lwall@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Larry Wall) (04/25/84)
If I were a Shuttle pilot, and decided that I was going to come up short
(or would that be "come down short"?) of the runway, I would be tempted to
fire up the OMS engines to stretch out my glide path a little. Could
someone in the know say to what extent this is practical, and whether
NASA has considered this in its contingency plans?
And where can the Shuttle land (besides Easter Island, thank you
Mr. Stine/Correy) if it poops out partway up to a polar or sun-synch orbit?
If the Shuttle floats like it flies, I wouldn't want to try to ditch it,
though I s'pose if the tiles stayed on they might actually serve as
floatation for a short while. I wouldn't put any money on the tiles staying
on, though, or even on the whole bird staying in one piece. What say?
Larry Wall
{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,sdcsvax}!sdcrdcf!lwallrjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (04/27/84)
> If I were a Shuttle pilot, and decided that I was going to come up > short of the runway, I would be tempted to fire up the OMS engines > to stretch out my glide path a little. > Larry Wall Nice trick, since all remaining reactants are purged from the OMS/RCS tanks long before touchdown. I do not know if the He tanks are left pressurized until landing or not. In any event, the OMS engines would have a small effect (thrust) at sea level--probably negligible compared to the kinetic energy of the "dry" orbiter. Only the SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines) and, of course, the SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) were ever intended to be used anywhere outside the vacuum of space. Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (04/27/84)
Larry Wall asks, in part:
And where can the Shuttle land (besides Easter Island, thank you
Mr. Stine/Correy) if it poops out partway up to a polar or sun-synch orbit?
The basic answer is: "in the ocean, far from help". The eastern
Pacific is very, very wet. Easter Island sits in the middle of many
millions of square kilometers of empty ocean.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henryron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/01/84)
He tanks? What does the shuttle do with Helium? Fission engines? -Ron
rjnoe@ihlts.UUCP (Roger Noe) (05/02/84)
Helium tanks provide the pressurization for the OMS, RCS, and the APUs. Roger Noe ihnp4!ihlts!rjnoe
kcarroll@utzoo.UUCP (Kieran A. Carroll) (05/02/84)
* If the shuttle does have helium tanks (I'm pretty sure that it does, but must admit that I've not checked any technical references), then it probably uses them to store the helium that's used to pressurize the hydrazine fuel used by the orbital manoeuvering engines and attitude control engines. The pressurized helium is used to force the fuel out of its storage tanks, rather than using heavier and more complicated fuel pumps to provide pressurized fuel to the engines. -Kieran A. Carroll ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll
tgg@hou5e.UUCP (05/03/84)
The shuttle uses He to allow the crew to play around with high-sqeeky voices to abate boredom. A secondary purpose is to pressurize the fuel tanks. Tom Gulvin AT&T IS - Holmdel
mees@dcdwest.UUCP (05/04/84)
Forgive me if this has been posted before. I've been subscribing for quite awhile and have never seen an answer to this question: some of you keep referring to "technical references" on the shuttle. Can someone please send me titles and probable locations where I can obtain same? Thanks. jim decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!mees ucbvax!sdcsvax!dcdwest!mees (619) 578-3080 (last resort)