wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson) (02/27/90)
No one responded to the earlier postings of preliminary orbital elements based on the Av week information. CNN is repoorting roughly the same thing by mentioning that observers along the East coast should be a good show since the flight azimuth required for a 62-degree inclination will take the shuttle quite near (or over) the Cape Hatteras area. We can't know yet if a waiver was granted to exceed the 57-degree limit. The question is: Could it be that Atlantis will go into a 57-deg and the KH-12 (or whatever) will go from there to 62-deg? I realize that I'm talking about a lot of energy for inclination changes, but this is possibility that apparently has not been addressed. The first abort site may be Norfolk, VA.
amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) (02/28/90)
In article <3197@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM> wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson) >elements based on the Av week information. CNN is repoorting >roughly the same thing by mentioning that observers along the >East coast should be a good show since the flight azimuth required >to exceed the 57-degree limit. The question is: Could it be >that Atlantis will go into a 57-deg and the KH-12 (or whatever) >will go from there to 62-deg? I just happen to have seen a in depth CNN story on exactly this over the weekend. CNN was interviewing some suit from NASA, KSC or JSC. He made it VERY clear (although this doesn't prove fact...) that the 57 limits were nominally set by NASA for downrange safety. The experience base with the shuttle and recovering the boosters,.... has proved to their satisfaction that 57 is very conservative, and that this nominal figure can be increased when needed. This flight will go through 62, and this is not the new max or limit. 57 is still the limit, but it can & will be exceeded when required by an amout that may well exceed 62 also (maybe as the KH's get even heavier...). While not getting into the physics, or opening a can of worms regarding the different possibilities of going from a launch angle of like 57 to a orbital incline of 62, the amount of energy required changes at a rate approaching the cube of the change in mass. The encyclopedia of satellites provides information by which example data can be backed out to ballpark data. It becomes clear that for a object a big as a KH the cost of buying ground insurance for damage is much more efficient (but politically & socially less acceptable {probably}). al
thomas@mvac23.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) (03/01/90)
> roughly the same thing by mentioning that observers along the > East coast should be a good show since the flight azimuth required > for a 62-degree inclination will take the shuttle quite near (or over) > the Cape Hatteras area. We can't know yet if a waiver was granted > The first abort site may be Norfolk, VA. I heard on the radio this morning that the twin trails of the SRBs were visible in New Jersey. Also, the local Wilminton, DE newspaper said that for a 30-second window that Dover Air Force Base in Dover, DE would be an abort site. They have a 12,000 foot runway which would have been used. I think the requirement was that the runway had to be at least 10,000 ft to be considered. - tom -- internet : mvac23!thomas@udel.edu or thomas%mvac23@udel.edu uucp : {ucbvax,mcvax,psuvax1,uunet}!udel!mvac23!thomas Europe Bitnet: THOMAS1@GRATHUN1 Location: Newark, DE, USA Quote : Virtual Address eXtension. Is that like a 9-digit zip code? -- The UUCP Mailer