|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
|
#1
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
|
#2
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
Craig Fink wrote in
: Hopefully, President Ron Paul would privatize the Space Shuttle Program. Private Enterprise, first thing I'd do after purchasing Enterprise on E-Bay would be to move the LOX, LH2 lines inside the Orbiter. They were probably never installed on Enterprise, since it only flew drop tests. --Damon |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
On Sep 15, 8:27 pm, Damon Hill wrote:
Craig Fink wrote : Hopefully, President Ron Paul would privatize the Space Shuttle Program. Private Enterprise, first thing I'd do after purchasing Enterprise on E-Bay would be to move the LOX, LH2 lines inside the Orbiter. They were probably never installed on Enterprise, since it only flew drop tests. Enteprise was indeed never equipped with the IPS plumbing that later orbiters were since it was to fly the ALT flights first, and it was not required hardware. However the capacity to install them was retained. Had things gone as originally planned following the vibration testing at Marshall Spaceflight Center in 1978-79, Enterprise would have been returned to Palmdale Plant No. 42 in California to be retrofitted fully, and would have seen her first flight in 1982. The expense of dismantling Enterprise, along with upgrading the airframe to meet the new fleet standards was deemed too expensive, and so NASA chose instead to retrofit the STA-099 test article into OV-099 Challenger. -Mike |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
Its sad a flying enterprise would of been a wonderful boost for NASA,
who tossed out a great PR bonanza. In dreamland enterprise could be refitted for cargo service only. But no money. Program will end after next accident |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
There are a lot of things that were never installed on Enterprise. To me
that means that there would be a lot of things that don't have to be removed for it to evolve into Orbiter version 1.2 -- Craig Fink Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ -- Damon Hill wrote: Craig Fink wrote in : Hopefully, President Ron Paul would privatize the Space Shuttle Program. Private Enterprise, first thing I'd do after purchasing Enterprise on E-Bay would be to move the LOX, LH2 lines inside the Orbiter. They were probably never installed on Enterprise, since it only flew drop tests. |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
Erm, but they have to come out some place and they are rather big and
weighty and um cold... Brian -- Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email. graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them Email: __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________ "Craig Fink" wrote in message ... Hopefully, President Ron Paul would privatize the Space Shuttle Program. Private Enterprise, first thing I'd do after purchasing Enterprise on E-Bay would be to move the LOX, LH2 lines inside the Orbiter. -- Craig Fink Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ |
#8
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
True, they would have to come out of the Orbiter somewhere. Weight isn't
much of an issue, volume might be. Example, the long LOX line is already taken to Orbit. It's just thrown away with the External Tank. Moving it into the Orbiter would allow Version 1.2 Enterprise to keep and use all the excess LOX if the line is in the Orbiter. Connecting to the Tank as close to the nose as possible. The LOX line has just become a large tank after ET separation. The next question might be, what would I do with all the extra LOX. Well the obvious, get rid of the much more "dangerous" OMS and RCS propellent. Both the LOX line and LH2 line can be thought of as tanks after ET separation, they are now dual use. Replacing the OMS engines and RCS jets with Oxygen/Hydrogen burning engines would simplify operations and increase performance. The Ideal OMS engines would be one that burns both liquids and gaseous propellants. Dual mode RCS jets might also be nice too. Ideally, the engines would have highly variable mixture ratios, so that any excess LOX or excess LH2, can be fed through the engines as propellant. LOX would lower the ISP/increase thrust of these engine, but LH2 would increase the ISP/decrease thrust. At MECO, the ratio of LOX and LH2 is dependant on what happened during ascent, but the excess of LOX or LH2 is still useful mass as propellant. Dual mode, High thrust liquid/Low thrust gaseous, variable mixture ratio. Or, would that be call Tri mode? The length or volume of the LH2 line is another issue that I think would fit nicely into an evolution of the Shuttle system into a much more useful/cheaper vehicle that Private Enterprise would find profitable. -- Craig Fink Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ -- Brian Gaff wrote: Erm, but they have to come out some place and they are rather big and weighty and um cold... |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond
Craig Fink wrote:
Example, the long LOX line is already taken to Orbit. It's just thrown away with the External Tank. Moving it into the Orbiter would allow Version 1.2 Enterprise to keep and use all the excess LOX if the line is in the Orbiter. Note quite. The ET is not yet in a stable orbit. After the shuttle has ditched the ET, it uses its OMS engines to complete acceleration to a proper orbit (including circularising the orbit). Moving anything from ET to shuttle would mean that extra fuel is needed to haul that mass between the time ET is shed to final orbit (as well as extra fuel to decelerate shuttle for de-orbit) The smart thing would have been to put all external protuberances inside the ET tank (even if the ET ends up having a smooth bulge in its shape.). Or, prior to spraying on the foam, add an aerodynamic carbon fibre fairing over the lines attached to the ET wall. And then spray foam over the ET, including the carbon fairing. (and you could also spray foam inside the fairing to add greater insulation as well as mechanical support of the fairing.). Another possibility would have been to run the lines on the other side of the ET and *somehow* make then cut across at the point when they need to connect to the shuttle. |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)
On Sep 15, 7:24 pm, Craig Fink wrote:
Hopefully, President Ron Paul would privatize the Space Shuttle Program. Private Enterprise, first thing I'd do after purchasing Enterprise on E-Bay would be to move the LOX, LH2 lines inside the Orbiter. -- Craig Fink Courtesy E-Mail Welcome @ You realize in order to purchase something on Ebay it must first be up for auction on Ebay? And last I checked, the Smithsonian didn't seem to be in any rush to sell Enterprise. -A.L. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
John Young: Fly Shuttle Beyond 2010 | ed kyle | Space Shuttle | 7 | April 10th 06 04:41 PM |
18 Shuttle flights between now and 2010 | Ray | Space Shuttle | 16 | October 14th 05 08:30 PM |