Yes. In the early days of NASA, launch weights were a major
problem. I worked on the Syncom satellites at Hughes in the early
1960s and we even used aluminum coax connectors which could reliably
be connected only a few times (what a relief it was was when SMA
became available). Our electronics didn't use circuit boards, but
the components were soldered together supported by their leads and
foamed in place inside small chassis of thin gold-plated aluminum.
Bob, N7XY
On Oct 26, 2006, at 7:59 AM, Jeremiah McCarthy wrote:
Judging from a direct response, it seems that my statement about
using minimum solder to save lift-off weight during the lunar
lander program generated skepticism...At that time NASA estimated
that they saved 450 pounds on the entire Saturn 5 launch vehicle by
limiting the amount of solder used for a "one-shot" launch...NASA
did not use Mil-Spec, they had their own spec...
Jerry, wa2dkg
Anything that is built for NASA and will fly will most likely
have to be conformal coated...Leaving excess lead length might
cause the ends to protrude out of the conformal coating,
defeating the purpose of the coating...I was not aware of any min-
max lead length protrusion in my dealings with NASA....We used
minimum solder to save lift-off weight and we always trimmed
flush...<<
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [email protected]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
