conor@inmos.co.uk (Conor O'Neill) (09/20/89)
In article <31690@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: > On Sunday, engineers completed a > test of the body flap to determine the amount of free play. The > amount of free play appears to be well within specifications, > however a thorough analysis of test results is underway. What is the bofy flap? -- Conor O'Neill, Software Group, INMOS Ltd. UK: conor@inmos.co.uk Disclaimer: All views are my own, US: @col.hp.com:conor@inmos-c not those of INMOS. "It's state-of-the-art" "But it doesn't work!" "That is the state-of-the-art".
tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET (Tom Neff) (09/20/89)
In article <2073@ganymede.inmos.co.uk> conor@inmos.co.uk (Conor O'Neill) writes: >In article <31690@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes: >> On Sunday, engineers completed a >> test of the body flap ... > >What is the body flap? The body flap is a trapezoidal "tail" extending from the ventral rear surface of the orbiter fuselage, back underneath the SSME exhaust nozzles. Its primary purpose is to protect the engines from damage during atmospheric re-entry. But it is also hinged and hydraulically controlled so that the orbiter's overall "lifting body" shape can be tuned during re-entry. The body flap does nothing useful during launch and ascent to orbit; it is supposed to stay still. However a new long range 35mm tracking camera (installed on a beach north of the shuttle launch facility after the Challenger failure) detected flap motion of 12 inches or more during the first minute of Columbia's August flight. Nobody seems to have an explanation yet. I suspect they'll sweep this one under the rug for later study -- people are going to SCREAM if the DOD or LDEF or HST manifests are messed with any further. -- 'We have luck only with women -- \\\ Tom Neff not spacecraft!' *-((O tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET -- R. Kremnev, builder of FOBOS \\\ uunet!bfmny0!tneff (UUCP)
Mac.Druaidh@f69.n363.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Mac Druaidh) (09/21/89)
"> What is the bofy flap? __
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+--- The body flap protects the engines, and helps a bit with control.
Mac "Artiste" Druaidh
The System(tm) Op
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