Sorry if this have been discussed before but there are to many pages to go through to see if it have been discussed before.
Quote from: arkaska on 08/05/2012 07:27 amSorry if this have been discussed before but there are to many pages to go through to see if it have been discussed before.Since DC will stay docked to the ISS for ~6 months its heat-shield will be exposed to MMOD strikes. Is this a concern for NASA? When the shuttle was docked ISS was flying 'backwards' to offer some protection to the shuttles heat-shield but this won't be possible for DC and it will be in front of the ISS and therefore fully exposed to MMOD strikes. Would a bullet proof shield, possible made out of Kevlar, placeable by the robotic arm be useful?
Sorry if this have been discussed before but there are to many pages to go through to see if it have been discussed before.Since DC will stay docked to the ISS for ~6 months its heat-shield will be exposed to MMOD strikes. Is this a concern for NASA? When the shuttle was docked ISS was flying 'backwards' to offer some protection to the shuttles heat-shield but this won't be possible for DC and it will be in front of the ISS and therefore fully exposed to MMOD strikes.
Quote from: arkaska on 08/05/2012 07:27 amSorry if this have been discussed before but there are to many pages to go through to see if it have been discussed before.Easy solution: View the entire thread in printable format, then "print" it to a .pdf file. That gives you the ability to search the entire file, which "could" be a couple hundred pages (this one os only 5 pages), for key words. That would take you directly to the the posted comments relevant to what you want to know. It's a shame to not read them all though; one misses *so* much when they skip the reading.
Since DC will stay docked to the ISS for ~6 months its heat-shield will be exposed to MMOD strikes. Is this a concern for NASA? When the shuttle was docked ISS was flying 'backwards' to offer some protection to the shuttles heat-shield but this won't be possible for DC and it will be in front of the ISS and therefore fully exposed to MMOD strikes.
Quote from: arkaska on 08/05/2012 07:27 amSince DC will stay docked to the ISS for ~6 months its heat-shield will be exposed to MMOD strikes. Is this a concern for NASA? When the shuttle was docked ISS was flying 'backwards' to offer some protection to the shuttles heat-shield but this won't be possible for DC and it will be in front of the ISS and therefore fully exposed to MMOD strikes. The X-37 flight lasted about a year each and were fine in regards to MMOD, I would be more concerned with the cabin windows than the heat shield as on PMA-2 DC will have a minimal cross section of the lower heat shield in the velocity bar.
Richard Branson doesn't have the funds.
His net worth is $4.2B which is a lot more than Elon. But I don't think that he will get into a venture unless there is a reasonable expectation of profit from it.
Elon only gets into things when success is an option, so, that's basically the same...
Reading the posts about landing at any airport with a 7,000+ foot runway got me wondering. Very few airporths support glideslopes greater than 3 degrees, DC will likely fly a 19 to 23 degree approach. I'm wondering if that can be electronically compensated with by way of a GPS glideslope. Any avionics heads out there who would like to chime in on this?
Quote from: zerm on 08/25/2012 04:09 pmReading the posts about landing at any airport with a 7,000+ foot runway got me wondering. Very few airporths support glideslopes greater than 3 degrees, DC will likely fly a 19 to 23 degree approach. I'm wondering if that can be electronically compensated with by way of a GPS glideslope. Any avionics heads out there who would like to chime in on this?Any idea how many airports with 7,000 foot runways there are that would fall under DC cross range limits?
Quote from: clongton on 08/25/2012 07:58 pmAny idea how many airports with 7,000 foot runways there are that would fall under DC cross range limits?Here is a Global list for runway data Chuck, U.S. alone (2,438 to 3,047 m: 235 ) lots of choices. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2030.html
Any idea how many airports with 7,000 foot runways there are that would fall under DC cross range limits?
What's the angular distribution of MMOD?