A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Space Shuttle
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old September 16th 07, 12:24 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Craig Fink
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,858
Default President Ron Paul might let the Space Shuttle flying beyond 2010. :-)

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 @
  #2  
Old September 16th 07, 04:27 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Damon Hill[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 566
Default 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  
Old September 18th 07, 11:40 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 158
Default 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  
Old September 20th 07, 03:12 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,516
Default 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  
Old September 21st 07, 12:54 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Craig Fink
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,858
Default 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  
Old September 16th 07, 08:31 AM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Brian Gaff
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2,312
Default 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  
Old September 21st 07, 12:54 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Craig Fink
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,858
Default 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  
Old September 21st 07, 05:59 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
John Doe
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,134
Default 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  
Old September 16th 07, 08:52 PM posted to sci.space.shuttle
Skylon
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 104
Default 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

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

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


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 06:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.