Should expensive sats be transported by truck across US?

In article , bthorn64
@suddenlink.net says...

On Thu, 13 Jan 2011 09:08:49 -0500, Jeff Findley
wrote:


trucks can be tough rides since earlier sats were damaged by long
distance trucking why arent they flown across country?

I'm only aware of Galileo's antenna and I'm *not* convinced that NASA
was entirely forthcoming when telling the public the likely cause of the
deployment failure.

Didn't the failure report specify that *repeated* trips cross-country
(due to Challenger and the demise of Shuttle-Centaur) and much longer
time spent folded in-flight (due to VEEGA) caused the Galileo antenna
failure? It wasn't just the one delivery trip from manufacturer to
KSC.

True. A typical spacecraft high gain antenna is deployed within hours
or days of launch. Galileo was a special case in many respects.

Jeff
--
"Had Constellation actually been focused on building an Earth-Moon
transportation system, it might have survived. The decision to have it
first build a costly and superfluous Earth-to-orbit transportation
system (Ares I) was a fatal mistake.", Henry Spencer 1/2/2011

On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:13:40 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

If private industry sank $424 million into a single sat they would
likely transport it by air.

Depends on the size of the satellite. Glory is small enough for road
transport.

Brian

On 1/16/2011 10:55 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:
Didn't the failure report specify that *repeated* trips cross-country
(due to Challenger and the demise of Shuttle-Centaur) and much longer
time spent folded in-flight (due to VEEGA) caused the Galileo antenna
failure? It wasn't just the one delivery trip from manufacturer to
KSC.

Wasn't another aspect of the failure that NASA unfolded and refolded the
antenna despite the manufacturer telling them not to do that?

Pat

In article
tatelephone,
says...

On 1/16/2011 10:55 AM, Brian Thorn wrote:
Didn't the failure report specify that *repeated* trips cross-country
(due to Challenger and the demise of Shuttle-Centaur) and much longer
time spent folded in-flight (due to VEEGA) caused the Galileo antenna
failure? It wasn't just the one delivery trip from manufacturer to
KSC.

Wasn't another aspect of the failure that NASA unfolded and refolded the
antenna despite the manufacturer telling them not to do that?

That's what I heard from the engineers I know that used to work for
Harris (the contractor who built the antenna). The Harris engineers
weren't happy about that.

Jeff
--
"Had Constellation actually been focused on building an Earth-Moon
transportation system, it might have survived. The decision to have it
first build a costly and superfluous Earth-to-orbit transportation
system (Ares I) was a fatal mistake.", Henry Spencer 1/2/2011

Brian Thorn wrote:
" wrote:

If private industry sank $424 million into a single sat they would
likely transport it by air.

Depends on the size of the satellite. Glory is small enough for road
transport.

A college friend once rode as an escort for a part of the flight
hardware for a deep space shot. The hardware had a first class ticket
for the better padding. He had a coach ticket because as a human he'd
get over any problem. He couldn't convince the flight crew that the box
was the paying passenger and he was along for the ride. The box rode up
front in the coat closet and he got his first first class ride. It was
called International Solar Polar at the time so this is a long time ago.

Small hardware definitely flies.

Brian Thorn wrote:
On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 20:13:40 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:
If private industry sank $424 million into a single sat they would
likely transport it by air.

Depends on the size of the satellite. Glory is small enough for road
transport.

Not sure which side of the "it depends" debate this supports,
especially given that this outfit had to file for Chapter 11, and I
don't know how much was spent on the satellite, and it was travelling
international but:

http://www.arianespace.com/news-miss...e/2009/596.asp

Of course, to and from the airport(s) I suspect the thing travelled by
truck Or perhaps barge for part of it.

rick jones
--
The glass is neither half-empty nor half-full. The glass has a leak.
The real question is "Can it be patched?"
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

On 1/18/2011 9:22 AM, Doug Freyburger wrote:


A college friend once rode as an escort for a part of the flight
hardware for a deep space shot. The hardware had a first class ticket
for the better padding. He had a coach ticket because as a human he'd
get over any problem. He couldn't convince the flight crew that the box
was the paying passenger and he was along for the ride. The box rode up
front in the coat closet and he got his first first class ride. It was
called International Solar Polar at the time so this is a long time ago.

Small hardware definitely flies.

They should build it like that block-of-iron Argon computer off of
Soyuz: http://www.computer-museum.ru/english/argon16.htm

Pat