On 3/2/06, John Costanzo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 02/03/06, Dr. Core <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> Hey... the new fuel tank is "to hold the 520,000 gallons of liquid
> oxygen and liquid helium propellant that fuel a shuttle's main engines
> during liftoff" (4th paragraph).  Helium!  Did NASA switch to fusion
> engines?

You'd know better than I would, but I think the Shuttle's always used
helium, and I didn't get the impression from the article that there's
a new Shuttle, only the tank is new.


Here's a page of NASA explaining the  propulsion system:

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts-mps.html

Helium is use for pressure balance. I think the space.com piece is a typo.

John, I think you mean "Shttle's always used hydrogen"; so was the space.com piece.

--
Boaz
http://myturnaspace.blogspot.com

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