Re: next shuutle flight fall 2006


"Jorge R. Frank" <jrfrank@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:Xns9721B003A7673jrfrank@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> You've already lost a level of redundancy by removing the crew, so
> eliminating inspections greatly increases the odds of losing vehicles. And
> many of the systems serve double duty, e.g. parts of the life-support
> equipment (such as air-circulation) are still required since much of the
> avionics are air-cooled.

That and the cabin does leak air, so you can't launch without at least N2 to
makeup losses. And if you plan on docking to ISS, you'll need O2 as well,
since you don't really want to expose the ISS crew to a 100% N2 atmosphere
when they open the hatch. The only thing you "save" is the CO2 removal
system, and even then, you may want that if ISS crew members are to enter
the shuttle after it docks. In the end, you don't save much of anything
related to life support, except the toilet. ;-)

Jeff
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