-
External Tank Q&A
by
Mark Dave
on 07 Jan, 2012 21:56
-
i'm curious on the external tank. How come the sprayed on foam is already colored as it it's been in the sun even when it's freshly built and ready to go to KSC? Are huge lamps used to sun burn the foam after the automated sprays are done?
For example this photo.
http://mafet.org/19/untitled29.html The foam is cream colored when freshly sprayed, but here it looks like it's been outside for some time to get the orange/ tan color.
-
#1
by
mtakala24
on 08 Jan, 2012 00:11
-
not an answer to the question, but thats a fantastic photo from the production line.
-
#2
by
Phillip Clark
on 08 Jan, 2012 10:21
-
Two hypotheses spring to mind. One is that the lighting where the ETs are being manufactured might simply make the olour appear to be different. The other is that some chemical reaction causes the colour to change with time.
-
#3
by
Jim
on 08 Jan, 2012 12:46
-
Regular lights put out UV which is what turns the color
-
#4
by
Mark Dave
on 08 Jan, 2012 20:39
-
-
#5
by
kevin-rf
on 09 Jan, 2012 12:12
-
Regular lights put out UV which is what turns the color
Caveat: Regular Fluorescent Lamps that use Mercury (Almost all FL or CFL lamp you see) put out UV. 253.65 nm is an extremely strong mercury emission line.
A normal inefficient old fashion Tungsten incandescent light bulb does not produce nearly as much UV. Nor does an over priced but efficient LED lamp
-
#6
by
Mark Dave
on 09 Jan, 2012 18:26
-
What will become of the left over tanks at Michoud? ET-94, 139,140, and 141? The last three were ready to be flown. 94 was a test tank for the SLS.
-
#7
by
mtakala24
on 09 Jan, 2012 20:57
-
I was under the impression that ET-94 was used in CAIB testing, and would need very major disassembly and reassembly to certify for flight. ET-139 and subs were not ready, they were only skills retention projects and only some major subassemblies were made - not even whole LOX/LH2 tanks were completed. Did they go further with them?
-
#8
by
jeff122670
on 09 Jan, 2012 23:14
-
hard to believe that one "LITTLE" beam carried all of that thrust load!! WOW!
-
#9
by
Fequalsma
on 12 Jan, 2012 21:04
-
The beam is mostly loaded in bending thru end moments from the offset SRB forces, and doesn't see a lot of force per se. The SRB forces are mostly carried thru the Intertank's thrust panels up to the Intertank fwd ring frame/LO2 Tank barrel-aft dome joint.
F=ma
hard to believe that one "LITTLE" beam carried all of that thrust load!! WOW!
-
#10
by
pagheca
on 20 Mar, 2014 20:14
-
If I'm correct all 135 Space Shuttle missions deployed their ET into the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. They are valuable piece of material and technology (some of them were built in Titanium) and a very important piece of space history.
I was wondering if someone knows about any effort to locate on the seabed and/or to recover at least some of them.
Are their splashdown coordinate ever been recorded by NASA or someone else? Do they splashdown in one piece?Has any image of an ET splashdown ever been recorded? Has any of them ever been spotted by human eye after splashdown? I searched through the internet but found nothing really specific about an "Main External Tank Cemetery" somewhere, or give any other information about them after splashdown.
Actually some websites say they breakout during reentry, but I wonder if any of them ever landed in one piece.
-
#11
by
Hauerg
on 20 Mar, 2014 20:17
-
Since the tanks had almost orbital speed I cannot imagine big pieces coming down. Let alone a whole tank.
-
#12
by
psloss
on 20 Mar, 2014 20:34
-
-
#13
by
Chris Bergin
on 20 Mar, 2014 21:00
-
-
#14
by
Jim
on 20 Mar, 2014 21:18
-
Actually some websites say they breakout during reentry, but I wonder if any of them ever landed in one piece.
Not possible, and they were designed for breakup to prevent from being a hazard.
-
#15
by
pagheca
on 20 Mar, 2014 22:48
-
Not possible, and they were designed for breakup to prevent from being a hazard.
Do you mean for navigation, maybe?
That's interesting. Did you read that or maybe you were involved someway in the project?
-
#16
by
Jim
on 21 Mar, 2014 00:04
-
-
#17
by
Jim
on 21 Mar, 2014 00:06
-
If I'm correct all 135 Space Shuttle missions deployed their ET into the Pacific or the Indian Ocean. They are valuable piece of material and technology (some of them were built in Titanium) and a very important piece of space history.
There are hundreds of Deltas and Atlases. Just as important. And then there are the Saturns. An ET itself is not an important piece.
-
#18
by
psloss
on 21 Mar, 2014 00:27
-
A bit of the 41-C footage, narrated by the flight crew pilots (mostly Dick Scobee):
http://www.airspacemag.com/videos/sts-41c-shuttle-external-tank-breakup-over-h/Probably from a post-flight presentation...by that time there was usually only one, but I haven't checked that.
There was also amateur footage from another low-inclination mission (STS-37)...but most of this is ground covered in another thread already.
-
#19
by
roma847
on 12 Nov, 2014 16:45
-
Does anyone know the diameter of the ET Intertank? How big is the difference of the diameter in the range of Intertank stringers and the normal diameter of the ET?
That means, how much is the diameter of the intertank stringer larger than the normal diameter?
Source: NASA
