"Korben Dallas" wrote in message ...

On 8/5/2012 1:51 AM, Brian Gaff wrote:
Now they can resupply in 6 hours, one assumes only if the orbit and pad
are
in the correct relationships, it seems that its not that difficult after
all. I'm sure the old reason for not doing this was due to excessive fuel
use to achieve it in relation to the more leisurely way. Was or is this
true, or was it just an excuse?

the old obstacle for doing this was lower iss orbit. the iss orbital
altitude was intentionally reduced to make it reachable by space shuttle.
now, with shuttle out of the picture, the iss was transferred to a notably
higher orbit, making it much easier to shoot progress ships straight to the
iss.


Cite for that? Since August of last year to to now it's gone from about 382
kilometers to approximately 402 kilometers, a 20km boost.

During the shuttle supported part of program height ranged from
approximately 332 km to as high as 400 km.

I'm not sure 402km is "substantially higher"

And I'm not clear how that would make it easier for Progress (which would
suffer similar upmass losses at higher altitudes).

Thanks.



--
Greg D. Moore http://greenmountainsoftware.wordpress.com/
CEO QuiCR: Quick, Crowdsourced Responses. http://www.quicr.net