Posted on 12/08/2007 6:01:34 AM PST by AntiKev
Forecast is only 20% no go, i.e. 80% go.
Wayne Hale describing the operation of the ECO sensors. Basically when wet and cold they indicate ~3V and higher when dry. But at open circuit voltage (~13.5V) they go back wet. Meaning that the sensors fail “wet” as opposed to dry. This is the key issue. If all four sensors fail wet, then the tank will run dry while combustion is ongoing. There are more safeguards but this would mean one layer of protection is gone.
Tanking coverage begins tomorrow morning at 6AM. See you all then.
Sounds good.
Wow! A Sunday launch?! Cool! I’ve been missing these threads since returning back to work.
Sunday, December 9, 2007, 3:21 p.m. EST
Be here early.
thanks!
:) See you then!
I hope I can get home from church in (west coast) time...:)
Well at least the Bears are not playing..
Ping the list again Kevin. They’re done for the day. An ECO sensor failed during tanking at about 630 this morning.
We’re going to come back and do this again in January most probably. They’re in the process of de-tanking.
MMT is meeting right now. The team is into a 24 hour scrub turnaround. After tomorrow they have to replenish the orbiter cryogenics in order to preserve the 11 + 2 + 2 day mission profile.
Shuttle Launch Off Until January
By MARCIA DUNN
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 9, 2007; 9:39 AM
Glad I checked in...
They can put the cargo on a later ship.
Not really. Theoretically possible, but not palatable for the Euros. This launch is now NET 2 Jan 2008.
The Shuttle may be totaled. Off to the junkyard with it.
Weldon is grasping at straws. Atlantis is scheduled to have its final flight next August and then it becomes a parts supply for the Discovery and Endeavour shuttles. I don’t know that these birds have another seven years in them without another catastrophic loss.
In order to fly past 2010 they need to have a whole bunch of money poured into them. As a result of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Congress has (in the past) not been willing to release these funds in favour of social welfare projects “for the children.” What is more “for the children” than expanding the species beyond this planet?
I also am eager to see the shuttle retired ASAP, though I will sure miss it after nearly 30 years! You are right though. It just is not safe and I will be relieved when astronauts are flying a less dangerous vehicle. Problem though is if the next generation vehicles are not ready for a few years then we are looking at a gap in American space flight. And if an anti space president like Obama (gasp!) is in the White House, NASA could be in big trouble.
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