Re: OT shuttle problem

In article <1122402700.731570.258250@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Ken Biggles" <georgebeer2@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>A profit? How? Launching satellites? This should be done by private
>contractors. I think most is already done by private contractors.
>
>NASA has become like more like the post office. You have a bunch of
>paper pushers and shuttle repairmen.
>
>Some of the engineers on the space probe projects are top notch. The
>space station was a huge waste of money. The shuttles are old and
>dangerous. The design is dated from the 1970s. It is silly to keep
>dumping money into an old milk truck.
>
>
>
>Regarding the main tank foam - NASA started using it in 1997:
>
>Thank fussy "environmentalists" from the Clinton administration for the
>substandard but politically correct foam that NASA thinks caused the
>Columbia disaster.

Again, that's a lie.

>
>"NASA engineers have known for at least five years that insulating foam
>could peel off the space shuttle's external fuel tanks and damage the
>vital heat-protecting tiles that the space agency says were the likely
>'root cause' of Saturday's shuttle disaster," the left-of-center
>Philadelphia Inquirer noted today in an article by Knight Ridder News
>Service.

Repeating a lie doesn't make it the truth.

>
>So why was such a crummy substance used in such a crucial capacity,
>with the lives of seven astronauts at stake? Because
>"environmentalists" fretting about their theory of human-caused "global
>warming" wanted to use it.

You're lying.

>
>In a 1997 report, NASA mechanical systems engineer Greg Katnik "noted
>that the 1997 mission, STS-87, was the first to use a new method of
>'foaming' the tanks, one designed to address NASA's goal of using
>environmentally friendly products. The shift came as the U.S.
>Environmental Protection Agency was ordering many industries to phase
>out the use of Freon, an aerosol propellant linked to ozone depletion
>and global warming," Knight Ridder reported.
>
>Insulation is sprayed on the shuttle's tanks to keep the super-cooled
>hydrogen and oxygen fuels at the correct temperature.
>
>Before the P.C. new insulation was used, about 40 of the spacecraft's
>26,000 ceramic tiles would sustain damage in missions. However, Katnik
>reported that NASA engineers found 308 "hits" to Columbia after a 1997
>flight.
>
>A "massive material loss on the side of the external tank" caused much
>of the damage, Katnik wrote in an article in Space Team Online.
>
>He called the damage "significant." One hundred thirty-two hits were
>bigger than 1 inch in diameter, and some slashes were as long as 15
>inches.
>
>Most frighteningly, some slashes cut three-quarters of the way into the
>2-inch-deep tiles, near the ship's aluminum skin, which burns at only
>350 degrees. More than 100 tiles had to be replaced - 11 times more
>than in a previous mission that had used foam made with politically
>incorrect Freon.

As others have pointed out, that mission still had the old tank.

>
>"As recently as last September, a retired engineering manager for
>Lockheed Martin, the contractor that assembles the tanks, told a
>conference in New Orleans that developing a new foam to meet
>environmental standards had 'been much more difficult than
>anticipated,'" Knight-Ridder wrote.
>
>The engineer, who helped design the thermal protection system, said
>that switching from the Freon foam "resulted in unanticipated program
>impacts, such as foam loss during flight."
>
And what's your source for this? (This ought to be good.)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT shuttle problem
    ... NASA has become like more like the post office. ... Some of the engineers on the space probe projects are top notch. ... Regarding the main tank foam - NASA started using it in 1997: ... could peel off the space shuttle's external fuel tanks and damage the ...
    (rec.autos.sport.f1)
  • Re: Shuttle mess
    ... >> chemistry of the foam, ... NASA had been warned that foam ... off the external fuel tank and striking the shuttle at liftoff," ... Katnik reported that NASA engineers ...
    (rec.arts.tv)
  • Re: Shuttle explosion risk?
    ... NASA taking precautions in fear tanks could burst ... Center's launch pad 39A next week after NASA finishes pressurizing ... The spherical tanks provide pressure needed to push rocket propellants ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Space Shuttle fucked
    ... NASA Suspending Shuttle Program Over Foam Debris ... amount of foam that falls off the external tank. ...
    (soc.culture.irish)
  • OT NASA death glider. truly unbelievable
    ... Behind Chunks of Foam, ... NASA was never forced to attack shuttle debris peril, ... Discovery's external fuel tank during Tuesday's launch shows that the ...
    (alt.sports.basketball.nba.la-lakers)