ARD Questions

I've been reading on ARD lately and wondering why NASA and ESA haven't
reevaluated working from the ARD technology to build a cheap CRV. It seems
like they could get it done faster then any other option.

I have read what I could find on ARD but I have some questions maybe someone
might know. Bear with me, I just a fan.

ARD was 80% the size of an Apollo CM, but could a 1:1 CM scale ARD have fit
atop an Ariane V stack? It looks like it would be too narrow by abotu .6m
for the normal shroud. Could it fit in the shuttle cargo bay?

The ARD program already had its own avionics, tps, chutes, flotation, and
other subsystems. How hard would this have been to integrate into an
enlarged version? This would seem to save time and give a chance at having a
CRV ready before 2006.

A silly question: on the actual ARD suborbital test, (I didn't find the
G-loads the capsule took on descent), could an astronaut have survived
inside with an O2 bottle and a mask?

Jon

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 04:42:20 GMT, "Jon G"
wrote:

I've been reading on ARD lately and wondering why NASA and ESA haven't
reevaluated working from the ARD technology to build a cheap CRV. It seems
like they could get it done faster then any other option.

I have read what I could find on ARD but I have some questions maybe someone
might know. Bear with me, I just a fan.

ARD was 80% the size of an Apollo CM, but could a 1:1 CM scale ARD have fit
atop an Ariane V stack? It looks like it would be too narrow by abotu .6m
for the normal shroud. Could it fit in the shuttle cargo bay?

Apollo diameter: 13 ft.
Shuttle payload bay diameter: 15 ft.

If they were to revive Apollo, they could scale it up to 14 ft
diameter, no problem.

Brian

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 22:47:28 GMT, Brian Thorn
wrote:

Apollo diameter: 13 ft.
Shuttle payload bay diameter: 15 ft.

If they were to revive Apollo, they could scale it up to 14 ft
diameter, no problem.

....Keep in mind you've got the retention system to account for. 13'
would have stayed as-is for the design.


OM

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