Re: Shuttle fleet grounded again?


"Martin" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:42e898e3_1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "has.mac" <has.mac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:PA%Fe.4587$_k2.77165@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> "Martin" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:42e81735_4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Sky News are reporting that NASA have decided to ground the Shuttle
>>> fleet
>>> again once the current mission is complete. Looks like they are
>>> worried
>> over
>>> the external tank foam yet again.
>>>
>>> Does make you wonder why the insulation wasn't put on the inside of
>>> the
>>> structure in the first place.
>>>
>>> Martin
>>
>> Didn't they used to paint the external tank. Would this help keep the
>> foam
>> in place, at the cost of weight?
>>
>> has.mac
>>
>>
>
> All I know is that an aeroplane has its cabin insulation on the inside
> of the skin and my loft insulation is inside not stuck on the roof.
However if you think on, your hot water tank (which like the external
tank, has to hold materials inside), is insulated on the outside, as is
the cold water supply cystern. In fact your 'loft insulation', is 'on' the
ceilings, and has the complete extra layer of the 'roof' outside it.

> Its a design flaw and I'm betting that without a fundemental re-design
> they may have to live with it. I don't think paint would help as its
> breaking away from the outer surface of the tank. Could they perhaps fit
> something (like a giant condom) over the top end of the tank (where bits
> coming off are more likely to hit the Orbiter) to help hold the foam in
> place?
The problem is the huge range of temperatures and pressures the 'condom'
would have to survive. The odds are that unless it is made of something
like aluminium, you would end up with bits of this falling off as well...

> I think we may well have seen the last shuttle flight.
>
> Martin
What puzzles me, is that they didn't expect this (maybe they did...). If
you watch the old Apollo launches, you have so much ice falling, ignoring
any 'insulation' materials, that damage has to be expected. Every shuttle
launch has had tile damage during take-off, what was exceptional in the
Columbia launch, was not that it occurred, but the size of the piece
involved, and that it managed to damage the leading edge structure (which
is much tougher than the 'tiles'). Something like an alloy 'net condom',
should have been possible, if necessary at the cost of one crew place, to
keep the maximum size of pieces involved down to reasonable limits...

Best Wishes


.

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