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NASA Ponders Postponing Launch until July

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the wait-for-it dept.

BitFluid writes "According to Sun-Sentinel.com, NASA is considering postponing its Return to Flight shuttle launch because of 'ongoing concern about possible ice buildup on a liquid oxygen propellant line.' Apparently, that stuff turns into debris on launch, a risk they need time to investigate. If delayed, the target launch window becomes July 13 through July 31."

10 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How about channelling the money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Why don't you take the money you're spending on bandwidth and spend it again on charities that help third world countries? The moral position you're arguing in favor of would require it.

    Scientific research is a necessity to improve the quality of life for everyone on the planet. Human space flight is an important avenue for scientific research.

    By the way, for the record, the 2003 US budget for food aid was $2.5B; for the Shuttle, the budget was $3.1B.

  2. Aero News Net Coverage by LakeSolon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's ANN's coverage of the story.

    If you're interested in this and similar sort of news, ANN is a great daily news site you should probably check out.

    ~Lake

  3. Re:Ice... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1, Informative

    Wasn't that big chunk of foam saturated and frozen into a great big iceball though?

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  4. Re:Time to toss NASA and get serious. by gus+goose · · Score: 2, Informative
    ... read 'The Germans did the job once for us'
    Actually, in a large part, it was the Canadians, after the cancelled Avril Arrow project.

    CBC Archives - see "did you know"

    gus

    --
    .. if only.
  5. Re:Uh, like by wyvernfink · · Score: 5, Informative
    Spray de-icer on it?
    LOX has a boiling temperature of -183 degC, and the LOX line can be expected to be at approximately the same temperature. De-icer lowers the freezing temperature of water, but it doesn't lower it that much.
    Wrap it in an insulator?
    Any insulator would have to be flight-qualified with assurance that none could shed during ascent. If the insulation were to fall off, it could impact the shuttle and cause damage, or worse, allow ice formation.
    Blow warm dry air over it?
    This requires both a source of warm, dry air and the proper ducting to get it where it needs to be. This adds weight to the vehicle and has the potential to change the aerodynamics of the vehicle.

    The end result is that low-tech solutions can (and often do) result in additional complexities for the vehicle. I mean, it's not like we're dealing with the most complex machine ever built or anything...

  6. It's Done by 090h · · Score: 2, Informative

    FloridaToday.com has an article this morning indicating that they *have* postponed the launch.

    http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20050429/NEWS02/504290343/1007

    One thing I quickly learned after moving down here to the "Space Coast" area, is that Florida Today usually knows before anyone else does!

  7. Re:It makes sense not to launch on the 4th. by TrippTDF · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not to mention, NASA would then have two big events competing for air time, the shuttle and the comet-impacting probe that is set to collide on 7/4/05

    Moot point, since the launch window for the shuttle starts on the 13th.

  8. Re:Heat and humidity problem by NOLAChief · · Score: 2, Informative
    The US has two major launch sites, Canaveral and Vandenburg. One of the major concerns is a problem on launch causing loss of the vehicle. They would rather not have flaming chunks of said vehicle then rain down on an unsuspecting population, which is why Canaveral is used for launches to the east and Vandenburg is only used for launches to polar orbits. There's nothing but open ocean for the distance it takes the vehicle to get to orbit.

    I don't think the mylar would work. You'd be dealing with at least 8 attach points that connect the orbiter and boosters to the tank that will 1) cause all your hot air to leak out and 2) provide plenty of opportunities for it to get hung up on something while your Vegas magicians try to pull it away. Now you've got mylar tangling itself in various parts of the shuttle. What's that going to do? Will you have to do a spacewalk to get it untangled? Will it have melted onto the wings affecting the thermal protection properties?

  9. Re:Ice... by i41Overlord · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Challenger was partially caused by ice and freezing. So the solution was to use insulation (basically a light-weight spray on that is similar to styrofoam). Sadly the Columbia was hit by the same insulation.

    Challenger's problem was with the O-rings sealing in the solid rocket boosters. They did not use foam to fix this.

    Columbia was damaged by foam that fell off the main fuel tank, which doesn't have any connection at all to Challenger's problem.

  10. Been considered by bluGill · · Score: 2, Informative

    Read the article. There is a plan to use infrared from sources 500 feet (meters? I forget the units) away. However engineers are not confident that it will work. Blowers might work, except that you either need them on the tank (more weight to lift, and not areadynamic), or you put them on the platform and hope they never fail to retract after the main engines are lit.