Caedes

Off Topic

Discussion Board -> Off Topic -> Discovery Launch

Discovery Launch

Crusader
07/13/05 5:31 PM GMT
If everything goes as planned, the Discovery Space Shuttle will be launched today, so those of you in the US should keep an eye out. I'm sure there would be some TV broadcasts... for others there's always NASA TV. So be sure to check out on the Return to flight.

Liftoff of Space Shuttle Discovery on NASA's Return to Flight Mission is scheduled for 3:51 p.m. EDT July 13.
0∈ [?]

Comments

Post a Comment  -  Subscribe to this discussion
Crusader
07/13/05 6:28 PM GMT
Bad news. Just found out that the launch has been postponed due to a problem with a fuel cutoff sensor. Damn, I was looking forward to it...
0∈ [?]
::philcUK
07/13/05 6:30 PM GMT
or not as the case may be. 5 minute launch window - whats all that about? NASA have said if it doesnt happen tomorrow it may be put back to September now. Pants.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
::CaptainHero
07/13/05 9:51 PM GMT
Apparently the ISS has to be in the right position and the shuttle has to launch during daylight hours so they can film everything.
0∈ [?]
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
::philcUK
07/13/05 9:55 PM GMT
I saw that but I couldnt figure out why they couldnt launch at any time and just go into a slow/geostationary orbit and rendezvous with the ISS when it comes back around - last time i checked there wer emore than 5 minutes of daylight per day :-)
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
prismmagic
07/14/05 4:31 AM GMT
I think they should take a lesson from the guys who won the X prize and realize that simplicity is the best technology they could use.
0∈ [?]
Crusader
07/14/05 4:39 AM GMT
Well seems there might be another launch attempt on Saturday 16th July. Let's hope that everything works out.
0∈ [?]
*caedes
07/14/05 5:02 AM GMT
philcUK: to answer your question as to why they have such a small launch window: They want to get up to the same altitude orbit as the ISS, at the same speed and direction as the ISS, and as close to the ISS as possible. If they only have two of those conditions (for instance the altitude and speed/direction), then it is not a simple matter to get all three. They wouldn't be able to just hit the engines for a while get closer. In fact, if they attempt to speed up and catch the ISS that is (hypothetically) right in front of them, they could in fact end up moving into a higher orbit and actually slowing down (thus moving farther away instead). I think in such a situation they would actually have to slow down, transfer to a lower orbit, wait until the lower orbit (and thus higher speed) lets then catch up with the radial location of the ISS, and then speed up in order to move out to the higher orbit of the ISS. Any of these orbit transfers require (possibly large amounts of) fuel, so they want to do as little of them as possible.

On another note, I'd like to see the X prize guys carry a section of the ISS into orbit with their little rocket (ignoring the fact that they didn't get up to the ISS orbit). =)
0∈ [?]
-caedes
mimi5947
07/14/05 7:14 AM GMT
whew.... *wipes sweat from brow*.......and that is precisely why I am NOT a rocket scientist :~)

0∈ [?]
~ Mimi~
prismmagic
07/14/05 7:55 AM GMT
Thats true But give them time. They proved the first step can be done . I think that NASA will have to start re-thinking a few things. The apollo cost was 24 milloin. That was when they had to stick to a budget. Now the have to stick to a PR Issue. The shuddle is a out dated design. They where supposed to issue the new design over 15 years ago. But Nasa stuck to a design that was poor from the begging.
0∈ [?]
::philcUK
07/14/05 1:11 PM GMT
they've had 17 successful missions to the ISS before and i cant ever remember any of this 5 minute window cobblers before - this time round they are going to be docked with the station around 90% of the mission time so they dont exactly need a lot of fuel for the mission.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
::philcUK
07/14/05 8:25 PM GMT
Caedes - as far as the X prize craft carrying cargo - not likely to happen as that perennial thorn in the side of the big airlines, Sir Richard Branson, has snapped up the build capacity on future models of the SpaceShipOne for their Virgin Galactic passenger service. Quite incredibly they are planning on the first passenger service into low earth orbit by the end of this decade. whether this will be a rich mans novelty ride or a viable hyperfast long haul service only time will tell - Virgin have already stumped up the cash for 5 craft so it all looks quite promising...get more info here.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
prismmagic
07/15/05 4:08 AM GMT
Phile they said They are already working on flights for around fifty thousend amarican.
0∈ [?]
::philcUK
07/15/05 9:21 AM GMT
Bargain
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
prismmagic
07/15/05 5:21 PM GMT
I think so
0∈ [?]
Crusader
07/15/05 5:35 PM GMT
Well, we'll have to see what the future holds. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Cosmos (solar sail vehicle) was also a success. That might have opened the door wide for personally funded space missions.
0∈ [?]
::CaptainHero
07/15/05 10:13 PM GMT
Well, Concorde flights used to be very expensive. I guess this will be similar.
0∈ [?]
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
prismmagic
07/16/05 1:24 AM GMT
Don' forget about Ion and plasma drives now they hold great promise also. And can produce speed much greater them standerd engines that we have now.
0∈ [?]
DixieNormus
07/16/05 10:33 AM GMT
I cross-wired my photon generator into the busport on my plasma decombibulator. I then connected my Alien PC to the biodecompressor, and connected them all to my scanner. Now all I have to do is type in the coordinates on my keypad...sit on my scanner....click ENTER, and *POOF*.....the Carribean.
0∈ [?]
~Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday~
::philcUK
07/16/05 1:15 PM GMT
I've often thought where we would be today with commercial hypersonic travel if the British government and Rolls Royce hadn’t pulled the plug on the HoToL project in the eighties and classified most of its technologies. Although not strictly a scramjet it was quite a revolutionary air breathing jet/rocket design that could have been grafted onto all sorts of applications and would have more or less rendered the Shuttle program obsolete before it had even proven itself. The more cynical amongst you may deduce that, with a certain amount of strong arm 'lobbying' from the US, was a primary reason for it being canned.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
prismmagic
07/17/05 11:35 PM GMT
I think the Arora is still in the works in the States. You will still here one go supersonic at night in the deserts coming out of Navada. At least theta what I guess it is. And that is scramjet driven. I saw one once over Edwards Airforce base in 98 high up. it just looks like a large black wedge.
0∈ [?]
::CaptainHero
07/18/05 7:46 PM GMT
Sure it wasn't a UFO?
0∈ [?]
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." Bertrand Russell
::philcUK
07/18/05 8:50 PM GMT
positive
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
::philcUK
07/26/05 2:50 PM GMT
Congratulations to everyone at NASA on a perfectly executed Return to Flight - it's good to see it back in action.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
DixieNormus
07/26/05 3:00 PM GMT
Awesome!
0∈ [?]
~Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday~
::dreamer100
07/26/05 10:51 PM GMT
YEEE HAAAA. I watched with about twelve people at work gathered around a 7 inch TV using a bank of lockers as an antena. Now that I'm home I'm replaying the video from the network and the NASA channel. It's about time they upgraded the cameras, the images were fantastic, especially the one they had on the final tank so that you could see the heat wrapping the whole vessel and the bolts firing. There was some debris they are looking at but let's face it, with what it goes through there is always going to be debris. It's just that we've never noticed it before.
0∈ [?]
Crusader
07/27/05 5:11 PM GMT
Excellent to see Discovery back in action. Let''s hope there's no future problems.
0∈ [?]
::philcUK
07/29/05 1:01 PM GMT
It would appear that, despite it being the root cause of the last accident, NASA didnt feel the need to change the foam cladding on the external fuel tank. It's failure again this time appears to have killed the programme dead with all further missions suspended. I cannot see NASA getting more funding to redesign the tank now after spending more than a billion making changes to other systems last time. The only quick fix that springs to mind is having to take lighter payloads and resurrecting the original white cladding over the foam that was used just the once on the very first shuttle flight. As I recall it was dropped to save weight but ultimately cost lives.

I guess they will have to find alternative launch vehicles now if they are ever to finish the ISS. at least they have the choice of using Titans, Arianes or Soyuz vehicles.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"
+camerahound
07/29/05 1:39 PM GMT
To the best of my recollection, the US space program peaked in 1969 when Neil Armstrong took that giant leap. Since then, the romance of manned space flight has mesmerized NASA and Washington DC to the point of folly. Anything that is presently undertaken by man, including the space station, could much more efficiently and cost-effectively be accomplished with robots. The expense of the shuttle program is so staggeringly enormous, that in light of President Bush's ongoing spending spree we must consider reality and reconsider the program’s viability. Since most of the program’s budget is absorbed by the need to sustain human life, then what are the benefits of our continuing to promote what is at best an ambivalent aspect national pride? The shuttle should be scuttled (pun intended). Let NASA redesign itself into a more efficient and productive organization and leave the aspect of human space travel to a more practical time in the future.

0∈ [?]
Hard work pays off later. Sloth pays off now.
::philcUK
07/29/05 1:46 PM GMT
Id have to agree really. The ISS could easily be completed using conventional launch vehicles and although its not much fun for the astronauts returning home by capsule it would be a more cost effective and safer (if therever is such a thing in spaceflight) solution.
0∈ [?]
"Some mornings, it's just not worth chewing through the leather straps"

Leave a comment (registration required):

Subject: