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unmanned Shutle?
"Meszéna Géza" wrote in
: Would it be possible to finish the ISS by exclusively unmanned Shutle flights? It is possible, but not terribly practical. Some of the areas to be automated would seriously push the state-of-the-art. This would remove the need for obeying the CAIB recommendations. Under the existing 98% reliability, whith some luck, you can deliver the 25 fligths necessary for comleting the Station without losing another vehicle. Automating the shuttle will be more expensive, take longer, and be more technically challenging than meeting the CAIB recommendations. If we are not so lucky, we will lose some of them. Of course, the current reliablity must be maintained, otherwise we will lose all the three remaining OV too soon. The trouble is, the shuttle crew is counted as a "level of redundancy" in many systems; they are the last line of defense for troubleshooting many types of malfunctions and for taking over manually when automated systems fail. Removing the crew will almost certainly decrease the reliability of the fleet and increase the odds of losing vehicles, unless heroic efforts are made to upgrade the "smarts" and reliability of automated systems. It will takes some efforts, and money, to convert them unmanned. My guess is that safety of the proximity oparations is the only significant issue. Can it be a show-stopper? It is probably the biggest issue, but not the only significant one. It is probably not a show-stopper, but would definitely be one of the cost and schedule drivers. -- JRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. |
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unmanned Shutle?
"Jorge R. Frank" wrote:
"Meszéna Géza" wrote in : Would it be possible to finish the ISS by exclusively unmanned Shutle flights? It is possible, but not terribly practical. Some of the areas to be automated would seriously push the state-of-the-art. This would remove the need for obeying the CAIB recommendations. Under the existing 98% reliability, whith some luck, you can deliver the 25 fligths necessary for comleting the Station without losing another vehicle. Automating the shuttle will be more expensive, take longer, and be more technically challenging than meeting the CAIB recommendations. And they would be no more replaceable (even less so than a crew, as has been argued here) than a crewed orbiter if another one were to be lost... -- You know what to remove, to reply.... |
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