I think going back to ablatives is the wrong way for NASA to go ablatives would be a good option for a commercial venture but NASA is meant to be progressing generally the commercial world is a step or 2 being the Govt research world. they should replace the tile TPS system for sure but perhaps with something like what they developed for the X38 or whatever it was. get that flight tested and qualified. something like that (if proven) would be a fairly significant benefit to the whole "returning from space at a great rate of knots" crowd.
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Weinshenker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 12:41 AM Subject: Re: [ERPS] [[EMAIL PROTECTED]: [SAT-L] shuttle disaster] > Randall Clague wrote: > > >I have never liked ablative methods. Yet they seem to be the best. > > > > I have a simple philosophy: Do What Works. Ablatives work. > > A fundamental issue here seems to be that the Shuttle TPS tile system > has been just barely adequate at best... no previous shuttle actually > burned up, but it seems that many flights have come back slightly > scorched, with a few missing tiles and some localized heat damage > to the metal structure underneath. > > It seems to me that a renewable ablative system, some sort of > phenolic/fiber composite, perhaps - grind the char layer down to > intact material and laminate on fresh layers to rebuild it to the > original thickness between flights - could have advantages. > > It might have been better to assume that the TPS would need a > refurbishment cycle between flights, and design it to accomodate > that. The present system was initially assumed to be a once-and- > for-all permanent installation, but it didn't work out that way, > and its turnaround procedure is more like a museum restoration > of an antique mosaic than an efficient industrial process. > > -dave w > _______________________________________________ > ERPS-list mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
