It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by BigTrain
One more thing, why does the shuttle use tiles still. Hasnt anyone developed a spray on ceramic or can't they form a single hull-like ceramic that can be attached. It seems to me that the tile scheme is greatly out-dated. Im sure someone can invent a single piece ceramic or at worst, a 3-5 piece setup, 30,000 plus tiles, come on!!
Train
Originally posted by Canada_EH
Originally posted by BigTrain
One more thing, why does the shuttle use tiles still. Hasnt anyone developed a spray on ceramic or can't they form a single hull-like ceramic that can be attached. It seems to me that the tile scheme is greatly out-dated. Im sure someone can invent a single piece ceramic or at worst, a 3-5 piece setup, 30,000 plus tiles, come on!!
Train
Umm train What happens if you have a bird or strike of some sort on take off? One crack in one large ceramic is going to be disasterous. where as the tiles right now from my knowledge wont kill the crew if one is cracked or even missing on re-entry.
Originally posted by BigTrain
Actually, thats incorrect. The tiles are much more suceptable to breaking off and cracking than a single large piece. Not to mention that the more tiles you have, the more possibilities for failure. And I doubt a bird would damage a 2-3 inch solid reinforced piece of ceramics. And I think one large peice would be much, much stronger than 30,000 peices, glued on.
Whats stronger, a brick-masonry wall, with thousands of bricks, or a solid concrete wall.
Train
Originally posted by northwolf
what about polymercoating the ceramic against birdstrikes etc.?
would solve the broken tile problem...
Originally posted by BigTrain
One more thing, why does the shuttle use tiles still. Hasnt anyone developed a spray on ceramic or can't they form a single hull-like ceramic that can be attached. It seems to me that the tile scheme is greatly out-dated. Im sure someone can invent a single piece ceramic or at worst, a 3-5 piece setup, 30,000 plus tiles, come on!!
Train
Originally posted by BigTrain
For one, Burt Rutan is not cleverer than NASA, in fact, hes far from it. His accomplishments are, well, in fact, worthless.
The spaceshipone was a very unstable design as can be seen by the inherint "wobble" that it sustained on its vertical climb. The vehicle is too "short and stubby" and hence, the effects that Yeager experienced in X-1 was visible in spaceshipone. it seems to me that Burt Rutan didnt know anything about shockwave formation and it appears that the ship is unstable at high speeds. As the shockwave propagates along the fuselage of the airframe during increasing speeds, it eventually reaches the rear stabalizers and in effect, if the design is such that the shockwave moves over the rear wing, then you cannot move the wind for control. Yeager luckily had a mechanism in the x-1 that could move the entire rear wing surface and not just the wing control surfaces which allowed him to control the airplane.
As for comparing the shuttle to the spaceshipone, that is like comparing a ferrari to a bicycle. Spaceshipone did nothing but fly str8 up to 62 miles and then fell str8 back down, this included no level flight out of the atmosphere and no re-entry.
Lets make somethign else clear right now. Private companies today have millions of times better technology than NASA had when it designed the shuttle. The problem with NASA now is that it is a gov. company. Private firms have always done things better, for example, Boeing and Lockheed.
Back top the topic, once somebody designs and flies a shuttle replacement, then this topic is pretty much dead.
Train
Originally posted by carcharodon
ACTUALLY THERE IS. for the X-38 they develed a metal/composite one piece shield to cover the aircraft and permit its rrentry to orbit
Dryden X-38 Fact sheet
Originally posted by carcharodon
ACTUALLY THERE IS. for the X-38 they develed a metal/composite one piece shield to cover the aircraft and permit its rrentry to orbit
Dryden X-38 Fact sheet