NASA flying wing concepts

Derek Lyons wrote:
The problem isn't the low temperatures and pressures per se, but the
condensation associated with returning to higher pressures and
temperatures.


Yeah, you've got something there; that is going to cause water to form
over all of the chilled electronic components as it descends, with the
problems that that presents in regards to shorting and corrosion.
That would particularly apply in regards to hard drives, which have
pressure equalization vents on them.
I did tear a very old top-line one apart years ago that actually had a
silica gel dessication system inside of it, but haven't seen one of
those lately.*
Although complex assembled electronics might have a problem with this,
most circuit boards are already corrosion protected by covering all the
printed circuitry with a waterproof layer of "lacquer" over the exposed
metal of the connections.
Like the old "convoy rule" - where the whole convoy moves at the speed
of the slowest ship - any complex piece of electronics that attempts to
be moved at high altitudes and low temperatures without pressurization
or heating can only tolerate what the most pressure, humidity, and
temperature intolerant component incorporated into it can stand.

* On the other hand, I think the hard drive is going to go the way of
the dinosaurs fairly shortly; it's the weakest point of any computer's
reliability, as it's based on mechanical rather than electronic means of
storing data... and if you take it out and replace it with RAM, you can
seal the whole basic works of the computer mother board and memory into
a big block of polycarbonate plastic...except for the heat sinks on the
CPU.
Wouldn't it be fun to have a computer where you not only didn't' t have
to worry about spilling beer on it or getting it near a static
electrical or magnetic field, but could toss it into a concrete wall
full tilt or drive a truck over it while it was running...with no problems?

Pat