the foam on the outside - the weakest material in the most exposed position.

Mike

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Are you kidding? Duct tape alone will not do it. You have to put a wrap of chicken wire first, then the duct tape.

[Matt]

Both shuttles that blew up were launched under cold weather conditions in January. Then they launched this one during a heat wave. Maybe they should try to launch under moderate conditions, say during March or September.

[Sherman]

Hey, Ignorant. The panty hose goes over the foam.

[Jim Yanik]

Sherman wrote in news: [e-mail]:

a guy who works at NASA posted on rec.model.rocketry that they have considered and discarded such methods.

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] (Ken Marsh) wrote in news:e_vGe.7$ [e-mail]:

agreed.

agreed.

The SRB exhaust is toxic and contains hydrochloric acid. You do NOT want to breathe it.

(ammonium perchlorate,powdered Aluminum,and HTPB [rubber binder]for SRB fuel)

[Jim Yanik]

Richard J Kinch wrote in news:Xns96A2A846E3D3Csomeconundrum@216.196.97.131:

Some commercial airplanes DO come with parachutes,and they do work! (save lives,not the aircraft)

[Jim Yanik]

Matt wrote in news:r%zGe.3036$ [e-mail]:

It's not the ground temp,its moisture that accululates in voids in the foam that expands under aerodynamic heating during ascent that blows off chunks of foam.

[Jim Yanik]

"Michael Daly" wrote in news:4r-dnSNSyKjCMnffRVn- [e-mail]:

Maybe the foam will not hold up under -473 degF temps.of LH2.

[Jim Yanik]

joe wrote in news:JIyGe.12381$ [e-mail]:

adds too much weight.

[JohnR66]

NASA engineers visited the local supermarket but failed to find pantyhose large enough. They thought they had a chance considering the obesity of the average American woman these days.

[Carolina Breeze HVAC]

Actually, I guess only us in NC know this, but the PRIVATE sector DID design the foam for the tank.

NASA buys it, Lockheed-MArtin applies it and North CArolina Foam Products makes it...so whos to blame?

[Duane Bozarth]

you could get it reliable and cheap enough, there would be zero-gravity manufacturing processes that could take advantage...but I think it would take order-of-magnitude improvement in cost than at present to probably make it pay...

[Duane Bozarth]

Are you sure of that? It appears that the chunks that broke off on both the Challenger and on this flight occurred very early on--wouldn't think it would have gotten hot that soon, but I don't know. First time I've heard of this hypothesis.

[MUADIB®]

Also a service could make a profit. The profit is calculated by how much money made over what it costs to provide the service. It's how I make my living.

Remove "YOURPANTIES" to reply

MUADIB®

If A Quiz is Quizical, What is a test?

The Peacemaking Meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.

[meirman]

In alt.home.repair on Fri, 29 Jul 2005 22:22:31 GMT "Doug Kanter" posted:

I think for now he's only talking about 10 minutes. At least much less than a few days. Have you heard of longer?

Meirman

-- If emailing, please let me know whether or not you are posting the same letter. Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.