kcarroll@utzoo.uucp (Kieran A. Carroll) (05/13/89)
(re: suggestions for using Enterprise for shuttle braking tests)
Henry suggested in an earlier message that it wouldn't be too
difficult to refit Enterprise to be spaceworthy, although it
would have relatively little payload capacity, due to its
overweight structure. Low payload capacity was a good reason for
not making Enterprise spaceworthy, prior to the Challenger
explosion. Is this still the case?
Consider that the current possible shuttle flight rate is quite
low, low enough to delay many payloads from flying for years.
What is the bottleneck keeping flight rates low? If it is
the amount of time required to turn a shuttle around after landing,
to make it ready for its next launch, then having an extra orbiter
in the queue should speed things up. While Enterprise couldn't be
used to fly Spacelab, it would presumably have >>some<<
useful payload capacity. Even if it was used only for flying
crews to and from the space station (whenever demand for that
particular activity picks up), by doing so it could take pressure
off of the other orbiters, allowing them to be used for other purposes.
Of course, if the bottleneck is caused by some other factor,
adding Enterprise to the fleet mightn't help much. Any comments?
--
Kieran A. Carroll @ U of Toronto Aerospace Institute
uunet!attcan!utzoo!kcarroll kcarroll@zoo.toronto.edu