On Sun, 02 Feb 2003 19:21:19 -0800, Adrian Tymes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>It's the same issue as expendable rockets in general: how do you know >that that specific one is good enough for its mission, without testing >it (and thus using it partway up)? You don't know that particular ablative shield is good, any more than I know this particular glass of milk is good. So you overdesign it, make a bunch of them, make them all alike, and overengineer them. This is rather easier with ablative shields than with ELVs, because ablative shields have no moving parts. >The shuttle's tiles are glued-on, multi-piece units. As I've heard it, >tiles are routinely missing upon landing, though falling off at launch >was a new one. No, launch is when most of the escapees go on fallabout. It's a high noise, high vibration environment. -R _______________________________________________ ERPS-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.erps.org/mailman/listinfo/erps-list
