astronomy & space stuff
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Lost Cause
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I'll watch it at work....holding my breath!
linuxgeek
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NASA Eyes Damaged Thermal Blanket on Discovery's Hull
HOUSTON – Despite clearing another hurdle in efforts to prove the integrity of the shuttle Discovery’s heat shield, mission managers are still studying a puffed-up thermal blanket to ensure it won’t rip off during reentry and hit the spacecraft.
NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Tuesday that engineers have cleared Discovery’s wing leading edges for the return flight to Earth, but are now discussing whether a damaged thermal blanket just below a crew cabin window on the orbiter’s nose could potentially inflict damage to the spacecraft if it pulls free.
“The biggest work going on is to determine whether or not it’s even possible for that blanket to come off,” Hale said during a briefing here at Johnson Space Center.
The results of that analysis should be presented to the flight’s mission management team (MMT) in the next 48 hours, he added.
The study comes after engineers had cleared the orbiter’s thermal blankets and heat resistant tiles for reentry, but shuttle managers said that evaluation was based on thermal heating concerns which are not an issue for the loose piece of fabric.
Meanwhile, Discovery’s seven-astronaut crew is preparing to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk early Wednesday to pluck out two pieces of filler material from the orbiter’s heat shield and install new hardware to the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
A thorough inspection of Discovery’s wing leading edges, which are covered heat-resistant reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels, yielded a few scuffs marks but nothing shuttle engineers perceived as a flight risk for reentry, mission managers said.
Hale said the 20-inch (50-centimeter) long blanket was apparently damaged during Discovery’s July 26 launch by a piece of debris – possibly a paper cover for one of the orbiter’s thrusters – which punctured the material and allowed air to puff it up. A nearly 8-inch section (20-centimeter) of the 3.8-inch wide (9.6-centimeter) blanket has puffed up from Discovery’s hull, he added.
The stitching seems secure on the blanket and the glue adhering it to Discovery appears in place, but engineers want to track the paths the loose fabric could take if it pulls free during reentry and ensure that the orbiter’s tail, rudder speed brake, orbital maneuvering systems (OMS) pods and other areas are not in danger of an impact, shuttle officials said.
“We want to prove to a reasonable engineering level that we don’t have any concerns,” Hale said.
Launch debris and the shuttle’s thermal protection system are serious concerns or NASA and its shuttle engineers. In 2003, the Columbia orbiter was destroyed, its crew lost, during reentry after sustaining critical damage to its wing leading edges by a piece of external tank foam debris during lunch.
After two and a half years of work and redesign to increase shuttle safety, NASA launched Discovery and its STS-114 crew only to see one large piece of foam fall from its external tank from an area previously thought safe by tank engineers. That foam debris did not hit Discovery, but did prompt shuttle officials to ground future flights until they understand and address the problem.
Discovery’s STS-114 mission is slated to land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 8.
NASA Eyes Damaged Thermal Blanket on Discovery's Hull
HOUSTON – Despite clearing another hurdle in efforts to prove the integrity of the shuttle Discovery’s heat shield, mission managers are still studying a puffed-up thermal blanket to ensure it won’t rip off during reentry and hit the spacecraft.
NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Tuesday that engineers have cleared Discovery’s wing leading edges for the return flight to Earth, but are now discussing whether a damaged thermal blanket just below a crew cabin window on the orbiter’s nose could potentially inflict damage to the spacecraft if it pulls free.
“The biggest work going on is to determine whether or not it’s even possible for that blanket to come off,” Hale said during a briefing here at Johnson Space Center.
The results of that analysis should be presented to the flight’s mission management team (MMT) in the next 48 hours, he added.
The study comes after engineers had cleared the orbiter’s thermal blankets and heat resistant tiles for reentry, but shuttle managers said that evaluation was based on thermal heating concerns which are not an issue for the loose piece of fabric.
Meanwhile, Discovery’s seven-astronaut crew is preparing to conduct a 6.5-hour spacewalk early Wednesday to pluck out two pieces of filler material from the orbiter’s heat shield and install new hardware to the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS).
A thorough inspection of Discovery’s wing leading edges, which are covered heat-resistant reinforced carbon carbon (RCC) panels, yielded a few scuffs marks but nothing shuttle engineers perceived as a flight risk for reentry, mission managers said.
Hale said the 20-inch (50-centimeter) long blanket was apparently damaged during Discovery’s July 26 launch by a piece of debris – possibly a paper cover for one of the orbiter’s thrusters – which punctured the material and allowed air to puff it up. A nearly 8-inch section (20-centimeter) of the 3.8-inch wide (9.6-centimeter) blanket has puffed up from Discovery’s hull, he added.
The stitching seems secure on the blanket and the glue adhering it to Discovery appears in place, but engineers want to track the paths the loose fabric could take if it pulls free during reentry and ensure that the orbiter’s tail, rudder speed brake, orbital maneuvering systems (OMS) pods and other areas are not in danger of an impact, shuttle officials said.
“We want to prove to a reasonable engineering level that we don’t have any concerns,” Hale said.
Launch debris and the shuttle’s thermal protection system are serious concerns or NASA and its shuttle engineers. In 2003, the Columbia orbiter was destroyed, its crew lost, during reentry after sustaining critical damage to its wing leading edges by a piece of external tank foam debris during lunch.
After two and a half years of work and redesign to increase shuttle safety, NASA launched Discovery and its STS-114 crew only to see one large piece of foam fall from its external tank from an area previously thought safe by tank engineers. That foam debris did not hit Discovery, but did prompt shuttle officials to ground future flights until they understand and address the problem.
Discovery’s STS-114 mission is slated to land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 8.
linuxgeek
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That's no moon.... well, actually it is...
http://www.universetoday.com/am/uploads/saturn_mimas.jpg
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Cassini's Zips Past the Death Star
Summary - (Aug 4, 2005) NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a relatively close flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas on August 2nd, 2005. The 130 km (80 mile) crater Herschel makes the moon look amazingly similar to the Death Star from the Star Wars series of movies. Cassini passed only 62,700 km (38,800 miles) above Mimas; the closest it's ever been to the moon.
The great eye of Saturn's moon Mimas (MY-muss), a 130-kilometer-wide (80-mile) impact crater called Herschel, stares out from the battered moon in this raw image taken by the Cassini spacecraft during a flyby on Aug. 2.
The Herschel crater is the moon's most prominent feature, and the impact that formed it probably nearly destroyed Mimas. Cassini flew by Mimas at 62,700 kilometers (38,800 miles) above the moons surface, bringing it closer to the little moon than ever before.
http://www.universetoday.com/am/uploads/saturn_mimas.jpg
src
Cassini's Zips Past the Death Star
Summary - (Aug 4, 2005) NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a relatively close flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas on August 2nd, 2005. The 130 km (80 mile) crater Herschel makes the moon look amazingly similar to the Death Star from the Star Wars series of movies. Cassini passed only 62,700 km (38,800 miles) above Mimas; the closest it's ever been to the moon.
The great eye of Saturn's moon Mimas (MY-muss), a 130-kilometer-wide (80-mile) impact crater called Herschel, stares out from the battered moon in this raw image taken by the Cassini spacecraft during a flyby on Aug. 2.
The Herschel crater is the moon's most prominent feature, and the impact that formed it probably nearly destroyed Mimas. Cassini flew by Mimas at 62,700 kilometers (38,800 miles) above the moons surface, bringing it closer to the little moon than ever before.
Lost Cause
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That really say's alot when a scientific fact is referenced to a space fantasy movie.....
Remember the first piggyback Shuttle "Enterprise?" They had the whole cast of the original series for it's unveiling.
I've always heard that science fiction prepares us for science fact.....
http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/images/enterprise.jpg
Remember the first piggyback Shuttle "Enterprise?" They had the whole cast of the original series for it's unveiling.
I've always heard that science fiction prepares us for science fact.....
http://www.indiana.edu/~rcapub/images/enterprise.jpg
Lost Cause
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I think the new shuttle fleet should go with names like, The "Scotty" "Sulu" "McCoy""Ohura" "Chekov" "Spock" "Kirk" and "Roddenbury."
I think it would jack up the enthusiasm for a space exploration program, and it would be cool to refer to a space ship as "The McCoy."
We gotta get away from dry government references....get the big corporations to invest in advertising..
http://www.swales.com/news/img/ad_space_shuttle_lg.jpg
I think it would jack up the enthusiasm for a space exploration program, and it would be cool to refer to a space ship as "The McCoy."
We gotta get away from dry government references....get the big corporations to invest in advertising..
http://www.swales.com/news/img/ad_space_shuttle_lg.jpg
linuxgeek
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Lost Cause
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Booyah!
If we got just those corporations to invest, all the shuttle fleets would be top shelf first class all the way!
If we got just those corporations to invest, all the shuttle fleets would be top shelf first class all the way!
Lost Cause
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ezlay_2nite
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The whole space program is scary...
Every part of every thing, is made by the lowest bidder...
Every part of every thing, is made by the lowest bidder...
Lost Cause
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ezlay_2nite
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linuxgeek said:
True, but we have had those a lot longer then the space program...
Maybe not the newer weapons but you get my point...
Lost Cause
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Your PC in front of you has more computing power than the entire Apollo moon spacecraft......and we did okay..
http://wc.pima.edu/~gmechler/Images/earth+lm_over_moon-s_tsp033-altered.jpg
http://wc.pima.edu/~gmechler/Images/earth+lm_over_moon-s_tsp033-altered.jpg
Lost Cause
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Ahhh, roger that!
Fagin
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Lost Cause
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Fagin
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linuxgeek said:
not at all... it is a great engineering marvel they performed... the men (and women?) that worked on those programs were tremendous... the brains behind the space program is the individuals that make it happen, not the computers. Plus my calculator kicks its ass to hell. Runs at 8 Mhz, 128 KB RAM (without the card, 1 MB with)
I love my HP-48GX.I remember watching Apollo 13 land. I remember watching Skylab pass through the nighttime sky. Always amazed me. I remember following the Apollo-Soyuz mission. Incredible.
