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#620
by
Hobbs
on 16 Sep, 2009 23:27
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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)
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#621
by
Jim
on 17 Sep, 2009 00:10
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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
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#622
by
Jorge
on 17 Sep, 2009 00:18
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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.
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#623
by
Avron
on 17 Sep, 2009 02:57
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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
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#624
by
Jorge
on 17 Sep, 2009 03:05
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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.
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#625
by
Danny Dot
on 17 Sep, 2009 03:16
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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
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#626
by
Jorge
on 17 Sep, 2009 03:22
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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...
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#627
by
Hobbs
on 17 Sep, 2009 20:28
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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?
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#628
by
Mach25
on 17 Sep, 2009 21:27
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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".
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#629
by
Jim
on 17 Sep, 2009 21:43
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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
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#630
by
nathan.moeller
on 18 Sep, 2009 05:58
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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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#631
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 18 Sep, 2009 06:13
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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.
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#632
by
Jorge
on 18 Sep, 2009 12:08
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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.
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#633
by
MarsMethanogen
on 18 Sep, 2009 15:11
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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.
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#634
by
The-Hammer
on 18 Sep, 2009 15:23
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The tailcone breaks apart and is carried inside the SCA.
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#635
by
Squid.erau
on 18 Sep, 2009 17:25
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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.
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#636
by
JayP
on 18 Sep, 2009 18:26
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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.
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#637
by
dcbecker
on 21 Sep, 2009 16:18
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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?
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#638
by
psloss
on 21 Sep, 2009 16:28
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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.
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#639
by
ChrisGebhardt
on 21 Sep, 2009 19:19
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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.
