At 11:59 PM 11/13/2002 -0800, David Weinshenker wrote:
Besides, that tower assembly is no longer in service. You weren't there on Saturday... the thing suffered a minor accident due to a broken guy wire; the adjustability provided by the standoff screws allowed us to restore the rail to acceptable alignment, but further normal disassembly and reassembly of the upper rail sections appeared to be unlikely.
Make that tower sections... the rail was fine and was returned. The upper tower sections joined the MTA scrap heap.
The bottom section
(with all the systems bits) was retained, for probable future use in static
test operations; I believe the rail sections were also salvaged. Further flight
attempts, however, will require the creation of Launch Stand Mk. II...
Working on the design as we speak. I'm trying to get the price and mass into the reasonable range, while retaining appropriate flexibility and sturdiness. Part of the problem, at least in my mind, is that this needs to be a tower for both KISS & Spike. That sets certain parameters, like minimum length (20'), that are proving expensive and heavy to meet. If it's just for Spike, I can cut the length down to 12'. It also looks like I'm going to have to go with a form that uses fly-away rail buttons of some kind -- I just can't seem to get the shoe idea to work within a decent mass and dollar budget.
I.e., we're gonna have to do a new one anyway... sounds like you're arguing for
remote adjustability, to allow for angle changes late in the launch sequence
(i.e., after pressurization)...?
That would be guilding the lily. As long as we can adjust it manually fairly simply any time up to the pressurization step, we're golden. BTW, I plan to put arrangements for mounting an anemometer and windvane on the top of the tower in my designs.
You actually hope to be able to "tune" the tower angle from trajectory simulations well enough to keep the thing flying straight up in the Mojave winds? I'd be somewhat impressed... can we know the wind environment at the moment of launch, with sufficient resoulution and lead-time to do meaningful calculations?
We don't really want to fly straight up in high winds, however. Straight vertical flight == long drive for recovery, and possibly a long walk as well.
-p
Mars or Bust!
www.marssociety.com
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