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New Problem Could Ground Space Shuttle Fleet
Ender writes "As if the NASA folks at KSC did not have enough problems to deal with a the moment, (see previous
/. article on the engine cracks and the following
CNN article on the repairs) a NEW problem has sufaced in the Apollo Era transporter which vehiculates the Shuttles to the launch pads (crawler). They found many cracked bearings in the cylinders that lift the shuttle and its launch platform on the transporter. After this discovery they took a look at the other crawler and it too had quite numerous cracked bearings. No word from NASA yet but these findings may further delay the next
Space Shuttle launch which is currently scheduled for NET (no earlier than) Sept 28th and by the same token slow down the assembly of the ISS.
Complete articles at SpaceFlightNow and
United Press International."
What I don't understand is how they **JUST** Found these cracks? I mean obviously they all did'nt just appear at once. So do they have any idea how long they have been forming? How many shuttle roll-outs have been done with cracks already? Probably a lot i assume.. It would seem that they could do 1 more roll-out and then replace(get made) all the bearings they need..
From the article: NASA and contractor engineers are troubleshooting cracked bearings ... it is not yet known what, if anything, must be done to resolve the issue.
My guess, and I should flag here that IANARS, is they'll have to replace those bearings...
Sigh.
I predict the feedback will be filled with the following:
1. Whining to the effect of 'they JUST found these? All the bearings went bad at once?'
2. Whining to the effect of 'They're still using 40+ year old crawlers? How dumb!'
3. Whining to the effect of 'NASA is so stupid, they can't even drive 5 miles, much less fly a million in a shuttle'
4. A few token 'We should be at moon/mars/jupiter by now, NASA has just fallen by the wayside and is a relic of lost dreams' whines
5. A few people will get a kick out of saying 'Maybe we should pay the Russians to help us with our space technology?' and 'Can't they fix this by having Natalie P. put grits on the bearings?'
6. Finally, one or two levelheaded people will say 'This stuff happens, and I'm glad they're catching it now instead of when a shuttle falls off a crawler'.
Of course, #6 will be basically ignored, and instead a message saying 'If these bearings failed, it would be bad.' will be marked +5 Insightful, +5 Interesting, and +5 Informative, the three I's of insipid posts that bring to mind the sound of a million people saying 'Well, duh....'
It helps to have a way for astronauts to not completely atrophy their bodies on long-duration spaceflights. Several methods are being tested now.
If a crew were sent on a 'short' trip to Mars without any way to keep muscle and bone loss to a minimum, it's likely that they wouldn't be able to tolerate even Mars' reduced (compared to Earth) gravity.
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
And I was hoping that it was a problem with the shuttle itself. The shuttle is entirely too expensive (half a billion dollars per launch?!?!) for what we get, and it really needs to die so that we can at least get another opportunity to replace it with something more cost effective. Because as long as they can continue to operate the shuttle, they will, no matter the cost -- because it's politically easier.
Use 'slashdot stuff' in the subject line in any email you send me if you want to get past the spam filter.
Ever seen the movie Apollo 13 ? It shows the crawlers moving equipment into place before launch. Imagine something along the lines of a hundred-ton bulldozer with a rocket sitting on top of it. If you had to replace one of them you'd wait as long as you could, too.
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
I'm too tired (and I gotta pee) to look up numbers, but the space shuttle fleet costs an arm and a leg to maintain. It was designed as the do-anything vehicle and ended up as the do-nothing-well vehicle. Sure it works but like masturbation there are better ways to get it done. At the current price/mass ratio, large space projects like ISS are uneconomical. Before building a space station, NASA should build a better launch facility either here or on the moon. Seeing as it's immeasurably easier and cheaper to build on Earth, I'd recommend starting with a big linear accelerator (think rail gun) here. If memory serves, the price/mass ratio is somewhere between 10 and 1000 times less than using the Shuttle fleet. It shouldn't take too long to recoup costs at that price, especially when one considers that lower price to orbit will mean lots more traffic. The flip side is that much more debris in the popular belts but the cost to send up a garbage collector would be that much less too.
Where's someone with 10 years and a hundred billion dollars to spend when you need 'em? By my count, 5 people could do it. Hey Bill, want to be a big player in an emerging market? Get your ass moving on a few square miles of solar cells and a linear accelerator.
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
NASA has to be one of the few agencies to take pictures of most of their activities. They added Pictures of the cracked bearings today to the KSC Media Archive, and they are some ugly cracks.
Links can be found here:
KSC-02PD-1166
KSC-02PD-1167
KSC-02PD-1168
KSC-02PD-1169
KSC-02PD-1170
KSC-02PD-1171
--Kumba
I saw this last week or so (I don't remember where exactly), but I did a search and found the story on Space.com. Here's what it said:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- Did a 27-year-old with perfect vision and admitted pickiness help prevent disaster on the space shuttle?
NASA may never know, but the manager of the shuttle program said inspections will be more thorough from now on.
The first of 11 tiny hairline cracks that grounded the entire shuttle fleet was spotted by David Strait, a sometime surfer with 20/20 vision who works for United Space Alliance, one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's contractors.
Within the space agency there's talk of an award for the systems inspector, who caught the biggest potential hazard at the launch site since an engineer spied a 4-inch (10-centimeter) pin wedged against Discovery's fuel tank during a countdown in 2000.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Rumor has it the Bush administration is looking at the possibility of folding NASA and Amtrak into the new Department of Homeland Security. This is part of Mr. Bush's greater effort to make the federal government more like a corporation by consolidating all government organizations that are crippled by cracks in the system into one, easily-ignorable department.
There are big flame pits and channels under the launch platform that allow the hot exhaust gases from the main engines and solid rocket boosters to escape the immediate area of the launch platform. The Florida coast is not a good place to dig big holes in the ground, unless you are trying to create a swamp.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
...vehiculates the Shuttles to the launch pads...
You means 'moves' or perhaps 'transports'?
You yanks...
# init 5
Connection closed.
Oh...
Boring story, no response, who cares, no mention in newspapers, and the fact that the floating tin can currently up there will not get any larger for a few months does not stir the soul.
Consider the alternative universe I just visited, where a similar slashdot story was just posted but with the final phrase replaced by...
Oh, and by "NASA twerps" I don't mean everyone at NASA, the vast majority of whom are fine, hardworking geniuses. I just mean the people at the top who made the bizarre space station decision. I mean, the whole purpose of the Space Shuttle (check your history books, friends) was to resupply Skylab, which was an excellent space station. Roomy, simple, and one-piece, it was launched by a Saturn V and took the place of what would, on a moon shot, have been the third stage fuel tank. Then the Space Shuttle turned out to be more complicated to build than first thought, so it didn't make it up in time to rescue the station.
So, what were the thought processes jumping around the head of the collective imbecile which is the NASA beuracracy? "Shuttle built. Shuttle must go to station. Station dead... Build new station! Brilliant! Champagne and caviar all round."
I doubt that there was much talk about whether we need a space station or not. It just seemed obvious. Arthur C put one in orbit in 2001, every science fiction book has a couple of them floating around. But
"Um. It's for studying the microgravity environment! We can grow crystals. We can observe the effects on the human body." Fair enough, But now the station budget has been cut back to the extent that the station is just good enough to keep people alive inside, as long as those people are 90% dedicated to keeping the station running to keep themselves alive. There is little time left to do the science that is supposedly the reason it's up there.
Now I'm all depressed. Screw you guys, I'm going back to the alternative universe, and post a message on the alternative slashdot about our mad neighbors in the universe next door.
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
what the hell sort of word is "vehiculates"???
It amuses me that NASA has to invent fancy new words when there's perfectly good word that will do the job - "TRANSPORTS".
I guess it makes them sound important or something.
vehiculates - I bet that one isn't in the OED!
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
Imagine something along the lines of a hundred-ton bulldozer with a rocket sitting on top of it.
After getting to walk around under one aftera visit a few years ago to KSC I can attest to the fact that they're massive vehicles. The treads alone tower over a grown man's head. Imagine something like Sealand on tracks (well, a little smaller). The roadbed consists of Alabama river rock several feet deep that supposedly causes less friction for the treads and gets crushed into dust as the crawler runs over it. It was pretty awkward to walk on the rocks since they're very loosely packed. All-in-all the crawler is quite a site to see up close and an amazing engineering marvel.
Anyway, it looks like the enormous weight was causing issues with early bearings even when they were designing it in the 1960's. This explains a bit about that as well.
Buran has been destroyed and will never fly again.
i am a soviet space shuttle