Re: Cost of slowing down?

"George Evans" <georgee3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:BF8184A1.B8F%georgee3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> in article 42gnl11deqe6dclfdc4si0d0drrf0ludsq@xxxxxxx, Monte Davis at
> monte.davis@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 10/23/05 9:58 AM:
>
>> "Brian Gaff" <Briang1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>> I was wondering why the CEV was a larger version of Apollo type re-entry
>>> techniques. I eventually realised that it is in fact lighter and
>>> cheaper on
>>> all sorts of fronts.
>>>
>>> To get a Shuttle style heat dissipation working for the higher speeds
>>> of
>>> coming in from the moon, would be not only more difficult, but heavier,
>>> cost
>>> more to launch in the first place because of that, and presumably more
>>> vulnerable, as it will be exposed throughout the flight.
>>
>> Careful -- that line of thought might lead you toward the conclusion that
>> the
>> Shuttle was a "failure" not because of this or that design choice, but
>> because
>> bringing a sizeable vehicle rather than a capsule back safely even from
>> LEO is
>> *hard* and *expensive* -- much more so than we thought in 1969-1972, or
>> than
>> most have been willing to admit ever since.
>
> The concept of a flying reentry is a good one IMHO. While studying
> Columbia's ill fated reentry I realized, from an aviation perspective, how
> smooth and low stress a shuttle reentry *normally* is. It seems to be much
> more comfortable than a capsule reentry.
>
> A scaled down version of the shuttle, say of the size and weight of a CEV,
> seems ideal and I wouldn't be surprised if that is where things end up.
>
> The shuttle has been very useful. In science and engineering, failures are
> as useful as successes.
>

We have a winner! Very well said!

The funny thing is, if the shuttle had never have been built, all of the
people bashing it here would be clamoring for it--promising the very same
things it never delivered! It's easy to be a contrarian.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Brute force re-entry
    ... >stretch to try and use some of that energy to alter the spacecraft ... The Shuttle's angle of attack in the initial reentry thru max heating and I ... What the Shuttle needs, besides a new airline, is some small, incremental ... The payload separates and the OTV transfers the payload to its operational ...
    (sci.space.tech)
  • Re: SpaceShipOne and reentry heat
    ... > reentry heating shielding requirements are minimal like SS1. ... the shuttle manouvers using a completely ... Depending on whether the capsule had its own thruster system, ... or leaving the shuttle on orbit and just returning in the ...
    (sci.space.tech)
  • Re: Dont ya hate when...
    ... surviving re-entry, which is the problem. ... LOTS of large -and small- chunks of the shuttle survived reentry quite well, ... See, for example, the poignant discovery of that little cloth shoulder-patch ...
    (rec.motorcycles)
  • Re: Dont ya hate when...
    ... surviving re-entry, which is the problem. ... LOTS of large -and small- chunks of the shuttle survived reentry ... In the case of this particular satellite spokesmen for the DoD have ...
    (rec.motorcycles)
  • Re: Future of Orion??
    ... It will be at least as safe as shuttle ... in the reentry phase, and probably safer because ... to the reentry heating phase. ... Right up until the parachute fails to open. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)