Author Topic: Shuttle Q&A Part 5  (Read 1542499 times)

Offline Hobbs

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #620 on: 09/16/2009 11:27 pm »
what is the job/purpose of the person sat at the FD's left during ascent and entry (and occasionally during orbit ops).

And also what does the person/s next to the Capcom do?(from watching a few of the MCC replays on youtube there always seems to be one or a couple of people sat there just staring at the big screens the whole time)

Offline Jim

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #621 on: 09/17/2009 12:10 am »
what is the job/purpose of the person sat at the FD's left during ascent and entry (and occasionally during orbit ops).

And also what does the person/s next to the Capcom do?(from watching a few of the MCC replays on youtube there always seems to be one or a couple of people sat there just staring at the big screens the whole time)


Assistant FD

Offline Jorge

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #622 on: 09/17/2009 12:18 am »
And also what does the person/s next to the Capcom do?(from watching a few of the MCC replays on youtube there always seems to be one or a couple of people sat there just staring at the big screens the whole time)


Weather CAPCOM.
JRF

Offline Avron

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #623 on: 09/17/2009 02:57 am »
Dudes, I just cannot find a reference to the price of the Shuttle in todays dollar, anyone have an approx value?

That is a very complex question with many different answers.  First of all, do you mean a launch, or the "price" of an Orbiter.

Danny Deger


Danny, just the Orbiter would work fine.. thanks

Offline Jorge

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #624 on: 09/17/2009 03:05 am »
Dudes, I just cannot find a reference to the price of the Shuttle in todays dollar, anyone have an approx value?

That is a very complex question with many different answers.  First of all, do you mean a launch, or the "price" of an Orbiter.

Danny Deger


Danny, just the Orbiter would work fine.. thanks

$1.7B for Endeavour in 1987-92, but that one was assembled using previously built (and paid for) spares, and the production tooling has since been destroyed.

So count on at least twice that much in today's dollars, partially to count for inflation, partially to pay for new tooling, and partially to account for the previously-built components that weren't in Endeavour's price tag.

On second thought, make it three times, then round it to an even $5B since there's no way to know this figure past one significant digit.
JRF

Offline Danny Dot

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #625 on: 09/17/2009 03:16 am »
snip

On second thought, make it three times, then round it to an even $5B since there's no way to know this figure past one significant digit.

You forgot to add Florida sells tax  ::)

Danny Deger
Danny Deger

Offline Jorge

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #626 on: 09/17/2009 03:22 am »
snip

On second thought, make it three times, then round it to an even $5B since there's no way to know this figure past one significant digit.

You forgot to add Florida sells tax  ::)

Danny Deger

Florida or California? The factory was in Palmdale. :)

Though come to think of it, the Palmdale factory has been, um, repurposed. So now they could be built anywhere. Anywhere you can build the factory, construct the tooling, and transport it out, that is.

And of course, I didn't include the cost of a new factory in the $5B...
JRF

Offline Hobbs

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #627 on: 09/17/2009 08:28 pm »
This first question was asked back in the 3rd Q&A but if there was an answer, I couldn't find it.         

So, what are the radial grooves seen near the forward RCS nozzles in the picture below for?

And another question, (and vaguely related) every TPS tile on the orbiters has a small white circle which as I understand is for "instrumentation" purposes, does this mean that there is a sensor/thermocouple type thing behind every single one of them? (surely not!), Are these "white dots" holes drilled into the tile or something more superficial?
« Last Edit: 09/17/2009 08:30 pm by Hobbs »

Offline Mach25

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #628 on: 09/17/2009 09:27 pm »
what is the job/purpose of the person sat at the FD's left during ascent and entry (and occasionally during orbit ops).

And also what does the person/s next to the Capcom do?(from watching a few of the MCC replays on youtube there always seems to be one or a couple of people sat there just staring at the big screens the whole time)


Assistant FD

He goes by "Weather Flight".

Offline Jim

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #629 on: 09/17/2009 09:43 pm »
And another question, (and vaguely related) every TPS tile on the orbiters has a small white circle which as I understand is for "instrumentation" purposes, does this mean that there is a sensor/thermocouple type thing behind every single one of them? (surely not!), Are these "white dots" holes drilled into the tile or something more superficial?


That is where the waterproofing is injected

Offline nathan.moeller

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #630 on: 09/18/2009 05:58 am »
I apologize if this has been asked/answered, but there are simply too many pages to sort through.  Node 3 was originally intended to be placed on Unity's nadir CBM, with PMA-3 being attached to the Earth-facing port of Node 3.  Was it ever NASA's intention to dock an orbiter to PMA-3 while it was on Node 3?  Thanks!
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Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #631 on: 09/18/2009 06:13 am »
I apologize if this has been asked/answered, but there are simply too many pages to sort through.  Node 3 was originally intended to be placed on Unity's nadir CBM, with PMA-3 being attached to the Earth-facing port of Node 3.  Was it ever NASA's intention to dock an orbiter to PMA-3 while it was on Node 3?  Thanks!

At the time that Node-3 was slated for that location, I don't think NASA had plans to dock an Orbiter to PMA-3.

Offline Jorge

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #632 on: 09/18/2009 12:08 pm »
I apologize if this has been asked/answered, but there are simply too many pages to sort through.  Node 3 was originally intended to be placed on Unity's nadir CBM, with PMA-3 being attached to the Earth-facing port of Node 3.  Was it ever NASA's intention to dock an orbiter to PMA-3 while it was on Node 3?  Thanks!

At the time that Node-3 was slated for that location, I don't think NASA had plans to dock an Orbiter to PMA-3.

That's correct. PMA-3 was used for two orbiter dockings (97/4A and 98/5A) and has been a backup since, with no plan ever to dock an orbiter there.
JRF

Online MarsMethanogen

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #633 on: 09/18/2009 03:11 pm »
I did a search for 'shuttle+tail+cone' and there were no hits, so I'll ask this question in the context of what's currently going on out at Edwards.  Once a SCA carries an orbiter back to KSC and it's off-loaded for processing, the protective tail cone would then need to be returned to the west coast.  How is that done?  By truck?  By rail?  By air or by sea seems a bit over the top, but perhaps it's that way.  Anyone know?  Thanks.

Online The-Hammer

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #634 on: 09/18/2009 03:23 pm »
The tailcone breaks apart and is carried inside the SCA.
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Offline Squid.erau

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #635 on: 09/18/2009 05:25 pm »
The tailcone breaks apart and is carried inside the SCA.

Not to nit pick, but I asked an Orbiter Handling engineer in the next cube, and the tailcones are broken down into about 6 pieces and crated.  They are then shipped by truck back to Dryden. 

Offline JayP

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #636 on: 09/18/2009 06:26 pm »
The tailcone breaks apart and is carried inside the SCA.

The SCAs don't have a cargo door like a 747-F would so there is no way to get the sections inside them. They are usually shipped across country by truck, but if there were to be a TAL abort, they would be carried on a C-17 or C-5 to the landing site.
« Last Edit: 09/18/2009 06:27 pm by JayP »

Offline dcbecker

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #637 on: 09/21/2009 04:18 pm »
since the STS-128 is arriving with showers all around, I would assume there is a risk of rain shortly after touchdown of the SCA. Are they not worried about getting the shuttle wet, or do they have some way to get the entire SCA and shuttle undercover quickly, since the demating and towing of the shuttle will take some time?
Dan

Offline psloss

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #638 on: 09/21/2009 04:28 pm »
since the STS-128 is arriving with showers all around, I would assume there is a risk of rain shortly after touchdown of the SCA. Are they not worried about getting the shuttle wet, or do they have some way to get the entire SCA and shuttle undercover quickly, since the demating and towing of the shuttle will take some time?
There's no complete cover at either the mate-demate device at Dryden or at the SLF.  There's concern about lots of rain, as it would take longer to dry out the blankets and tiles, but they can handle some rain on the ground.

Offline ChrisGebhardt

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Re: Shuttle Q&A Part 5
« Reply #639 on: 09/21/2009 07:19 pm »
since the STS-128 is arriving with showers all around, I would assume there is a risk of rain shortly after touchdown of the SCA. Are they not worried about getting the shuttle wet, or do they have some way to get the entire SCA and shuttle undercover quickly, since the demating and towing of the shuttle will take some time?
There's no complete cover at either the mate-demate device at Dryden or at the SLF.  There's concern about lots of rain, as it would take longer to dry out the blankets and tiles, but they can handle some rain on the ground.


There's no concern of an Orbiter getting rained on while on the SLF/at the MDD.  STS-117/Atlantis got a pretty good soaking after her return to KSC on the SCA.  They simply dried out her blankets and tiles once she was back in OPF-1.

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