peterb@pbear.UUCP (03/09/85)
Does anybody have any data regarding the weights and measures of a Saturn V rocket? I have a pet project I have been kicking around in my head for a while. I presume(probably wrong) that some of the booster sections of the saturn V rocket are still kicking around in mothballs. What would happen if you took just the booster, fitted it with some solid rokect boosters, an areodynamic nose and launched it. I am trying to work out the numbers regarding whether or not it can reach LEO, but I don't have the numbers or the right equations. With time and help I'll get both. Here is a rather large hollow object with two perfectly good airsealed chambers. If I remember right, the booster was something like 100 to 200 feet long. It also contains some LOX and Liquid hydrogren. I am assuming that boosters shut down when thrust drops off, rather than burn to exhausted. Still there would be some unusable fuel in this thing, and with the shuttle able to bring up some tools and personnel, I think it would not take much to convert it into a usable habitat. It would contain two of the basic requirements needed. It gives shelter, and it has air (well pure O2). Once some fittings are attached (such as an airlock, solar cells, radio positioning gear, computers) then the roughnecks would have a spartan but usable living quarters. If you put up a few of these objects then you can use one as a "dry dock" where sattelites can be repaired, another can be used for agriculture, another for implementation of space industries. I don't think that this idea is the greatest, but I do think its feasible (if the critters can be placed in orbit!) I would love to see some people kick the idea around on the net. We could work out some of the kinks in this crazy idea. Who knows, it might become a reality. (oh wouldn't that be a rush!) Peter Barada ima!pbear!peterb I love mail and responses, I hope to see both.
al@ames.UUCP (Al Globus) (03/13/85)
> > Does anybody have any data regarding the weights and measures of > a Saturn V rocket? I have a pet project I have been kicking around in my > head for a while. > > I presume(probably wrong) that some of the booster sections of > the saturn V rocket are still kicking around in mothballs. > I think you're wrong - but there is a functional equivalent, and there's lots of them. The shuttle external tank. It turns out that you can take the tank into low Earth orbit and GAIN payload mass (about 2000 lb I think). This is due to the manuvering necessary to land the tank in an ocean rather than on some unsuspecting city. The tank is very large and quite air tight. There have been some studies on using tanks and even some space station proposals using them. The problem, of course, is that you need manufacturing capability to turn the tanks into anything useful. I.e., you need the space station before you can make extensive use of the tanks.