NEWS: After Columbia Tragedy, NASA Considers Space Rescue

Dave Ludlow wrote:
So, the "park and repair later" option was certainly not ruled out by
the investigation team.

Keep in mind two factors; One - The scenario posited early discovery
and aggressive early action. Two - The Columbia was carrying the EDO
(Extended Duration Orbiter) pallet, which meant she had more
consumables than an ordinary flight.

However, there isn't a second EDO pallet, the only one was lost with
Columbia. Also, it's a huge payload and performance hit.

D.
--
The STS-107 Columbia Loss FAQ can be found
at the following URLs:

Text-Only Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq.html

Enhanced HTML Version:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

Corrections, comments, and additions should be
e-mailed to , as well as posted to
sci.space.history and sci.space.shuttle for
discussion.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 04:07:59 +0000, Michael R. Grabois ... change $ to "s" wrote:

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:49:47 +0000, "Chuck Stewart" wrote:

Hmmm... assuming power is brought to the orbiter is it possible to
reheat and use a frozen hypergolic OMS system?

That's a big assumption that you can bring up power....

Yes, it is.

But it's neccessary to get to the question of reviving a frozen
orbiter.

Thus I handwaved a "power pallet", as follows:

We could assume the power is from a payload bay pallet brought up
in the repair ship, transferred to the stricken orbiter, and
hotwired to the orbiter power system. It would have to last just
long enough for the orbiter to get home.

The only way to get more power on the orbiter is by cryo.

OK... the pocket reactor is right out, then?

The only cryo pallet was in Columbia, there are no spares.

So our steely-eyed missile catgirls* duct tape a fuel cell setup,
complete with cryo tanks, to a pallet frame of some kind.

Even if you had a mythical pallet, you can't just plug it in to
the shuttle, there's all sorts of servicing and plumbing that has
to be taken care of.

Ahah!

_You_ are assuming that we're trying to refuel the onboard APU's
etc.

_I'm_ handwaving an external power source to attempt a restart of
the orbiter.

The "power pallet" would only have three types of interface with
the orbiter... , some duct tape to hold it down in the bay, a set
of junper cables clamped to the orbiter power systems, and a
a pair of control modules duct-taped to the aft flight deck windows
on both sides.... probably an IRda interface on somebodies laptop.

If there's insufficient space in the bay then jettison that
spacelab or spacehab or whatever... aim it at California...

And there's no provision for doing any of that in space in zero-g.

We'll make it up as we go... "Jaws Of Life" time, folks

There's no such thing as a giant battery that you can take up and
plug into the orbiter.

But if there was...
....
.... could the orbiter be safely restarted?


*See my prior post concerning nekomimi aerospace engineers and
weapons design projects at NASA.

--
Chuck Stewart
"Anime-style catgirls: Threat? Menace? Or just studying algebra?"

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:49:47 +0000, "Chuck Stewart" wrote:

Hmmm... assuming power is brought to the orbiter is it possible to
reheat and use a frozen hypergolic OMS system?

That's a big assumption that you can bring up power....

We could assume the power is from a payload bay pallet brought up
in the repair ship, transferred to the stricken orbiter, and
hotwired to the orbiter power system. It would have to last just
long enough for the orbiter to get home.

The only way to get more power on the orbiter is by cryo. The only cryo pallet
was in Columbia, there are no spares. Even if you had a mythical pallet, you
can't just plug it in to the shuttle, there's all sorts of servicing and
plumbing that has to be taken care of. And there's no provision for doing any
of that in space in zero-g.

There's no such thing as a giant battery that you can take up and plug into the
orbiter.