Fuel tank paint

The first dozen or so missions had the white paint on the external fuel
tank, then NASA did away with it and gained 600 lbs in extra payload in lieu
of the paint. Wouldn't the paint serve a purpuse of holding the foam in
place??? I'm guessing that was the idea of the original designers, or else
why have it? Couldn't be only to make the whole thing a pretty unifirm
white.

On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 14:09:17 -0500, Freddy wrote
(in article ):

The first dozen or so missions had the white paint on the external fuel
tank, then NASA did away with it and gained 600 lbs in extra payload in lieu
of the paint. Wouldn't the paint serve a purpuse of holding the foam in
place??? I'm guessing that was the idea of the original designers, or else
why have it? Couldn't be only to make the whole thing a pretty unifirm
white.




It was only the first two flights and they shed foam (and paint
fragments) anyway.

--
"Fame may be fleeting but obscurity is forever." ~Anonymous
"I believe as little as possible and know as much as I can."
~Todd Stuart Phillips
www.angryherb.net

Shouldn't they paint the ET with teflonized black paint so that all the
ice would be shed before launch?

DOH,

Rick



Herb Schaltegger wrote:
On Mon, 1 Aug 2005 14:09:17 -0500, Freddy wrote
(in article ):


The first dozen or so missions had the white paint on the external fuel
tank, then NASA did away with it and gained 600 lbs in extra payload in lieu
of the paint. Wouldn't the paint serve a purpuse of holding the foam in
place??? I'm guessing that was the idea of the original designers, or else
why have it? Couldn't be only to make the whole thing a pretty unifirm
white.





It was only the first two flights and they shed foam (and paint
fragments) anyway.

"Freddy" wrote in message
.. .
The first dozen or so missions had the white paint on the external fuel
tank, then NASA did away with it and gained 600 lbs in extra payload in
lieu
of the paint. Wouldn't the paint serve a purpuse of holding the foam in
place??? I'm guessing that was the idea of the original designers, or else
why have it? Couldn't be only to make the whole thing a pretty unifirm
white.

Sort of. Really it was for thermal control and to keep the foam from being
exposed to the sun for long periods of time.

So the "uniform white" was for a reason.