On Sep 1, 1:56*pm, Jeff Findley wrote:
In article 6724e6c6-e98c-47aa-8a94-f0e7def44492
@z28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com, says...



Careful mass balance analysis of a fully engineered system determined
that the mass of a fold-away wing system capable of maintaining the ET
in gliding flight is;

* 5.26 metric tons *WING
* 1.23 metric tons TAIL
* 0.84 metric tons FLIGHT CONTROL
* 0.21 metric tons INSTRUMENTATION
* 0.31 metric tons ACTUATORS
* 0.89 metric tons ELECTRICAL
* 0.55 metric tons AVIONICS

By careful integration with existing ET systems, the mass of the final
system is 55 metric tons.

I see what you're trying to do now (page 5 of that document on Scribd). *
Those wings fold up oragami like into "shrounds placed along the length
of the ET". *Good luck with that.

I don't think you've got it since oragami has nothing to do with it,
thank you I think. lol..

*If you could get something like that
to work, the US Navy would pay a pretty penny for the technology. *

They already have, its called the Tomahawk cruise missile.

Strike that. *The US Navy would already have such wings if the
technology were within our reach.

Yes. They do.

Call me skeptical,

You're a bit more than that.

but I want to see a scale demonstration of the
folding wing technology being deployed in flight. *

That's part of the development program.

Those wings make the
X-33's composite tanks look like child's play by comparison.

No they don't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HlM_0xCmXI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CeeAggBUn4

Jeff
--
The only decision you'll have to make is
Who goes in after the snake in the morning?