Re: A little vague?

in article Onfqg.95623$wl.20635@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Brian Gaff at
briang1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote on 7/3/06 1:47 PM:

Which is why I was surprised they did a press briefing. I mean it is a small
piece, and as they have not yet seen that little bit further over, I'm just
wondering why they did not wait till they had a decision. Of course its
prudent to continue, and it is probably a piece nobody would have normally
bothered about, but being ultra careful it was seen.

I think NASA is trying very hard to be transparent. We got a chance to look
into the problem solving process.

I'm a bit vague about these sliding brackets, and how on earth any foam
system could possible be expected to move, and stay on after two tankings
anyway.

If you look at the pictures you can see that the insulation on the turning
part is formed separately as a uniform cylindrical sleeve, separated by a
small gap from the rest of the insulation. Apparently the strut turns about
three inches as the tamk changes shape during tanking. I assume ice forms
there becuase there is the finite, unavoidable gap.

The problem is that when the tank comes back to ambient temperature with the
ice still present, the ice can chip part of the insulating sleeve away. So
they had to decide, given the reduced insulation, if too much ice would form
when the tank was filled again. It was fascinating to me to watch these guys
go through the problem solving process.

George Evans

.

Relevant Pages

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  • Re: Does a solid-fuel Ares 1 make sense?
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  • Re: Beyond finger-crossing: getting through winter with old roof
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  • Re: Large folding camp icebox
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