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#2060
by
William Barton
on 11 Jun, 2009 10:45
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not trying to be like a certain KSC reporter, but a thought crossed my mind. Is there a contingency if the vertical stabilizer separates from the orbiter during launch?
That's a question along the lines of other very remote ascent 'what if???'s Like...
- what if all the elevons fell off?
- what if the payload doors suddenly opened?
- what if one or two engines fell off?
- what if the commander had a heart attack during ascent?
- etc., etc....
In other words, it's an incredibly improbable event; so much so that's it's almost silly to ask those types of questions, IMO.
Some of those wouldn't matter (commander has heart attack, for example) and some are pretty unlikely (obviously, the SSMEs are much more likely to experience a turbine RUD than simply to "fall off"). But others on that list aren't so silly. On one flight, the braking parachute door fell off and was seen falling back to the pad during launch. On STS-1 the body flap deflected outside acceptable parameters and Young has said if he'd known about it, he'd've waited until they were out over the sea, then ejected, on the assumption the vehcile could not survive reentry. When STS was new, I used to wonder about payload door issues. Not so much "fall off" as what if they couldn't get them closed again (sprung hinges, for example, like the airlock door problem at Mir)?
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#2061
by
butters
on 11 Jun, 2009 11:15
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There was an episode of The West Wing with a storyline about one of the Shuttle payload bay doors failing to close. They did an EVA to manually close it with a winch, but both OMS engines somehow died in the process. They mentioned Atlantis being able to launch a rescue mission within two hours. The situation was resolved by using RCS to deorbit.
They did another episode about the ISS leaking oxygen while the Shuttle fleet was grounded after the Columbia disaster. They decided to fix the leak using a top secret military space shuttle, but only after its existence was leaked from within the administration.
Another episode covered Mars Direct. A fair amount of space-related storylines for a political drama.
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#2062
by
The-Hammer
on 11 Jun, 2009 11:24
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They did another episode about the ISS leaking oxygen while the Shuttle fleet was grounded after the Columbia disaster. They decided to fix the leak using a top secret military space shuttle, but only after its existence was leaked from within the administration.
That story line was horse hockey. They conveniently forgot about the Soyuz "escape pod" and the magical ability to seal off each module from the others.
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#2063
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:16
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Hello everyone, my name Adam Rędzikowski. I come from Polish. I am new here. how many posts I have to write a month to access the NASASpaceflight L2?
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#2064
by
Alpha Control
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:20
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The rest of us on L2 wish it were that simple!
It's not the number of posts you write, but a subscription fee - $US50 for six months access to L2.
If you go back to the NasaSpaceFlight.com home page, click on "L2-Premium". Scroll to the bottom for information on how to use PayPal to subscribe.
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#2065
by
Ford Mustang
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:22
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Welcome to NASASpaceFlight, Adam!
NASASpaceFlight L2 is a paid-subscription. You can't post your way into it, unfortunately.
Check the link below for all the information on L2, at the bottom it gives you the price in USD for how many months.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/
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#2066
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:22
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
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#2067
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:33
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Looking for photos showing the interior of the SRB has a link or can someone such pchotos?
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#2068
by
Danny Dot
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:39
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
Try posting your shuttle questions at this link on this forum. It is made just for shuttle questions.
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=10600.0There are many shuttle experts there that will help you.
Welcome to the Nasa Spaceflight.
Danny Deger
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#2069
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:44
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#2070
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:46
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
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#2071
by
Lee Jay
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:54
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#2072
by
MarsMethanogen
on 11 Jun, 2009 19:56
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
Look at the attached. At the rear, you will see; "APU Servicing Panel No. 1". It would be behind that panel. There are three, but I couldn't tell you how they are oriented within that section of the Orbiter. Hope that answers your question.
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#2073
by
Jim
on 11 Jun, 2009 20:01
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
They in the aft fuselage, on the back side of the payload bay aft bulkhead.
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#2074
by
Jim
on 11 Jun, 2009 20:03
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I have a question: where in the space shuttle is an APU power?
Look at the attached. At the rear, you will see; "APU Servicing Panel No. 1". It would be behind that panel. There are three, but I couldn't tell you how they are oriented within that section of the Orbiter. Hope that answers your question.
Not near that panel. That would be like saying the gas tank is where the gas cap is.
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#2075
by
adam001d
on 11 Jun, 2009 20:19
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What is the size of the parachute brake Orbiter weighs and how much? And the same question about parachutes SRB?
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#2076
by
elmarko
on 11 Jun, 2009 20:23
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Two questions while I'm sat here bored at a train station.
Firstly, for the third time I'm hoping someone can answer my question about "spreading" - sometimes MCC will call the orbiter to let the crew know that there will be a loss of comm due to this spreading. What is spreading in this context?
Secondly, watch this video, if you would be so kind
While "boundary" is self explanatory as an abort boundary, can anyone tell me what the crew mean when they mention "window"
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#2077
by
MarsMethanogen
on 11 Jun, 2009 21:16
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The APU's and the sound that they make (chuf, chuf) when operating have been discussed previously in this or one of the other three Shuttle QandA threads. My question has to do with what might be the visible exhaust from these or the water spray boilers that serve to cool the APUs' lube oil and the hydraulic system's fluid. On one of the orbiter landings, after wheels stop, but prior to APU shutdown, what looked like steam pulsed out of the top/aft of the orbiter. Is this APU (expended hypergol) exhaust, or steam venting from the water spray boilers? As you can see from the attached the vents for each are located fairly close to one another, on either side of the orbiter's tail. I'm guessing the latter, because I'd hate to think about the impact/toxicity of hypergol exhaust.
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#2078
by
generic_handle_42
on 11 Jun, 2009 22:21
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What is the size of the parachute brake Orbiter weighs and how much? And the same question about parachutes SRB?
The drag chute system consists of a 9 foot diameter pilot chute, which is used to extract a 40 foot diameter main chute. The main chute trails the vehicle by 89.5 feet on a 41.5 foot riser. Source: Shuttle Crew Operations Manual available on L2.
The SRBs use a 54 foot drogue chute, followed by a cluster of three 136-foot diameter main chutes. Source: SRB Bible available on L2.
I couldn't find much info on the weight of the chutes, but Jenkins lists the weight of the "Drag Chute Installation" at 246 lbs. (Orbiter Weight Statement, p.440).
EDIT: After more reading in the SCOM, I found the weight of the SRB drogue chute listed at 1,200 lbs and each of the three main chutes weighs 2,180 lbs.
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#2079
by
AnalogMan
on 11 Jun, 2009 22:37
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The APU's and the sound that they make (chuf, chuf) when operating have been discussed previously in this or one of the other three Shuttle QandA threads. My question has to do with what might be the visible exhaust from these or the water spray boilers that serve to cool the APUs' lube oil and the hydraulic system's fluid. On one of the orbiter landings, after wheels stop, but prior to APU shutdown, what looked like steam pulsed out of the top/aft of the orbiter. Is this APU (expended hypergol) exhaust, or steam venting from the water spray boilers? As you can see from the attached the vents for each are located fairly close to one another, on either side of the orbiter's tail. I'm guessing the latter, because I'd hate to think about the impact/toxicity of hypergol exhaust.
This is from a (130 page) 1976 report on the "Design, Fabrication and Demonstration Test of a Catalytic Gas Generator for the Space Shuttle APU" which is one of the earliest accounts of 'flames' from the output. (But bear in mind this was a stand-alone unit not integrated into any kind of shuttle structure at this stage.)
"An interesting phenomenon occurred during the JSC testing. As the catalyst bed began to degrade, as evidenced by chamber pressure roughness and pulse shapes, a visible flame began to appear at the exit of the nozzle between pulses on the lower power duty cycles (15 percent). The flame was also visible after shutdown at the end of a mission sequence and was accompanied by an audible "pop". The flame did not appear in a run until the unit was approaching equilibrium temperature. High-speed movies were made so that the flame phenomenon could be fully analyzed. These movies indicated that the flame started as a small bluish-white flame (3 to 4 inches long) about 200 milliseconds after voltage was removed from the valve. The flame burned at a low level until the next pulse was initiated. At a time corresponding to the start of chamber pressure rise, the flame expanded to a large (yellowish-white) flame which lasted for about 10 milliseconds. As the chamber pressure continued to rise, the flame went out and the exhaust was no longer visible. This sequence was repeatable whenever the off-time was sufficient to allow the small flame to occur (greater than 150 to 200 milliseconds). However, if the small flame did not occur due to insufficient off-time, the large flame on start-up did not occur and the exhaust was not visible. Apparently, the flame resulted from the burning of exhaust gases in air as the velocity and pressure of the gases decreased between pulses. The most probable cause of the flame was delayed decomposition of hydrazine trapped in bed voids. This would explain why the flame did not occur early in the test before the bed had degraded. However, the flame could also have been caused or influenced by a change in reaction products as life was accumulated and/or hotter reactor and injector temperatures as the gas temperature increased with life. Regardless of the cause, the phenomenon should not be a problem on the Space Shuttle APU application since the gas generator exhausts into a turbine and exhaust duct without being exposed to air."
